Palazzo Strozzi (Florence, Italy)

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Palazzo Strozzi

Palazzo Strozzi

Palazzo Strozzi, facing the historical Via de’ Tornabuoni, is one of the finest examples of Renaissance domestic and civil architecture.  It has, since World War II, been Florence’s largest temporary exhibition space and, today, the palace is used for the now-annual antique show (founded as the Biennale dell’Antiquariato in 1959), international expositions, fashion shows, and other cultural and artistic events such as “Cézanne in Florence, Two Collectors and the 1910 Exhibition of Impressionism.”

Wooden model of the Palazzo Strozzi

Wooden model of the Palazzo Strozzi

During our visit, there ongoing exhibits were “Migrazioni” (Liu Xiadong, April 22-June 19, 2016) and “From Kandinsky to Pollock: The Art o the Guggenheim Collections” (March 19-July 24, 2016).

Check out “Migrazione Exhibit” and “From Kandinsky to Pollock: The Art o the Guggenheim Collections Exhibit” 

Designed by Benedetto da Maiano and begun in 1489  , the palace was built for Florentine banker, statesman and merchant Filippo Strozzi the Elder, a rival of the  Medici who had returned to the city in November 1466.  He desired the most magnificent palace to assert his affluent family’s continued prominence and, perhaps more important, a political statement of his own status.

Cortile (Central Courtyard)

Cortile (Central Courtyard)

To provide enough space for the construction of the largest palace that had ever been seen in Florence, a great number of other buildings were acquired during the 1470s and then demolished. A wood model of the design was provided by Giuliano da Sangallo. Italian architect Simone del Pollaiolo (il Cronaca), in charge of its construction until 1504, left the palace incomplete and the palace was only completed in 1538, long after Filippo Strozzi’s death in 1491.  That same year, Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici confiscated it but it was returned to the Strozzi family thirty years later.

It remained the property and seat of the Strozzi family until 1937, after which time it was occupied by the Istituto Nazionale delle Assicurazioni which made great changes to the building.

The dominating cornice

The dominating cornice

Since 1999, it has been managed by the City of Florence. The Palazzo is now home to the Institute of Humanist Studies, the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi (Palazzo Strozzi Foundation), the noted Gabinetto Vieusseux, with its library and reading room, and the Istituto Nazionale del Rinascimento (Renaissance Studies Institute), the last two occupying the building since 1940.

StairFrom Palazzo Medici, Filippo copied the cubic form, designing its three floors around a cortile  (central courtyard) surrounded by an arcade,  inspired by Michelozzo. Its rusticated stone was also inspired by the Palazzo Medici but with more harmonious proportions. However, this free-standing structure is surrounded on all four sides by streets unlike the Medici Palace which is sited on a corner lot and, thus, has only two sides. The ground plan of Palazzo Strozzi, rigorously symmetrical on its two axes, with clearly differentiated scales for its principal rooms, introduced a problem new in Renaissance architecture (given the newly felt desire for internal symmetry of planning symmetry) – how to integrate the cross-axis.

The paired mullioned windows

The paired mullioned windows

The three sides overlooking the street each have three arched portals. The palazzo, with its dominating cornice (typical of the Florentine palaces of the time), has paired mullioned  windows (bifore) and wrought-iron lanterns, done by an iron-worker named Caparra, decorating the corners of the palace exterior. As they rise to the keystone, the radiating voussoirs of the arches increase in length, a detail that was much copied for arched windows set in rustication in the Renaissance revival.

Migrazioni (Liu Xiadong)

Migrazioni (Liu Xiadong)

Palazzo Strozzi: Piazza degli Strozzi, 50123 Florence, Italy. Tel: +39 055 264 5155. Open daily, 10 AM – 8 PM (Thursdays, 11 PM). E-mail: info@palazzostrozzi.org. Website: www.palazzostrozzi.org. Admission: €12.00.

Museum of Natural History – Geology and Paleontology Section (Florence, Italy)

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Museum of Natural History

Museum of Natural History – Geology and Paleontology Section

Few museums in Italy can rival, in quantity and quality, the collection of fossils and rocks at the Museum of Natural History – Geology and Paleontology Section (Museo di Geologia e Paleontologia), the most important museum of its kind in Italy.  It houses about 300,000 specimens of animal and vegetable fossils, fossil imprints and rock specimens from the collections of noted geologists and paleontologists (Alberto Fucini, Giotto Dainelli, Olindo Marinelli, Carlo De Stefani, Giuseppe Stefanini, Cesare d’Ancona and Vittorio Pecchioli).

Museum entrance

Museum entrance

They include shells from Tuscan hills described by Leonardo da Vinci, the fossils that belonged to Nicolas Steno, the grand-ducal collections and those of Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti studied by Georges Cuvier, and the Central Paleontology Collection established by Igino Cocchi to serve geology in a finally united Italy.

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Medici interests again were responsible for its founding. The initial paleonthologic and geological collections were put together by the Medici Grand Dukes in the 16th century and placed among the works of art in the Galleries of the Palazzo Pitti and the Uffizi.  In the seventeenth century, Grand Duke Ferdinando II spurred on the collecting of the remains of vertebrates in the Monte Amiata area and other Tuscan neighborhoods of geological interest.

