David Levi, a president of the Jewish community, left his estate to fund a new synagogue when he died in 1870. Mariano Falcini, Vincenzo Micheli and Marco Treves designed it. Groundbreaking took place in 1874, and it was completed in 1882. The article calls the style Italian and Moorish Revival, which was seen as suitable for a synagogue and echoed the Islamic architecture of medieval Spain.
The plan is quadrangular, with a central dome on pendentives that recalls Hagia Sophia. Corner towers have horseshoe-arched openings and onion domes. Alternating layers of travertine and granite create a striped effect, and the copper roof has turned green.
In August 1944 retreating German troops placed explosives, but resistance fighters defused most of them. The Jewish Museum of Florence is inside.
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