Room of the Stove (Sala della Stufa) with the wall fresco The Age of Bronze by Pietro de Cortuna

Located next door to the  Grand Duke’s bedroom, the Room of the Stove (Sala della Stufa) was, in the past, an open loggia or gallery that was later closed off in the seventeenth century and restructured as a “stove,” a bathroom heated using the same techniques as the Roman baths and intended for private use by the Grand Duke. It still contains the pipes of the heating system.

Ceiling fresco

Its decoration, commissioned by Grand Duke Ferdinando II de’ Medici, was done in three phases. Between 1625 and 1627, the Grand Duke employed various Florentine masters including Michelangelo Cinganelli , Matteo Rosselli and Ottavio Vannini to decorate the vaults and lunettes with images of the great monarchies of antiquity and allegorical figures.  The stuccoes were instead made by Antonio Novelli and Sebastiano Pettirossi.

Wall fresco with the Age of Iron(Pietro de Cortuna)

Later, in 1637, Pietro da Cortona was then entrusted to decorate the walls with a depiction of The Four Ages of Man  (a theme inspired by Ovid‘s Metamorphoses and most likely conceived by Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger), painting the Golden Age (which alludes to the happy reign of Ferdinand II de ‘Medici and his union with Vittoria della Rovere) and Silver Age (which dates back to the painter’s first stay in Florence in 1637) diptych.

The Age of Gold (Pietro de Cortuna)

In the Golden Age painting, farmers, children and animals coexist in harmony in the imaginary Arcadia, evoking the peaceful and happy rule of Grand Duke Ferdinand II de ‘Medici, whose reign further flourished following his marriage, in 1637, to Vittoria della Rovere.  This joyous event is alluded to by the painter in his portrayal of a young couple courting below the majestic oak, the heraldic emblem of the Rovere family, and the heraldic Marzocco lion, symbol of Florence and the Medici house.

The Age of Silver Pietro de Cortuna)

In 1641, Pietro followed this up with the scenes of the Bronze Age and Iron Age on the basis of a prior plan, paintings which were more agitated and Rubenesque in nature, painted some years apart and which contrast images of a civilized society with the violent events of war, another example of an erudite iconographic technique.

These frescoes, representing a fundamental work of the Baroque in the city, gave new impetus to the Florentine school of painting. The birth of the great Baroque murals, it marked the arrival of a new style in Florence which introduced a lighter lexicon and narrative inspired by the Venetian paintings of Paolo Veronese and the Roman frescoes of Annibale Carracci.

The floor, covered in 1627 with majolica tiles from the Montelupo factory, was almost completely and faithfully restored, copying the ancient design (based on cartoon by Giulio Parigi), and carried out in the early twentieth century by the Cantagalli Manufacture.  In the center of the floor stands the Triumph of the Monarchy, the only original part. Other fragments of the original floor, found in a cellar, are now in display in the adjacent vestibule of the Del Moro staircase.

Works in the Stove Room include:

Frescoes (vault)

• Fama (Michelangelo Cinganelli, 1625-27)
• Fortress (Michelangelo Cinganelli, 1625-27)
• Fortuna (Ottavio Vannini, 1625-27)
• Justice (Michelangelo Cinganelli, 1625-27)
• Prudence  Matteo Rosselli, 1625-27)
• Roman Monarchy (Ottavio Vannini, 1625-27)
• Monarchy of the Saracens (Ottavio Vannini, 1625-27)
• Monarchy of the Turks (Michelangelo Cinganelli, 1625-27
• Monarchy of Austria (Matteo Rosselli, 1625-27)
• Monarchy of the Assyrians (Matteo Rosselli, 1625-27)
• Monarchy of the Persians (Michelangelo Cinganelli, 1625-27)
• Macedonian Monarchy (Michelangelo Cinganelli, 1625-27)

Frescoes (walls)

• Golden Age (Pietro da Cortona, 1637)
• Silver Age (Pietro da Cortona, 1637)
• Bronze Age (Pietro da Cortona, 1641)
• Iron Age (Pietro da Cortona, 1641)
• Allegory of Commerce (unknown author, 17th century)
• Allegory of Justice (unknown author, 17th century)
• Vase (Sèvres manufacture, 19th century)
• Cloaked female figure with veiled head  (Roman art, 2nd century AD)
• Female figure with patella and flute  (Roman art, 2nd century AD)
• Female figure with cornucopia (Cybele?) (Roman art, Imperial age)
• Vibia Aurelia Sabina  (Roman art, imperial age)

Room of the Stove: Pitti Palace, Piazza de’ Pitti, 1, Florence, Italy. Tel:+39 055 294883. Open Tuesdays-Sundays, 8:15 AM – 6:50 PM. Admission: Palatine Gallery (€8.50), Silver Museum (€6.00), Gallery of Modern Art (€8.50), Costume Gallery/Porcelain Museum/Boboli Gardens/Bardini Garden (€6.00).