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Grand Duke Peter Leopold, on the other hand, sponsored the sciences and was the leader of the Observatory Museum, then the Imperial Royal Museum of Physics and Natural History, which formed the nucleus of the collection of fossils.

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They were further increased by the Lorraine family when a specific section was created in the great Museum of Physics and Natural History. In 1870, subsequent to the establishing of the Institute of Higher Studies, the collections were moved to the “Geology Cabinet” in Piazza San Marco.

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It was then removed to”La Specola” (Via Romana, 17), with all the scientific instruments, and it was only in 1925 did it find a resting place in its present day location. The museum’s collection was progressively incremented through the purchase of the collections of Pier Antonio Micheli, Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti (in 1845) and Strozzi (in 1895).

museum-of-natural-history-30The material held in the museum was also continuously enriched with new fossils recovered during recent excavations in numerous ambitious voyages of exploration and study of the kingdom and then the Republic of Italy.  The collection was rearranged in 1963.

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Our visit here allowed us to reconstruct, with evolutionary criteria, the entire paleontological history of Italy. Starting from the stromatolites (a finely laminated sedimentary structure, thanks to the activity of the first microorganisms, which date back to 3.5 billion years ago in the Precambrian Era), we switch to marine invertebrates of the Paleozoic Era; then on a journey through time through the Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras, showing the first vertebrates, algae and ferns, the first amphibians and reptiles and dinosaurs and, finally, the coming of the mammals.

Arsinoitherium zitteli

Arsinoitherium zitteli

Some display stands and panels illustrate the paleonthobiogeography of the Mediterranean region (in particular that of Italy) during the upper Miocene, the theses on the origin of life and the evolution of vertebrates and, in particular, of primates. The museum has four main collections.

Horned cranium of Eucladoceros dicranios from the upper Valdarno

Horned cranium of Eucladoceros dicranios from the upper Valdarno

Of particular interest and of great importance in the vertebrate fossil collection of around 27,000 specimens, originating from the Medicean and Lorraine collections, are the lavish collection of Villafranchian mammal fossils from the Pliocene and Pleistocene, primarily recovered from Tuscany and upper Valdarno (with impressing Proboscidea). The most interesting curiosities are particularly “African” (antelopes, crocodiles, monkeys, the wolf-like Canis etruscus, etc.).

A mastodon skeleton

A mastodon skeleton

There are two mastodons – gigantic early elephants with long tusks from the Pleistocene Epoch. The first, Anancus arvernensis, was a gomphothere found at the monastery of Monte Carlo by Filippo Nesti in 1826. The second, an almost complete Archidiskodon meridionalis, was nicknamed Pietro (“Peter”) and recovered by Prof. Augusto Azzaroli at Borro al Quercio (San Giovanni Valdarno) in 1953.

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The author with Pietro, an almost complete skeleton of a male, 3.95 m. tall Archidiskodon meridionalis. It had an estimated body weight of 12 tons.

The museum holds a place of national and international importance due to the famous skeleton of the anthropoid primate Oreopithecus bamboliii, found in 1958 by Prof. Hurzeler of Basel in a lignite mine in Baccinello, a mining town 30 kms. east of Grosseto, in the Tuscan Maremma area.  Looking like a gibbon it was, for long, erroneously thought to be the missing link between man and monkeys.

Oreopithecus bambolii

Oreopithecus bambolii

The museum is also rightly famous for its collection of Equidae.  A whole room is dedicated to the evolution of horses and all the main representatives of the family are exhibited, from the small Eohippus Eocene to Oligocene Mesohippus, reaching up to Merychippus, from the Miocene Epoch, and current Equus spread from the Pliocene Epoch.

Evolution of horses

Evolution of horses

In addition to Italian vertebrates, the collections include several extraordinary examples such as remains coming from various places outside Italy such as the non-flying Moa bird from New Zealand; dinosaurs from North America; a small Cretaceous marine reptile from northwestern Nigeria; small, Late Cretaceous mammals from Mongolia; birds from Africa; glyptodont and giant ground sloth from Argentina; canids from China; and woolly rhinoceros and mammoth remains from Siberia.

Skeletons of flightless moas from New Zealand

Skeletons of flightless moas from New Zealand

Besides displaying vertebrates, the museum also offers a wide collection of invertebrates and plants that have been arranged in chronological order in the central gallery of the museum.

Leptobos etruscus (a large antelope)

Leptobos etruscus (a large antelope)

On the second floor, open to the public by appointment only, is also a collection of around 175,000 samples of fossil invertebrates from all continents and all the geological ages – trilobites, graptolites, brachiopods, ammonites and shellfish. Particularly rich is the collection of Pliocene molluscs from Tuscany, donated by the Dalmine Company, and of notable interest are the Fucini, De Stefani, Dainelli, Marinelli, Stefanini and Seguenza collections.

