The redevelopment of Piazza San Lorenzo in Pistoia is a fundamental part of the new vision of the city in the PNRR program which intervenes in a series of important places in the historic center. The presence of three monumental emergencies: Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Conventual Church of San Lorenzo, Oratory of Sant'Ansano, positioned on a single scenic theatrical backdrop with staggered wings, makes Piazza San Lorenzo unique on a national level.

The project is all about this theme with a vast reservoir that recomposes the original perceptive status of the place. Along the east and west side walls there are rows of trees that define both new paths and relaxation spaces. The road to the east is freed from car stalls and reduced in section in order to make the building fronts dialogue with the new public space. The project focuses on the dialectical relationship between natural and mineral where the plastic masses of the Monuments and the minor Urban Fabric dialogue through the iridescent reflection of the floor surfaces with differentiated roughness. The inclusion of the natural element, in addition to ecological reasons of shading and draining surface, represents the link with the memory and history of the place. The project area was historically home to nurseries and vegetable gardens: the nursery activity is documented within the San Lorenzo complex until a few decades ago, moreover Pistoia has always had a strong link with the nursery cultivation.

Memory and innovation find their balanced dialogue in the project in the name of a new and contemporary scenario of urban landscape.

The project redefines the entire basin of the square, reconquering this area of the historic center of Pistoia for its vocation and public use. The Firenzuola stone floor that connects the three churchyards, with three types of workmanship (diamond saw wire for the extensive part, brushed silk to frame the linear lights on the floor and striped for the area south of the intersection with Via del Ceppo) composes a dominant iridescent gray color on which the monumental buildings stand out.

The regulation of rainwater is structured on the system of linear canals and with two underground tanks that collect water and allow reuse for irrigation purposes. The grids are integrated into the floor texture. Ancient and modern have a close dialogue by harmonious contrast; Functionality and ecology are combined.

The new green system assumes fundamental importance both for the ecological and environmental aspects, representing a very large area of incidence on the entire reservoir and therefore guaranteeing excellent soil permeability (far greater than the pre-existing flowerbed) and a consistent reduction in CO2, and for the spatial definition of visual escapes and the structuring of micro-areas of social relations. The greenery is structured by the system of row trees, by the surfaces with shrubs and perennials. In this project we designed the urban space with the aim of creating a "domestic" public space so that it would become the "garden of the city". The shrub essences arranged within the sequence of large flowerbeds are organized as in nurseries, that is, by homogeneous thematic bands, here the quincunx planting layout contributes with the choice of essences with a dynamic and open habit, to the visual movement of the new green landscape. The relational areas created between the flowerbed and the flowerbed are characterized by the system of linear wpc seats arranged to create "urban living rooms" where you can spend your free time in complete freedom and safety for all ages. The choice of essences was aimed at the least possible maintenance to ensure sustainable management costs for the Administration, a total of 68 new tree essences of the following species were planted: Acer campestre L., Acer japonicum, Erythrina, Ginko biloba grafted male, Liriodendron tulipifera, Schinus molle, Fraxinus oxycarpa raywood, Malus profusion. Starting from the west side along the former Hospital of San Jacopo we find a row of Liriodendron tulipifera with two large beds of cistus salvifolius at the base. These two flowerbeds configure a circular area "square within the square" with two arched seats made of solid travertine that mark the presence of the Pistoia Underground route (floor skylight).

On the east side, an articulated system of rows structures the sequence of spaces dedicated to relaxation and meeting, the tree species are: Ginko biloba, Liriodrendon tulipifera, Acer campestre, Fraxinus oxycarpa raywood, Acer japonicum. While on the perspective backdrop, to screen the banal modern building, new ready-to-use country Acers are planted. The shrubs, planted for a total of 4666 specimens, are of the following essences: fescue glaucous variety, blue grow, heuchera, pennisetum setaceum, bulbine frutescens, myrtus communis microphylla, lavandula dentata var. candicans, cytusus variety multiflorus, scoparius, cistus variety albidus, ladanifer, salvifolius, cornus alba var. sibirica.

The lighting system was designed paying maximum attention to both the aspects of functional general lighting and architectural light aimed at enhancing the three monumental facades present.

The three facades are on perspective planes staggered in depth, this led us to interpret the lighting theme as static-dynamic light (with variation in flux and white temperature between 2700k and 4000k) and to create dynamic lighting scenarios that combine with the floor lights.

The area north of the square, located east of the large church of San Lorenzo, has maintained its vocation as a parking lot for residents. We have reconfigured the margins with the identification of rows of trees and flower beds: Schinus molle and bulbine frutescens, a new zigzag-shaped sidewalk where the Malus profusion tree system appears. The colors of the plant essences planted, even in their seasonal variation, will create a perceptive dynamism that will characterize the urban public space in a place of unexpected things where the eye will move between different colors and different postures. The car stalls were designed in agreement with the municipal police, identifying white bands in the maneuvering spaces in order to pay attention to motorists and pedestrians, but also as a reference to the graphic theme of black-and-white bands of sections of the bell tower of the city cathedral, also visible from here.

The sculpture by F. Bartolozzi made in 1993 in memory of the citizens shot during the Nazi-Fascist massacre of 1943 that took place in the square, has been relocated to the area north of the square, in front of the plaque set in the side wall of San Lorenzo that commemorates the event. Here the monument is visible from all positions and is a visual hinge between the southern and northern parts of the square.

A pair of solid travertine seats marks the limit between the new flooring and the pre-existing historic terracotta floor in the churchyard of the church of San Lorenzo.

Finally, the public space is totally passable by all users, as there is no architectural barrier.