How to Get There: Take the C3 or D bus to the Pitti stop.

During the Medici era, trucco (“trick, a form of ground billiards) was played here and, in 1689, Cosimo III de Medici made it his own private room, equipped with a chapel. The original decoration, by Giuseppe Nicola Nasini, dates back to that period with the Novissimi, four very large religious canvases that represented the last four moments of life – Death, Justice, the Inferno and Paradise.

Hall of the Iliad (Sala dell’Iliade)

In 1795, the Grand Duke Ferdinand III of Tuscany, of the House of  Habsburg-Lorraine, had the religious canvases removed and incorporated the room in the sequence that would constitute a major part into the path of the Palatine Gallery.

Hall of the Iliad (Sala dell’Iliade)

He wanted to have it redecorated with a mythological theme but this program was only realized in 1815, after his return from Napoleonic exile, when he entrusted the enterprise to Luigi Sabatelli  who, from 1819 to 1825, worked on it with the use of aid.

Assembly of the Gods presided over by Jupiter

The fresco is a representation of the events prior to the Trojan War (taken from Book XV of Homer’s Iliad).  At the center is the Council of the Gods where Jove (Jupiter) orders the assembled gods to refrain from interfering or trying to influence the outcome of the Trojan War.

Lunettes depicting Juno, who despised the Trojans, using various initiatives to distract Jove with her seductions.

The lunettes, on the other hand, depict Juno, who despised the Trojans, using various initiatives to distract Jove with her seductions.

Statue of Charity (Lorenzo Bartolini)

On display is La Gravida (ca. 1506), a work by Raphael, whose brilliant colors are enhanced by the black background, typical of contemporary Flemish painting.

Baptism of Christ (Paolo Veronese , ca. 1580)

Each wall has a large altarpiece in the center which, as a whole, exemplifies the various currents of the early sixteenth century in Florence.

Assunta Panciatichi (Andrea del Sarto, ca. 1522-1523)

Two, in rigorous symmetry, are by Andrea del Sarto – the Assunta Passerini (1526) and the Assunta Panciatichi (ca. 1522-1523).  Another, the Pala Pitti (1512), is by Fra Bartolomeo, while the Pala Dei (1522) is by Rosso Fiorentino.

Christ in Glory and Saints (Annibale Carracci, ca. 1597-1598)

Other works in the Hall of the Iliad include:

• Parable of the Sower of Darnel (Workshop of Jacopo Bassano)
• Battle of Montemurlo (Battista Franco, ca. 1537)
• Ascent to Calvary (Frans Francken II)
• Christ in Glory and Saints (Annibale Carracci, ca. 1597-1598)
• Portrait of Henrietta Maria of France  (Frans Pourbus the Younger, ca. 1612)
• Portrait of Eleonora Gonzaga (Frans Pourbus the Younger, ca. 1603)
• Male Portrait  (Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen, ca. 1530)
• Portrait of Christina of France (Frans Pourbus the Younger, ca. 1612)
• Male Portrait as a Warrior Saint (16th Century Northern Italian School)
• Portrait of Domenico Cresti known as il Passignano (Justus Suttermans, ca. 1635)
• Female Portrait  (Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, 1509)
• Madonna and Child Enthroned, Saint John the Baptist and Saint Eustace (Niccolò Soggi, ca. 1510)
• Saint John the Evangelist (Carlo Dolci, 1671)
• Portrait of Onofrio Bartolini Salimbeni (Girolamo da Carpi, ca. 1524)
• Portrait of Mattias de ‘Medici (Justus Suttermans, ca. 1660)
• Portrait of Paul III (copy from Titian, 16th century)
• Male Portrait (Titian, ca. 1540-1550)
• Copy of the Madonna of San Girolamo by Correggio (attributed to Federico Barocci)
• Portrait of a Woman (Scipione Pulzone, ca. 1595)
• Female Portrait (Scipione Pulzone, ca. 1570)
• Portrait of Emperor Ferdinand II (Justus Suttermans, 1623)
• Moses (Carlo Dolci, ca. 1645)
• Portrait of Francesco I de ‘Medici (Cristofano dell’Altissimo, ca. 1562)
• Female Portrait (Scipione Pulzone, ca. 1595)
• Portrait of Eleonora Gonzaga  (Justus Suttermans, 1623)
• Goldsmith (Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, ca. 1515-1517)
• Archangel Raphael Refusing Tobias’s Gifts (Giovanni Bilivert, 1612)
• Conversion of the Magdalene (Artemisia Gentileschi, 1615-1616)
• Portrait of Philip II of Spain (Titian and workshop, ca. 1550)
• Christ in the House of Martha and Mary (Workshop of Jacopo and Francesco Bassano)
• Portrait of Leopoldo de ‘Medici (Justus Suttermans, ca. 1660)
• Giuditta with her handmaid (Artemisia Gentileschi, 1618-1619)
• Saint Benedict and Saints (Paolo Veronese and workshop, 1572)
• Male Portrait (attributed to Venetian school)
• Portrait of Maria de ‘Medici (attributed to Frans Pourbus the Younger, ca. 1610)
• Madonna and Child (Andrea del Sarto, 1528-1530)
• Portrait of Scipione Nerchi Mutolo (Emilian school of the seventeenth century)
• Portrait of Eleonora de ‘Medici (Frans Pourbus the Younger, ca. 1600-1609)
• Portrait of Valdemaro Cristiano (Justus Suttermans, 1638-1639)
• Baptism of Christ (Paolo Veronese, ca. 1580)
• Prayer in the Garden  (Francesco Bassano, ca. 1580-1590)
• Portrait of Ferdinand II de ‘Medici (Justus Suttermans, ca. 1635)
• Equestrian Portrait of Philip IV of Spain (attributed Diego Velázquez)
• Tarquinio and Lucrezia ( Simone Pignoni)
• Equestrian Portrait of the Elector Palatine (Jan Frans van Douven, 1707)
• Portrait of Queen Elizabeth of England (School of Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, ca. 1592-1603)
• Tarquinio and Lucrezia (attributed to Onorio Marinari)
• Bacchus and Ariadne (copy from Titian)
• Saint Mary Magdalene (Domenichino, ca. 1620-1630)
• Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Paolo Veronese)
• Ruggero and Alcina (Rutilio Manetti)
• Charity  (Lorenzo Bartolini, ca. 1817-1835)
• Four vases with handles formed by a swan with a putto (Massimiliano Soldani Benzi, 1689-1693)
• Two Tables (Florentine manufacture of the beginning of the century. XIX)
• Table (Lorenzo Dolci, 1788)
• Table (Florentine manufacture of the century XVIII, 1785) 