The Strozzi Collection

The Strozzi Collection

The Paleobotany collection has about 8,000 items coming mainly from Tuscany that show the evolution of the plant world from the marsh flora to that of the large trees up to today’s forests. The collection of phyllites from Monte Pisano, the Strozzi collection, and the collection of plant remains from the Santa Barbara mine (early Villafranchian period) are especially important.

Skeleton of Hippopotamus antiquus

Skeleton of Hippopotamus antiquus

The generic rock collection, of about 5,000 specimens, is composed of rocks coming from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Tibet and Caracorum, and of rocks collected along the Sempione (Simplon) and San Gottardo (Gotthard) tunnels.

Ursus etruscus

Ursus spelaeus (cave bear)

Today, in addition to recovery and exposure and its educational and research function, the Section carries out salvaging and restoration initiatives. Restoration, carried out in the laboratory, consists of a series of delicate operations aimed at removing the artifact from the rock, cleaning it and consolidating it with special substances. The museum also organizes didactic activities, guided tours, lessons and temporary exhibitions.

Sus strozzii (similar to the extant Java warty pig)

Sus strozzii (similar to the extant Java warty pig)

A new, beautifully designed and permanent exhibit is “Tales of a Whale,” a product of 9 years of effort. Seemingly set in a deep blue sea, it centers around a 10 m. long, 3 million year old skeleton of a whale discovered in the hills of Tuscany.  The skeleton is surrounded by fossils of other marine life that were found in the same field.

Tales of a Whale

Tales of a Whale

Museum of Natural History (Geology and Paleontology Section): Via Giorgio La Pira, 4 – 50121, Florence, Italy. Tel: 055-2757536. Website:  www.msn.unifi.it.  Open Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, 9 AM to 1 PM, and Saturdays, 9 AM to 5 PM. Closed on  Wednesdays, January 1, Easter,  May 1, August 15 and December 25.

National Archaeological Museum of Florence (Italy)

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National Archaeological Museum of Florence

National Archaeological Museum of Florence

The National Archaeological Museum of Florence (Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze) was inaugurated in 1870 in the presence of King Victor Emmanuel II  in the buildings of the Cenacolo di Fuligno on via Faenza. At that time it only comprised Etruscan and Roman remains. As the collections grew, a new site soon became necessary and, in 1880, the museum was transferred to its present location within the Palazzo della Crocetta, a palace built in 1620 for princess Maria Maddalena de’ Medici, daughter of Ferdinand I de Medici, by Giulio Parigi.

Museum entrance

Museum entrance

Kyle, Cheska, Grace and Jandy

Kyle, Cheska, Grace and Jandy

The collection’s first foundations were the family collections of the Medici and Lorraine, with several transfers from the Uffizi up to 1890 (except the collections of marble sculpture which the Uffizi already possessed).

Base of a statue of Prince Merneptah, son of Ramses II

Base of a statue of Prince Merneptah, son of Ramses II

The Egyptian section, known as the Egyptian Museum, is the second largest collection of Egyptian artifacts in Italy, after that of the Museo Egizioin Turin. It was first formed in the first half of the 18th century from part of the collections of Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (Pierre Léopold de Toscane), from another part of an expedition promoted by the same Grand Duke and Charles X of France from 1828 to 1829 and directed by Jean-François Champollion (the man who first deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphic script) and Ippolito Rosellini (the father of Italian Egyptology, friend and student of Champollion who represented the Italian interests). During the expedition, many artifacts were collected, both from archeological diggings and via purchases from local merchants. On their return, these were evenly distributed between the Louvre in Paris and the new Egyptian Museum in Florence.

Statue of a Pharoah

Statue of a pharoah

Officially opened in 1855, the museum’s first director was Ernesto Schiaparelli (who later went on to become director of the larger Egyptian museum in Turin) from Piedmont who, by 1880, had catalogued the collection and organized transportation of the antiquities to the museum.  Under him, the collection expanded with further excavations and purchases carried out in Egypt. Many of the artifacts were, however, later transferred to Turin.

Part of the statue of Uahibra, governor of the southern districts

Part of the statue of Uahibra, governor of the southern districts

After this time, the Florentine collection continued to grow with donations from private individuals and scientific institutions. Expeditions to Egypt between 1934 and 1939, by  the Papyrological Institute of Florence, provided one of the most substantial collections of Coptic art and documents in the world.

Pillar from the tomb of Seti I

Pillar from the tomb of Seti I

The museum, with a permanent staff including two professional Egyptologists, houses more than 14,000 substantially restored artifacts distributed in 9 galleries and two warehouses. A new, chronological and partly topographical system replaced the old classification system devised by Schiaparelli. The remarkable collection of stele, mummies, ushabti, amulets and bronze statuettes extends from the prehistorical era right through to the Coptic Age. There are statues from the reign of Amenhotep III; a chariot from the eighteenth dynasty; a pillar from the tomb of Seti I; parts of the burial equipment of Tjesraperet (a wet nurse of king Taharqo); a New Testament papyrus; and many other distinctive artifacts from many periods.

