One of the buildings that survives from Dante's time is "my beautiful San Giovanni" (XIX:17)
The name of the architectural style is Romanesque. Look at our own White House & compare to the exterior of San Giovanni.

Though exiled from Florence for most of his life, after his death Dante was honored as a favorite son. The statue was created in 1865, 544 years after his death.

• Guelphs and Ghibellines (gwĕlfs, gĭb`uh-lēnz, -lĭnz):

"At the battle of Montaperti, 1260 [Dante was born in 1265], the Florentines were defeated by the Sienese hosts, which resulted in the obliteration of all that the merchant middle class had accomplished politically. When the Ghibellines resumed power and restored the old institutions they decreed the destruction of the palaces and towers and houses which the principal exponents of the Guelph party owned in the city and in the surroundings. The city was covered with rubble, and 103 palaces, 580 houses and 85 towers were totally demolished not to speak of the partial damage done to other buildings. For six years Florence was forced to submit to the outrages of the great Ghibellines and it would have been destroyed had it not been for the fearless defense of Farinata degli Uberti at the convention of Empoli. The Ghibellines, fearing the power of the people, were forced to accept the services of Clement IV as peacemaker between the opposing factions. The pope openly favored the Guelph faction which thus succeeded in reconquering the power and they reintroduced the political institutions abrogated by the Ghibellines." (HISTORY of FLORENCE).

Towers