Madonna and Child Enthroned, Saint John the Baptist and Saint Eustace (Niccolò Soggi, ca. 1510)

Hall of the Iliad:First Floor, Palatine Gallery, Pitti Palace, Piazza de’ Pitti, 1, Florence, Italy. Tel:+39 055 294883. Open Tuesdays-Sundays, 8:15 AM – 6:50 PM. Admission: Palatine Gallery (€8.50), Silver Museum (€6.00), Gallery of Modern Art (€8.50), Costume Gallery/Porcelain Museum/Boboli Gardens/Bardini Garden (€6.00).

How to Get There: Take the C3 or D bus to the Pitti stop.

Hall of Ulysses (Sala di Ulisse)

At the time of the Medici, the Hall of Ulysses (Sala di Ulisse) was the grand duke’s bedroom. From about 1775, when the Hapsburg-Lorraines succeeded as Grand Dukes of Tuscany, the room was part of the apartment of Maria Theresa of Habsburg-Lorraine (eldest daughter of Pietro Leopoldo) and, after the Napoleonic interlude, was used, with the nearby rooms, as part of the Palatine Gallery.

In this period, after 1814, Grand Duke Ferdinando III of Hapsburg-Lorraine commissioned Gaspare Martellini to paint on the ceiling the Return of Ulysses to Ithaca (alluding to the return of the Grand Duke after the exile in the Napoleonic period), with a frieze decorated at the corners below with allegories of Loyalty, of Fortress, of Hercules and Apollo. In this room, Il Cigoli‘s Ecce Homo (1607) was selected, during the Napoleonic looting, to be sent to Paris along with the other works of art.

Ceiling fresco

In our museum itinerary, the first painting we encountered was the Madonna dell’Impvecchia (Madonna of the Implanted, ca. 1514), a noteworthy work by Raphael which was made during the artist’s stay in Rome. The Virgin and Child in Glory with Six Saints (1527-1528) is the first work of Andrea del Sarto‘s gallery.

Virgin and Child in Glory with Six Saints (Andrea del Sarto, 1527-28)

Also interesting is the Death of Lucrezia (ca. 1475), one of the gallery’s rare fifteenth-century works and an early painting by Filippino Lippi who decorated a pair of wedding chests made perhaps in collaboration with Botticelli.