Spoked Egyptian chariot from the 18th Dynasty (1550–1292 BC) (2)

Spoked Egyptian chariot from the 18th Dynasty (1550–1292 BC) (2)

In 1887, a new topographic museum on the Etruscans was added but was destroyed during the 1966 floods. In 2006, the organisation of the Etruscan rooms was reconsidered and reordered and restoration was carried out on over 2,000 objects damaged during the 1966 floods.

Chimera of Arrezzo

Chimera of Arezzo

Notable items on display include the Chimera of Arezzo (discovered in 1553 at Arezzo during the construction of a Medici fortress), the statue of the Arringatore (1st century BC), the funerary statue Mater Matuta (460–450 BC,  returned to Chianciano Terme), the sarcophagus of Laerthia Seianti (2nd century BC) and the sarcophagus of the Amazons (4th century BC).

Bronze statue of Arringatore

Bronze statue of Arringatore

Etruscan sarcophagus of Larthia Seianti

Etruscan sarcophagus of Laerthia Seianti

Notable objects in the Roman Collection include the “idolino of Pesaro” (a 146 cm. high bronze statue of a young man, a Roman copy from a classical Greek original, found in fragments in the centre of Pesaro in October 1530); the “torso di Livorno” (a copy of a 5th-century BC Greek original); the so-called “Gallo Treboniano” (a late 3rd-century statue of a cockerel); and the Minerva of Arezzo (a bronze Roman copy of a 4th-century BC Greek model attributed to Praxiteles).

Idolino di Pesaro

Idolino di Pesaro

Torso di Livorno

Torso di Livorno

Early 3rd century BC statue of Minerva of Arezzo (St. Lorenzo Church)

Early 3rd century BC statue of Minerva of Arezzo (St. Lorenzo Church)

The huge Greek Collection of ancient ceramics is located in a large room with numerous cases on the second floor. Generally the vases, evidence of cultural and mercantile exchange with Greece, and particularly Athens (where most of the vases were made), come from Etruscan tombs and date to the period between the 4th century BC and the present.  The most important of the vases is the “François vase,” named after the archaeologist who found it in 1844 in an Etruscan tomb at fonte Rotella, along the Chiusi road.  This large black figure krater (c. 570 BC), signed by the potter Ergotimos and the painter Kleitias, shows a series of Greek mythological narratives on both sides.

The François vase

The François vase

Other notable objects on display include the red figure hydria signed by the Meidias painter (550–540 BC); the cups by the Little Masters (560–540 BC), named after their miniaturist style of their figures; the sculptures of Apollo and Apollino Milani (6th century BC, named after the man who gave them to the museum); the athlete’s torso (5th century BC); the large Hellenistic horse’s head (known as the Medici Riccardi head after the first place it was displayed, in the Medici’s Riccardi palace), fragment of an equestrian statue, which inspired Donatello and Verrocchio in two famous equestrian monuments in Padua and Venice; and two Archaic marble kouroi, displayed in a corridor.

Head of horse (Roman, 2nd.century.BC.)

Head of horse (Roman, 2nd.century.BC.)

National Archaeological Museum of Florence: Piazza Santissima Annunziata 9 B, Florence, Italy.  Open Mondays, 2 PM – 7 PM; Tuesdays and Thursdays,  8:30 AM – 7 PM; Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturday, 8:30 AM – 2 PM; Holidays and Sundays,  8:30 AM – 2 PM. Admission: €4.00.

Piazza della Santissima Annunziata (Florence, Italy)

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Piazza della Santissima Annunziata

On our way to the National Archaeological Museum of Florence, we passed by the Piazza della Santissima Annunziata.  Named after the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata (Basilica of the Most Holy Annunciation) at the head of the square, in the center of the piazza is the large, bronze equestrian statue of Ferdinando I flanked by the Fountains of the Marine Monsters. The piazza was not designed by Brunelleschi, as is sometimes reported in guide books.

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This square doesn’t find itself on many mainstream itineraries but, for a very long time, it was actually the heart of the city and, even today, the piazza is a crossroad for those going to the train station, the Duomo or Piazza Beccaria.

This open, peaceful and airy space, one of the few spaces in Florence that was purposely built in the Renaissance style (which meant that it embraces the idea of a “Utopian society”- ordered and accessible to all men), was designed to be appreciated for its elegance and harmonizing colors.

Equestrian Statue of Ferdinando I

The massive and life size bronze equestrian statue of Ferdinand I of Tuscany (Ferdinando I de’ Medici), astride a stallion, was executed by noted sculptor  Giambologna  (who had, by now, reached international fame for his equestrian statues), was cast in 1602 using bronze from cannons on Turkish galleys captured in war, and was placed in the square in 1608.

Fountains of the Marine Monsters

The Fountains of the Marine Monsters are two Late Mannerist-style fountains, with fantastical figures, all works completed by the late-Renaissance sculptor Pietro Tacca (1577-1640), a loyal student and successor to Giambologna.

Tacca was asked to design them to decorate the port of Livorno, near the Monument of the Four Moors (“Quattro Mori”) he had created between 16th and 17th century. However, in 1641 Ferdinando II, the grandson to Ferdinando I insisted that the two fountains remain in Florence where they still are today.

