The ‘Otto di Guardia e Balìa‘ were the ancient police force of Florence. Their task was very simple: to maintain public order and punish criminals with extreme severity.
These eight citizens held almost absolute power. In addition to arresting offenders, they issued laws to prevent crimes. To make these rules known to everyone, they had decrees (bandi) carved onto large stone plaques that were hung on the walls of buildings, especially at busy street corners.
These plaques forbade behaviors such as gambling, begging, or defacing walls. The punishments were incredibly harsh: very high fines, exile from the city, or even death.
A curious detail that can still be noticed today is that these inscriptions often contain grammar or spelling mistakes. This happened because the language used was the volgare (the vernacular spoken by the common people) rather than formal Latin. Today, these silent stones tell us just how harsh and severe life was in Renaissance Florence.”