Love the Winner (Orazio Riminaldi, ca. 1624)

Other works in the Hall of Ulysses include:

• Male Portrait (Workshop of Tintoretto, late 16th century)
• Faith (Francesco Furini, ca. 1633-1640)
• Landscape with Bathers (Agostino Carracci)
• Temptations of Saint Anthony the Abbot  (Salvator Rosa, ca. 1645)
• Male Portrait (Bernardino Licinio, 1537)
• Portrait of Claudia Felicita as Galla Placidia (Carlo Dolci, 1675)
• Male Portrait (Cristofano Allori , ca. 1605)
• Charity (Guido Reni, ca. 1605)
• Female Portrait (School of Anthonis Mor, late 16th century)
• Male Portrait (Giulio Campi, ca. 1525-1530)
• Portrait of a Clergyman (Tintoretto)
• Temptations of St. Jerome (Giorgio Vasari, 1541)
• Saint John the Baptist in the Desert (Cristofano Allori, ca. 1612-1615)
• Portrait of Simone by Marco Moroni (Giovan Battista Moroni, ca. 1570)
• Christ Led Out of the Praetorium (Pietro Ciafferi)
• Diana and Atteone (Agostino Tassi, ca. 1640)
• Nymph with Satyr (copy from Annibale Carracci, 17th century)
• Love the Winner (Orazio Riminaldi, ca. 1624)
• Female Portrait (Giovan Battista Moroni, ca. 1560)
• Sermon of St. John the Baptist Alessandro Allori, 1604)
• Santa Lucia (School of Carlo Dolci, 17th century)
• San Paolo (Bartolomeo Schedoni, ca. 1610)
• Holy Family (Workshop of Domenico Puligo, third decade of the 16th century)
• Male Portrait (Bergamo school of the 16th century)
• Madonna and Child (Carlo Dolci, ca. 1680)
• Vision of Saint John the Evangelist in Patmos (Carlo Dolci, ca. 1550)
• Saint Catherine of Alexandria (Francesco Curradi)
• Supper at Emmaus (Cristofano Allori, ca. 1610)
• Ecce Homo (Carlo Dolci, ca. 1670)
• Portrait of the Prelate Marco by Giovanni Moroni (Giovan Battista Moroni, ca. 1570)
• Madonna of the Conception (Tintoretto, ca. 1570)
• Male Portrait (Gregorio Pagani, ca. 1600)
• Portrait of a Young Man (Florentine school of the seventeenth century)
• Portrait of Andrea Frizier (Tintoretto, ca. 1575)
• Portrait of the Bishop Giuliano Argentino (Venetian school (?) of the 16th century, ca. 1537-1549)
• Self-portrait  (Hans von Aachen, ca. 1585-1595)
• Male Portrait  (Frans Pourbus the Younger, ca. 1595)
• Male Portrait  (attributed to Antonio del Ceraiolo, ca. 1520-1530)
• Table (Florentine manufacture of the century XVIII, 1792)
• Table (Florentine manufacture of the century XVIII, 1792)
• Mirror (Florentine manufacture of the century XVIII, 1790-1800) 

Saint John the Baptist in the Desert (Cristofano Allori, ca. 1612-1615)

Hall of Ulysses: First Floor, Palatine Gallery, Pitti Palace, Piazza de’ Pitti, 1, Florence, Italy. Tel:+39 055 294883. Open Tuesdays-Sundays, 8:15 AM – 6:50 PM. Admission: Palatine Gallery (€8.50), Silver Museum (€6.00), Gallery of Modern Art (€8.50), Costume Gallery/Porcelain Museum/Boboli Gardens/Bardini Garden (€6.00).

How to Get There: Take the C3 or D bus to the Pitti stop.

Hall of Prometheus

The Hall of Prometheus (Sala di Prometeo), in the Medici era, was part of the private apartment of the Grand Duke.  Although intended for a public function, the meeting of the Council of the Grand Duchy was done here in the presence of the Grand Duke himself.

Ceiling fresco (Giuseppe Colignon)

From 1809 to 1814, it was redecorated with frescoes, by the Sienese artist Giuseppe Collignon, with stories of Prometheus (after whom the room is named), both in the large panel of the ceiling and in the monochrome frieze; at the corners the Four Seasons. Here, Prometheus is shown stealing sacred fire from the chariot of Apollo while being protected by Minerva

Tondo Bartolini (Filippo Lippi)

The room is dedicated to the oldest paintings in the collection from the Florentine Renaissance and, in particular, the 12 tondi, typical round-shaped paintings of private homes loved by Florentine patrons but which were inserted into square Neo-Classical frames in later periods.

Other tondi

The most famous of the tondi is the Madonna with the Child (ca. 1465-1470), a masterpiece by Filippo Lippi known as the Tondo Bartolini, of delicate harmony typical of the artist’s maturity.  There are also the two portraits done  by Sandro Botticelli and his shop including the Bella Simonetta.

St. Francis in Ecstasy (Jusepe de Ribera, 1643)

Here is also the Holy Family with a Saint (ca. 1490-1495), a tondo by Luca Signorelli. The first Tuscan Mannerism is represented by the Adoration of the Magi (1523 ) and by the Ten Thousand Martyrs (ca. 1529-1530) by Jacopo Pontormo.

Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Earthly Paradise (Andrea del Minga and Baccio Bandinelli, ca. 1560)

Other works in the Hall of Prometheus include:

• Allegorical Scene (Emilian school of the sixteenth century)
• Portrait of a Woman (Florentine school of the sixteenth century, ca. 1520)
• Portrait of Piero de ‘Medici known as il Gottoso (Bronzino’s workshop)
• Portrait of Cosimo I de ‘Medici (Bronzino’s workshop)
• Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Earthly Paradise (Andrea del Minga and Baccio Bandinelli, ca. 1560)
• Female portrait (attributed to Michele di Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio)
• Madonna with Child and San Giovannino (Biagio Pupini)
• Saint Francis in Ecstasy (Jusepe de Ribera, 1643)
• Madonna of the Lizard (attributed to Girolamo Siciolante of Sermoneta)
• Allegory of Patience (Giorgio Vasari)
• Male Portrait (attributed to Francesco Salviati, ca. 1550)
• Creation of Eve (Andrea del Minga and Baccio Bandinelli, ca. 1560)
• Rebecca at the Well (Giacinto Gimignani)
• Madonna with Child and San Giovannino (Biagio Pupini, ca. 1509-1512)
• Adoration of the Child (Mariotto Albertinelli, ca. 1498)
• Santa Maria Maddalena (Bacchiacca, ca. 1530)
• Portrait of Don Giovanni de ‘Medici (Santi di Tito, ca. 1590)
• Male portrait (Friulian friend of Dosso)
• Madonna and Child (copy by Bartolomeo Schedoni)
• Adoration of the Magi (Master of the Borghese Tondo)
• Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and the Little Lamb Between Seraphim (Domenico Beccafumi, ca. 1521-1522)
• Female Portrait (Piero di Cosimo, ca. 1500-1505)
• Adoration of the Child (Cosimo Rosselli, ca. 1490)
• Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist (attributed to the Master of the Madonna Naumburg)
• Madonna and Child between Saints Benedict and Andrew (Ferrarese schoolof the sixteenth century)
• Ecce Homo (Fra Bartolomeo)
• Christ at the Column (Giovanni Battista Bertucci, ca. 1500-1505)
• Portrait of a Young Man (Sandro Botticelli , ca. 1470)
• Portrait of a young woman (Sandro Botticelli, ca. 1485)
• Madonna and Child with St. John (Sandro Botticelli, ca.1495)
• Madonna and Child, Saint John the Baptist and the Archangels Michael and Gabriel (Sandro Botticelli workshop), ca. 1485)
• Calumny of Apelles (Franciabigio, ca. 1513)
• Madonna with Child, San Giovannino and Two Angels (Pseudo-Granacci)
• Male portrait(Cristofano Allori, ca. 1600-1605)
• Holy Family (Jacopo de Boateri)
• Saint Mary Magdalene Carried to Heaven by Angels (Valerio Marucelli, 1615)
• Bacchus as a Child (attributed to Guido Reni)
• Male portrait (Mirabello Cavalori)
• Holy Family with St. John (Francesco Granacci, ca. 1520)
• Adoration of the Magi (attributed to Friend Aspertini, ca. 1497-1498)
• Madonna Adoring the Child with Saint John the Baptist and Five Angels(Francesco Botticini, ca. 1490)
• Female portrait (French school of the sixteenth century)
• Female portrait (Florentine school of the seventeenth century)
• Tobias and the Archangel Raphael (copy by Andrea del Sarto)
• Male portrait – “Antonio Carracci” (Venetian school of the sixteenth century)
• Madonna of Humility (Andrea del Sarto, ca. 1513-1514)
• Peter and St. Paul (attributed to Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, 1503)
• Madonna and Child (Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio)
• Adoration of the Child with San Giovannino (Jacopo del Sellaio, ca. 1490)
• Apollo and the Muses (Baldassarre Peruzzi)
• Colossal vase (Sèvres manufacture, 1844)
• Table (Pietro Stoppioni)
• Table top (Lamberto Cristiano Gori and Giuseppe Colzi, 1768)
• Table base (Paolo Sani, 1818)
• Table (Grand Ducal Workshops, ca. 1716)
• Table of Roman manufacture (?), ca. 1780-1790

Colossal Vase (Sèvres manufacture, 1844)

Hall of Prometheus: First Floor, Palatine Gallery, Palace, Piazza de’ Pitti, 1, Florence, Italy. Tel:+39 055 294883. Open Tuesdays-Sundays, 8:15 AM – 6:50 PM. Admission: Palatine Gallery (€8.50), Silver Museum (€6.00), Gallery of Modern Art (€8.50), Costume Gallery/Porcelain Museum/Boboli Gardens/Bardini Garden (€6.00).

How to Get There: Take the C3 or D bus to the Pitti stop.