In addition to the square, there are several important structures to visit – the Palazzo Budini Gattai, the Loggia dei Servi di Maria, the aforementioned National Archeological Museum, the Ospedale degli Innocenti and the Palazzo delle Due Fontane. The piazza’s eastern side is defined by the Ospedale degli Innocenti, the wet by Loggia dei Servi di Maria, and the north by the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata

Basilica della Santissima Annunziata

The Renaissance-style Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, considered the mother church of the Servite Order, was founded in 1250. The facade was added in 1601 by the architect Giovanni Battista Caccini, imitating the Renaissance-style of Brunelleschi‘s facade of the Ospedale degli Innocenti.

Ospedale degli Innocenti

The historic Spedale degli Innocenti, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi (he received the commission in 1419 from the Arte della Seta or Silk Guild of Florence), is regarded as a notable example of early Italian Renaissance architecture.  Originally a children’s orphanage and hospital, it features a nine bay loggia facing the piazza.   Today, it houses a small museum of Renaissance art with works by Luca della Robbia, Sandro Botticelli, Piero di Cosimo and an Adoration of the Magi by Domenico Ghirlandaio. In 2016, it was restored and restructured.

Palazzo Budini Gattai

The Palazzo Budini Gattai (also known as Palazzo Grifoni), an aristocratic red-brick residence dating from the 16th century, was begun by Giuliano di Baccio d’Agnolo (a pupil of Michelangelo) and was continued, on his death, by Bartolomeo Ammannati, who probably also designed the Italian-style garden laid out in around 1573. At the end of the 18th century, the Grifoni family line died out and the property passed into the hands of the Riccardi family and finally to the Budini Gattai, the present owners of the property.

Why is the last window on the right hand side, at the second floor of Palazzo Budini-Gattai, always open?  Well, according to a legend, the Grand Duke Ferdinand I was called to the army to fight a war with the noble and patrician families of Florence and he had to leave Bianca Cappello, his beautiful young bride of a few months, who gave him the last greeting from the window of the palace. She waited for the return of her beloved husband, spending her days embroidering, and sitting on an armchair beside the window overlooking the square, never giving up hope until the day she died. 

Upon her death, the family carried her body out and closed the window only to find themselves haunted by a frenzy of books flying, furniture dancing, paintings falling down and the lights going out. From that day forward the window remains open, just in case he comes home. Another version tells about the neighborhood of the square who, moved by that sad love story, decided to keep the window open in memory of the woman,

The arches and columns of the Loggia dei Servi di Maria, the romantic loggia (or portico) next to the Palazzo Budini Gattai, complete the symmetry in the square.  It was built, between 1516-1525, on a design created by Antonio da Sangallo the Elder.  Originally, Brunelleschi intended for the circles between the columns on the Loggia for the Hospital to remain empty but, Andrea della Robbia (selected in 1490, long after Brunelleschi’s demise) decorated the six frontal and 4 lateral concaves.

Loggia dei Servi di Maria

The 10 tondi (medallions) have the standard light blue background, with white putti, dressed in swaddling cloth, to represent the abandoned children and orphans. Originally built for the mendicant order, today the Servi di Maria, together with Palazzo Budini Gattai, are now a hotel.

Palazzo delle Due Fontane

Palazzo delle Due Fontane, between via dei Servi and via dei Fibbiai, was originally a building of ancient construction, reconfigured between the end of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century to provide an adequate backdrop to the square. Its relatively recent façade repeats, while simplifying them, the shapes and colors of the nearby Palazzo Budini Gattai. The building is currently occupied by the Albergo le Due Fontane, an accommodation facility. The ground floor, in particular, has a stone ashlar.

Piazza della Santissima Annunziata: Florence, Italy.

Bargello Museum (Florence, Italy)

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Opened as a national museum (Museo Nazionale del Bargello) in 1865, its original structure, built alongside the Volognana Tower in 1256, had two storeys. After the fire of 1323, a third story, identified by the smaller blocks used to construct it, was added. During the 15th century, the palace was also subjected to a series of alterations and additions but still preserving its harmonious and pleasant severity.

Bargello Museum

Bargello Museum

Here are some interesting historical trivia regarding this building:

