Walking down the Via dell'Oriuolo visitors will arrive at the Museum of Florence "As it was" a small but interesting museum housed in a former convent. In it you will find plans, etchings and topographical drawings of the origins of the city and its inhabitants that reveal how little Florence has changed from its conception in 1470 to the present day. 

The first room you enter is probably the most interesting, as it is home to the Pianta della Catena, a huge panorama of the city painted using tempera as it was in 1470. On contemplation, it's not hard to recognize the buildings from the era that are still standing.

On another note, in the room on the right are a series of splendid lunettes, or oval paintings, by the Flemish artist Justus Van Utens. These works were created in 1599 and show the villas and gardens of the Medici in the late 16th century as well as the Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens.  

Visitors should not forget to take in the etchings by Telemaco Signorini and the 19th-century drawings by architect Giuseppe Poggi, who sought to eliminate the slums of the centre of Florence in order to build monumental avenues in their place. Most of his projects, however, were never carried out.