Poccetti Gallery (Galleria del Poccetti)

The next room, between the apartments of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess, was the Poccetti Gallery (Galleria del Poccetti), also called Poccetti’s Corridor (Corridorio del Poccetti).

Ceiling vault

During the 17th century, this room was once a barrel-vaulted loggia referred to as the “loggetta made into a gallery,” a passageway open to the garden and an interior courtyard that connected the private apartment of the Grand Duke with the apartment of the Grand Duchess.

Allegory of Justice (Mateo Rosselli)

This corridor owes its traditional name to the erroneous attribution of the frescoes on the vault, once believed to be by Florentine artist  Bernardino Poccetti (Bernardino Barbatelli) and, instead, made after his death, at the time of Cosimo II.

It was based on a project by his pupil Michelangelo Cinganelli who executed the pictorial decoration with the help of Filippo Tarchiani, Matteo Rosselli and Ottavio Vannini (1620-25).  In 1813, the logetta was closed off and became a part of the new Palatine Gallery.

Lunette with fresco of Siena with the She-wolf

Lunette with fresco of Florence with the Marzocco

In keeping with the typical taste at the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, the ceiling vault is subdivided into squares, cartouches, panels and folders built into the architecture, with allegorical figures such as Faith, Justice and Fortress; in the lunettes the allegories of Florence (with the marzocco) and of Siena (with the she-wolf). The whole is enriched with grotesques and stuccos.  In the center of the hall is a table (1716) commissioned by Cosimo III and done by Giovan Battista Foggini.

Ila and the Nymphs (Francesco Furini, 1630-1633)

Other works in the Poccetti Gallery include:

• Portrait of the Jesuit Father Giovan Pietro Pinamonti (Andrea Pozzo)
• Santa Giuliana (Domenico Fetti)
• Man in Black in Profile(Rosso Fiorentino, ca. 1520-1522)
• Saint Jerome in the Study  Bartolomeo Cavarozzi, ca. 1617)
• Portrait of Cardinal Ferdinando de ‘Medici (workshop of Pulzone Scipione, ca. 1603-1608)
• Portrait of Monsignor Francesco Prospero Urbani (Federico Barocci)
• Portrait of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham (copy by Pieter Paul Rubens)
• Female Portrait (copy by Pieter Paul Rubens)
• Three Young Jews led into the Furnace (Lorenzo Lippi, ca. 1635)
• River Landscape (Gaspard Dughet)
• Landscape with Faun and Nymphs (Gaspard Dughet)
• Landscape with Shepherds and Herds (Gaspard Dughet)
• Landscape with Ruins and Figures (Gaspard Dughet)
• Ila and the Nymphs (Francesco Furini, 1630-1633)
• Parable of the Unfaithful Farmer (workshop of Domenico Fetti)
• Parable of the Lost Drachma (workshop of Domenico Fetti)
• Sermon of St. John the Baptist (Jacob Pynas)
• Male Portrait (Niccolò Cassana)
• Portrait of Oliver Cromwell (workshop of Peter Lely)
• Adoration of the Shepherds (Andrea Schiavone)
• Portrait of General Grifoni (Justus Suttermans, ca. 1650)
• Portrait of a Painter (Niccolò Cassana)
• Saint Francis of Assisi receives the Stigmata (Jan van Scorel)
• Bust of Cosimo II  (Mattias Ferrucci, 1621)
• Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew (Jusepe de Ribera)

Bust of Cosimo II (Mattias Ferrucci, 1621)

Poccetti Gallery: Pitti Palace, Piazza de’ Pitti, 1, Florence, Italy. Tel:+39 055 294883. Open Tuesdays-Sundays, 8:15 AM – 6:50 PM. Admission: Palatine Gallery (€8.50), Silver Museum (€6.00), Gallery of Modern Art (€8.50), Costume Gallery/Porcelain Museum/Boboli Gardens/Bardini Garden (€6.00).

How to Get There: Take the C3 or D bus to the Pitti stop.

Hall of Music (Sala della Musica)

Returning to the Sala del Castagnoli, we then entered the Hall of Music (Sala della Musica) which was built, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, by combining two rooms that connected the respective apartments of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess.  With its Neo-Classical decoration, the room was intended for musical entertainment, hence its also being known as the Drums due to the curious cylindrical shape of the furniture such as stools and commodes.  

In 1813, during the Napoleonic period, it was decided to create a “first drawing room of the Emperor” here, decorated with murals depicting the Genius of France and the Napoleonic Battles.  In 1814, with the restoration of the Lorraines, Luigi Ademollo (1764-1849) was commissioned to completely renovated the half-decorated room by creating a new theme for the fresco (Glory of the Habsburg House) on the ceiling.