  • Started in 1255, this austere crenelated building is the oldest public building in Florence.
  • The word “bargello” appears to have been derived from the late Latin word bargillus (from Goth bargi and German burg), meaning “castle” or “fortified tower.” During the Italian Middle Ages, it was the name given to a military captain in charge of keeping peace and justice (hence “Captain of justice”) during riots and uproars. In Florence he was usually hired from a foreign city to prevent any appearance of favoritism on the part of the Captain. The position could be compared with that of a current Chief of police. The name Bargello was extended to the building which was the office of the captain.
  • It is also known as the Palazzo del Bargello, Museo Nazionale del Bargello or Palazzo del Popolo (Palace of the People)
  • This building served as model for the construction of the Palazzo Vecchio. Honolulu Hale‘s interior courtyard, staircase and open ceiling were also modeled after the Bargello.
  • It was built to first house the Capitano del Popolo (“Captain of the People”) and, later, in 1261, the “podestà,” the highest magistrate of the Florence City Council (it was originally called the Palazzo del Podestà). In 1574, the Medici dispensed with the function of the podestà and housed the bargello, the police chief of Florence.
  • Before it was turned into an art museum, it was a former barracks and prison during the whole 18th century. Executions, the most famous perhaps being that of Bernardo di Bandino Baroncelli (involved in the Pazzi conspiracy against the Medici, which Leonardo da Vinci also witnessed), also took place in the Bargello’s yard until they were abolished by Grand Duke Peter Leopold in 1786, but it remained the headquarters of the Florentine police until 1859. When Leopold II, the Holy Roman Emperor, was exiled, the makeshift Governor of Tuscany decided that the Bargello should no longer be a jail, and it then became a national museum. It was also the meeting place of the Council of the Hundred in which Dante Alighieri took part.
  • It displays the largest Italian collection, mainly from the grand ducal collections, of “minor” Gothic decorative arts and Renaissance sculptures (14–17th century).

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The courtyard

The unique courtyard

The building is designed around a beautiful, irregular and unique open courtyard with an open well in the center. The walls of the courtyard are covered with dozens of coats-of-arms of the various podestà and giudici di ruota (judges).

The centrally located open well

The centrally located open well

The enormous entrance hall leading to the courtyard has heraldic decorations on the walls with the coats-of-arms of the podestà (13th-14th centuries). The courtyard has more coats-of-arms of the podestà.  Under the porticoes are insignia of the quarters and districts of the city. Set against its walls are various 16th century statues by Baccio Bandinelli, Bartolomeo Ammannati, Domenico  Pieratti, Niccolò di Pietro Lamberti, Giambologna and Vincenzo Danti.

The external open staircase leading to the loggia

The external open staircase leading to the loggia

The external open staircase leading to the second floor loggia, built in the 14th century, has various ornamental works by other 16th century artists including the delightful bronze animals made for the garden of the Medici Villa di Castello.

The author in ront of the statue of Oceano (Giambologna)

The author in front of the statue of Oceano (Giambologna)

Juno Fountain originally for the Sala Grande

Juno Fountain originally for the Sala Grande in Palazzo Vecchio (Bartolomeo Ammannati)

Alpheus and Arethusa, a 16th century relief

Alpheus and Arethusa, a 16th century relief

Apollo Pitio Vincenzo Danti)

Apollo Pitio (Vincenzo Danti)

San Giovanni Battista (circa 1620, Domenico Pieratti)

Statue of St. John the Baptist (circa 1620, Domenico Pieratti)

San Lucas Evangelista(Niccolò di Pietro Lamberti)

Statue of St. Luke the Evangelist  (Niccolò di Pietro Lamberti)

The first room to the right, formerly the Salone del Consiglio Generale but now the Donatello Room, contains many works of Donatello (1386-1466). The St. George Tabernacle (1416), moved to this location from the niche in Orsanmichele, is the very first example of the stiacciato technique, a very low bas-relief that provides the viewer with an illusion of depth, and one of the first examples of central-point perspective in sculpture.

The Marzocco, one of the symbols of Florence (Donatello)

The Marzocco, one of the symbols of Florence (Donatello)

Other works include the young St. John; the marble David (1408); the more mature and ambiguous bronze David (1430), the first delicate nude of the Renaissance; and the Marzocco, originally installed on the battlements of Palazzo Vecchio.

Madonna and Child between Angels (1475, Luca della Robbia)

Madonna and Child between Angels (1475, Luca della Robbia)

At the back wall of the Donatello Room are two bronze bas-relief panels, both competing designs for “The Sacrifice of Isaac” (Sacrificio di Isacco, the image had to include the father and son, as well as an altar, a donkey, a hill, two servants and a tree) made and entered by Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi to win the contest for the second set of north doors of the Florence Baptistery (1401) in Piazza del Duomo. The judges chose Ghiberti for the commission.

Madonna and Child with St. John (Giovanni della Robbia)

Madonna and Child with St. John (Giovanni della Robbia)

Two rooms on the second floor are dedicated to the repertoire of glazed Renaissance terracotta sculptures created by Andrea Della Robbia, Luca Della Robbia (c. 1400 – 1482) and Giovanni Della Robbia.   The glazed terracotta by Luca della Robbia includes a very extraordinary group of Madonna with Child.

Drunkeness of Noah (Baccio Bandinelli)

Drunkeness of Noah (Baccio Bandinelli)

Diana and Actaeon (Francesco Mosca)

Diana and Actaeon (c. 1578, Francesco Mosca)

The large 14th century hall, on the first floor, displays a collection of 14th century sculpture, including works by Nicola Pisano.  The rooms on the ground floor exhibit Tuscan 16th century works. The room closest to the staircase focuses, in particular, on four important masterpieces by Michelangelo (1475-1564): Bacchus (1470, the tipsy god of wine is being held up by a tree trunk and a little satyr), Pitti Tondo (relief representing a Madonna with Child), Brutus (1530) and David-Apollo.

