Hello to you precious guests to our banquet. We will now try, with our tasty food and our juicy wines, to make your day happy ...

But we want to cheer you up by telling you in a few but sincere words, the original story of these walls and what their almost ... unconscious suggestion originates ...

Departing, curious guests, the story tells that your feet are resting on the paving of the ancient Church of Santa Apollinare in Florence, located in the current Piazza San Firenze to the right of the Bargello. The original building dates back to the sixth century, when the Byzantines founded it and dedicated it to the Ravenna saint dear to them.

The path of this structure, witness, in 1258, of the beheading of Cardinal Tesauro Beccaria as well as of the clash between Guelphs and Ghibellines; it has gone through numerous historical eras, peoples and traffickers, until in the year 1755 it was deconsecrated and, after radical restructuring, used as a prison for the Holy Inquisition, until 1782, when it became a prison for debtors.

Once the Court of the Holy Office was also suppressed, the premises were reduced to private homes and only partially to a Protestant chapel.

These walls have been erected since 1605 and, if you listen to them, they whisper of stories, of adventures, of conquered and victorious men; of prayer and penance; of tortures, mysteries, intrigues and also of passion, conscience and hope.

Now you too are enrolled in that history ...

So we sincerely ask you to walk the entrance of our walls with discretion, but with joy and with the intention of leaving your thoughts on the street, and abandon yourself to the care and delights of our hosts.

Gentlemen, you are here to sin, so: sin! There is no better place for this.

A desecrated place, punished by the authentic inquisition, is now waiting for nothing but filling up with your sins. And that's what we're here for!

The first sinners