In 1860 the fresco was retouched by the Savoy family  by adding the Italian flag and giving it a blue mantle and the Savoy crown, thereby transforming the personification of Austria into that of Italy.The monochrome frieze, which shows the Liberation of Vienna from the Turkish Siege in 1683, effectively simulates bas-reliefs.

A table, made in 1819 by Pierre-Philippe Thomire (Napoleon’s court goldsmith), consists of a large block of glowing green malachite dignified the malachite with lion paws and sphinxes and mounted onto a lavish base of gold-plated metal.

Table (Pierre-Philippe Thomire, 1819)

Works in the Music Room also include:

• Four busts of Roman emperors (Francesco Carradori)
• Furniture series comprising twelve sideboards and sixteen stools (tambourines) (Florentine manufacture of the century XIX, 1820)
• Four candelabra (French manufacture of the century. XIX, ca. 1805)
• Clock (French manufacture of the century. XIX, ca. 1856)
• Two watches (French manufacture of the century. XIX) 

Monochrome frieze showing Liberation of Vienna from the Turkish Siege in 1683

Hall of Music: Pitti Palace, Piazza de’ Pitti, 1, Florence, Italy. Tel:+39 055 294883. Open Tuesdays-Sundays, 8:15 AM – 6:50 PM. Admission: Palatine Gallery (€8.50), Silver Museum (€6.00), Gallery of Modern Art (€8.50), Costume Gallery/Porcelain Museum/Boboli Gardens/Bardini Garden (€6.00). 

How to Get There: Take the C3 or D bus to the Pitti stop.

A pair of Roman busts at the Room of the Elements

The Apartments of the Elements, consisting of five rooms and two loggias, were the private quarters of Cosimo I.  Designed after Cosimo I de’ Medici had the palace extended, they were built under the direction of Giovanni Battista del Tasso from 1551 to 1555 but, on Tasso’s death, were altered almost at once when Giorgio Vasari, working for the first time as court architect and artist for Cosimo I and the Medicis, suggested raising their paneled ceilings.

Check out “Palazzo Vecchio“

Room of Hercules – Bust of a Man (Roman, 3rd century)

With his assistants’ (Cristofano Gherardi and Marco Marchetti da Faenza) help, Vasari proceeded to decorate almost all of the rooms in a mere three years. A single, consistent iconographic program, devised by the scholar Cosimo Bartoli, links the decoration of the Apartments of the Elements with that of the Apartments of Leo X below them.

Ceiling of the Small Room between Room of Jupiter and Room of Hercules. In the center is a tortoise with a wind-filled sail on his back. This reminded Cosimo I to find the perfect balance between speed and patience. These sailing tortoises can be found all throughout the decoration of Palazzo Vecchio in many different forms, some are flying, some on the water, and some with angels. There are approximately 100 of them scattered across the ceilings, walls and floors of the palace.

Each one of the rooms is matched, on the floor below, by a room of the same size and dedicated to an illustrious member of the House of Medici.  In placing one set of frescoes above the other, it exalts the glory and virtue of the House of Medici (veritable “deities on earth”) by establishing a link between the dynasty’s rise to power and the origins of the “deities in heaven.”

Paneled ceiling at the Room of the Elements

The paintings in the rooms celebrate, as the beginning and end of all things, the genealogy of the “heavenly deities.” The cycle begins in the Room of the Elements, after which the apartments are named, with a depiction of the origins of the four elements (air, water, fire and earth) which sprung from the seed of Uranus scattered by Saturn.

The room perfectly reflects the proportions of the Room of Leo X immediately below it. Just as all things originate from the elements, so Pope Leo X laid the groundwork for the foundation of the Medici duchy of Tuscany.

Check out “Palazzo Vecchio – Apartments of Leo X”

The oil painting on the ceiling panels are dedicated to Air while the frescoes on the three windowless walls celebrate Water, Fire and Earth.

The marble fireplace

The marble fireplace was designed by Bartolomeo Ammannati. The genealogy of the “heavenly deities” carries on in the other rooms dedicated to Opis, the goddess of prosperity and Saturn’s wife, and to Ceres and Jupiter, the two deities’ descendants.

The Room of Ceres, dedicated the daughter of Saturn and Opis and the goddess of agriculture, lies above the Room of Cosimo il Vecchio. Just as Ceres provided for man’s welfare by bestowing on him the fruits of the earth, so did Cosimo il Vecchio bring joy and prosperity to the city of Florence.

Room of Ceres and Study of Calliope

Decorated from 1555 to 1558, the room gets its name from the oil on wood motif (depicting Ceres seeking her daughter Proserpina after her abduction by Pluto, god of the Underworld) on the ceiling by Doceno (a pupil of Vasari) while on the walls are Florentine tapestries with hunting scenes, from cartoons by Stradanus.

The stained glass window, with the Toilet of Venus, was done by Walter of Antwerp to a design by Giorgio Vasari and Marco da Faenza.