Bacchus (Michelangelo)

Bacchus (Michelangelo)

The assortment is then followed by works of Andrea Sansovino (1460-1529), Jacopo Sansovino‘s Bacchus  (1486-1570, made on his own to compete against Michelangelo’s), Baccio Bandinelli (1488- 1560), Bartolomeo Ammannati (1511-1592), Benvenuto Cellini (represented with his bronze bust of Cosimo I and the model of Perseus and the small bronze sculptures, moved to this location from the Loggia dell’Orcagna), down to Giambologna (1529-1608) with his Architecture and the admirable Mercury; and Vincenzo Gemito‘s Il Pescatore (“fisherboy”).

L'Architectura (Giambologna)

Architecture (Giambologna)

Il Pescatore (Vincenzo Gemito)

Il Pescatore (Vincenzo Gemito)

Adam and Eve (Baccio Bandinelli)

Adam and Eve (Baccio Bandinelli)

Leda with the Swan (marble, Bartolomeo Ammannati)

Marble statue of Leda with the Swan (Bartolomeo Ammannati)

Mercury (Giambologna)

Mercury (Giambologna)

There are a few works from the Baroque period, notably Gianlorenzo Bernini‘s 1636-7 Bust of Costanza Bonarelli. The staircases now display bronze animals that were originally placed in the grotto of the Medici villa of Castello. There are also sculptures by Michelozzo di Bartolomeo and others.

Limoges porcelain

Limoges porcelain

Also distributed among the several rooms of the palace, both on the first and second floor, are many other fine works of art enriched by the Carrand, Ressman and Franchetti collections comprising decorative or “minor” arts.  They include ivories that include several Roman and Byzantine examples; Medieval glazes and Limoges porcelain from German and French gold works; Renaissance jewels; Islamic examples of damascened bronze; and Venetian glass; all  from the Medici collections and those of private donors.

Bronze statue of David (1466, Andrea del Verrocchio)

Bronze statue of David (1466, Andrea del Verrocchio)

The bronze David and the Lady with Posy by Andrea del Verrocchio are in the room named after the artist.

Bust of Cardinal Paolo Emilio Zacchia (1625, Algardi)

Bust of Cardinal Paolo Emilio Zacchia (1625, Alessandro Allgardi)

Also on display are an extraordinary collection of busts of Florentine personalities made by some of the most important 15th century artists such as Desiderio da Settignano (c. 1430-1464) and Antonio Rossellino (c. 1427-1479), both pupils of Donnatello; Alessanro Algardi, Mino da Fiesole,  Antonio Pollaiolo and others.

Arms and armor

Display cases of arms and armor from the Middle Ages to the 17th century

The museum also displays very unique panel pieces and wooden sculptures; ceramics (maiolica); waxes;  goldwork and enamels from the Middle Ages to the 16th century; furniture; textiles; tapestries in the Sala della Torre; silver; arms and armor from the Middle Ages to the 17th century; small bronze statues, old coins and a very lavish collection of medals by Pisanello belonging to the Medici family.

Medal

Medals belonging to the Medici family

Bargello Museum: Via del Proconsolo 4, Florence, Italy. Open Tuesdays to Fridays, 8.15 AM – 1.50 PM, closed on the 2nd and 4th Sunday and the 1st, 3rd and 5th Monday of each month. Admission: €4.00.

Museum of Dante’s House (Florence, Italy)

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Museum of Dante House

Museum of Dante House beside the Torre della Castagna

The Museum of Dante’s House was established in 1965 on the occasion of the seventh centenary of the birth of the Dante Alighieri, the greatest Italian poet and the father of the Italian language. The Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia), his masterpiece, has influenced the love poetry, theology and symbolism and was, for centuries, the basis of the idea of collective Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio) and Paradise (Paradiso).

Libro del Chiodo (Book of sentences of families rebelling against Florence)

Libro del Chiodo (Book of sentences of families rebelling against Florence)

Dante was born, between May and June, 1265, in the shadow of the Badia Fiorentina in the neighborhood of Florence.   In 1868, after completion of several studies and researches of reports in many old documents, the house of the Alighieri family, near the Torre della Castagna, was identified. However, very little remains of the original building but it was rebuilt in 1911. Tucked into the labyrinth of medieval alleys that tangle between the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and Piazza della Signora, it is a fine example of a private upper-class home from Dante’s era, but Dante never actually lived here though there is evidence his brother might have owned it.

Death mask of Dante

Death mask of Dante

A museum, designed and installed by the Unione Fiorentina, was opened to the public in May 1965. In 1990, the museum closed for restoration and, on June 1, 1994, was reopened to the public. From 2002 to 2005, the building was reinforced structurally and architectural barriers were removed resulting in the museum’s reopening on September 27, 2005. 

Plastic model representing the historic Battle of Campaldino

Plastic model representing the historic Battle of Campaldino

The modest exhibition path, arranged on three floors according to the three most important stages in his life, touches the issues in the life of Dante through the events of the Alighieri, the subsequent exile and the features of Florence in the XIV century. A portrait of the poet, of mysterious origin, is engraved on the floor of the square in front of the house.

