The Loggia del Pesce was designed by Giorgio Vasari in 1568 as the fish market of the Mercato Vecchio — the old central market that occupied the site of today's Piazza della Repubblica. When the market was demolished in the 1880s as part of the Risanamento urban renewal programme, the loggia was dismantled and its decorated arches and pilasters were reassembled here in Piazza dei Ciompi in 1955.
The loggia is a pleasant piece of Renaissance civic architecture — an open arcade of round arches decorated with Della Robbia-style medallions representing fish, eels, and sea creatures. It now serves partly as a backdrop to the Piazza dei Ciompi flea market and partly as an informal covered area for the antique dealers who set up around it. The loggia is one of several fragments of the medieval city that were moved or rebuilt when central Florence was reorganised in the late 19th century.