Florence finally to be rid of notorious 60-metre crane after two decades

The crane behind the 13th-century Palazzo Vecchio and the Loggia del Lanzi on Piazza della Signoria in Florence. Photograph: Richard Sowersby/Alamy

A giant crane that has blighted the skyline of Florence for almost 20 years is to finally be removed.

The controversial structure, described as “a metal monster”, has stood in the centre of the Tuscan capital since 2006, when it was installed in a square opposite the Uffizi Galleries – famous for sublime artworks of the Italian renaissance – and tasked with doing the heavy lifting of materials during the initial phase of the museum’s ongoing expansion.