Paneled ceiling at the Room of Ceres and Study of Calliope

Ceres

Originally, the adjacent Study of Calliope housed, either on shelves or in cabinets and cases, miniatures, small bronzes, medals and other rare and precious items from Duke Cosimo I’s collection.

Room of Jupiter

The Room of Jupiter, decorated from 1555 to 1556, lies immediately above the room of Cosimo I in a juxtaposition intended to celebrate the Medici duke’s glory and virtue by likening him to the heavenly deities.

Ceiling fresco showing the young Jupiter brought up by nymphs and suckled by the goat Amalthea

The ceiling fresco decoration shows the infancy of Jupiter (and father of all the gods), whom  Opis (Jupiter’s mother) had brought up in hiding.

Cabinet with Flowers and Birds (late 17th – early 18th century), ebony, inlaid with semi-precious stones and gilted bronze. On permanent loan from the State Art Galleries in Florence (1911)

To prevent Saturn (Jupiter’s father) from devouring him as he had all of his brothers, the young Jupiter is brought up by nymphs and suckled by the goat Amalthea which evokes Capricorn, the zodiac ascendant of Cosimo I. The walls are hung with Florentine tapestries made from cartoons by Stradano (16th century).

Walnut chest (16th century)

The Terrace of Saturn (closed in winter) as well as the fresco (the allegories of the Four Ages of man and the hours of the day allude to the god of Time) on the ceiling are dedicated to Saturn, god of Time, who devoured all his children (except for Jupiter, whose mother Opis used deception to save him) to ensure that they wouldn’t topple him from his throne.

Decorated from 1557 to 1566, it has a fabulous view of Florence, with the Piazzale Michelangelo and the Fortress Belvedere in the southeast. The remains of the Church of San Piero Scheraggio  are also visible. The two panels, with stories of Saturn, evoke episodes from the life of Pope Clement VII (Giulio de ‘Medici), to whom the room beneath is dedicated.  The adjacent Study of Minerva was designed to host the small marble statues in Duke Cosimo I’s collection.

Room of Hercules

At the Room of Hercules (Sala di Ercole), stories of Hercules (the son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmene who was endowed with superhuman strength) are the subject of paintings on the ceiling (The baby Hercules strangling the snakes Juno, Jupiter’s wife, had placed in his cradle) as well as the tapestries.

Paneled ceiling

Hercules’  countless celebrated heroic deeds, especially the “Twelve Labors,” have inspired the parallel with the room dedicated to valiant mercenary captain Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, Duke Cosimo I’s father, which lies immediately beneath this room.  The room contains a polychrome Madonna and Child and a stipo, an ebony cabinet inlaid with semi-precious stones.

Stipo (cabinet with birds, flowers and fruit compositions, 1660-1680), ebony with marquetry and semi-precious stone inlay. On permanent loan from the State Art Galleries in Florence (1911)

The Terrace of Juno, dedicated to Juno (Jupiter’s wife), was originally an open loggia with columns.  The original design included the construction of a fountain emulating the monochrome painting on the wall, which appears to have been inspired, in its turn, by Andrea del Verrocchio‘s Putto with a Dolphin. It was designed to offer Eleonora of Toledo (Duke Cosimo’s wife) a view of the Santa Croce neighborhood.

Putto with Dolphin (Andrea del Verrocchio)

After the last wing of the palace was built, the loggia, which stood where the undecorated wall stands today, was walled up. The ceiling fresco depicts Juno on a carriage drawn by peacocks plus the Allegory of Abundance and the Allegory of Power.  The walls depicts Juno depriving Jupiter of his lover Io, whom he had disguised by turning her into a cow, Juno turning the nymph Callisto, beloved of Jupiter, into the constellation Ursa Minor and the Fountain with putto.

Room of Ceres and Study of Calliope – Walnut Table with Casket

The Room of Opis, named after the wife of Saturn and the goddess of prosperity, lies immediately above the Room of Lorenzo the Magnificent, whose diplomatic talents were acknowledged and appreciated by numerous monarchs just as Opis was worshipped by numerous peoples. In the center of the ceiling, the goddess appears surrounded by allegories of the seasons and of the months of the year, each shown with its matching star sign.The floor with ducal emblems are terracotta by Santi Buglioni.

Vase on Walnut Stand

The Room of Cybele has a ceiling painted with the Triumph of Cybele and the Four Season, a floor made in 1556 while against the walls are cabinets in tortoise shell and bronze. From the window, we can can see the third courtyard.

Apartments of the Elements: Palazzo Vecchio, Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy. Tel: +39 055 276 8325. Open daily, 9 AM – 7 PM (except Thursdays, 9 AM  – 2 PM). Admission: €6.00. Combined ticket with Cappella Brancacci: €8.00.