Dante's dagger

Dante’s alleged dagger

The first floor displays a series of documents on some of the aspects of 14th century Florence and on the youth of Dante, on his christening in the Baptistery of San Giovanni (the “beautiful San Giovanni”), on his public life, on his election in the office of prior of the town and the realities experienced by the poet – his participation in political and military struggles, notably the conflict between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, the Battle of Campaldino and the division of Florence into “sestrieri.”

Reproductions of the weapons used at the time

Reproductions of the weapons used at the time

There’s a room dedicated to the art of doctors and apothecaries (Dante’s Florentine guild) as well as a reconstruction of a typical medieval master bedroom.  There’s also an audio-visual room dedicated to the Divine Comedy, a reconstruction of the streets of medieval Florence and an exhibition of traditional costumes of the fourteenth century.

Traditional costumes of the fourteenth century

Traditional costumes of the fourteenth century

The second floor exhibits documents relating to his painful exile of 1301, the year of his condemnation. After visiting several cities (Forli, Verona and Bologna), the poet decided to spend his last years at Ravenna where we would die (1321) in the home of Guido da Polenta.

Typical Medieval master bedroom

Typical Medieval master bedroom

The third floor offers a collection of documents concerning the iconography and fortune of Dante over the centuries.  There are also excellent reproductions of works of art, ranging from the 14th century to the present-day, painted by important artists  such as Giotto, Fra Angelico, Andrea del Castagno, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Luca Signorelli, Raphael and Michelangelo.

Dante's family tree

Dante’s family tree

The museum’s predominantly historical and educational exhibit introduced me to the figure of the “great poet”Dante and the medieval Florence in which he lived. The plastic model representing the historic Battle of Campaldino (attended by Dante) and the reproductions of the weapons used at the time were very interesting.

Dante House Museum (43)

Museum of Dante’s House: Via Santa Margherita 1, 50122 Florence, Italy. Tel: + 39 055 219 416. E-mail: info@museocasadidante.it. Open Tuesdays, 10 AM – 4 PM; Wednesdays and Fridays, 10 AM – 3 PM; Saturdays, 10 AM – 5 PM, holidays and Sundays,  10 AM -5 PM. Closed on Mondays and Thursdays. Admission: €4.00.

How to Get There: Take Via dei Calzaiuoli from Duomo to the river and turn left after the third street (Via Dante Alighieri).

Roman Amphitheater Ruins (Florence, Italy)

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Roman Amphitheater Ruins

From the Medieval fortress atmosphere of the Palazzo Vecchio, we also ventured underground to the Roman amphitheatre ruins, the only complex of ancient Roman ruins that can be visited in Florence. Videos projected on the site’s walls illustrate the history of Palazzo Vecchio and the amphitheater. A reconstruction of the amphitheater in the Roman era and some related works are located in the Museo di Firenze com’era.

The ruins are located under the current Palazzo Vecchio and Palazzo Gondi, with the auditorium facing Piazza della Signoria and along the Piazza San Firenze and Via dei Leoni, between Piazza dei Peruzzi, Via De’ Bentaccordi and Via Torta.  Its remains are visible in Via De’ Bentaccordi.  Though still an active archaeological site, the ruins are open to the public.

In 1876, the first remains of the theater were excavated and, in 1935, other excavations took place in the underground at the Palazzo Vecchio. Archeological digs have resumed recently, notably in 2006-2007 by Italian archaeologist Riccardo Francovich.

The excavations, by the Archaeological Cooperative, under the scientific direction of Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Tuscany, also made it possible to bring back to light ruins of ancient thermal baths and other services related to an outdoor theater.

According to the Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA), excavations at the Palazzo Vecchio have revealed stone corridors  and walls, the original painted stone pavements along which spectators used to walk from the outer circle of the theater to the orchestra pit, as well as wall foundations, and 10 m. (32.8 ft.) deep well shafts which provide water and waste disposal for the theater.

The remains of the theater cover a vast area of land and even include cells in which wild animals were confined before and after performances.

During the UNESCO World Forum on Culture and Cultural Industries, held in Florence from October 2 to 4, 2014, the Archaeological Cooperative formally announced their findings.

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When the amphitheater was built between 124 and 130 AD, it was located outside the walls of Florence and it marked the point of maximum expansion east.  A natural slope of about 5 m., at the southeastern part of the Roman colony of Florentia was used as foundation for the construction of the theater.

The excavations have allowed two construction phases of the theater to be identified. During the first phase, the stage, the orchestra and the first rows of seats were built in stone; while the rest of the cavea consisted of wooden bleachers for about 5,000 to 6000 spectators. This late-Imperial architecture follows the principles dictated by the famous Roman architect Vitruvius.

In the next phase of construction, between the first and second centuries AD, during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, the entrance to the theater and the cavea were rebuilt in stone.

It had an elliptical shape, with a height between 24 and 26 m. and  a diameter of 126 m., and was around 100 m. long and roughly 35 m. wide at the scene.  The amphitheater also had a capacity of about 20,000 seats (compared to 87,000 in the Flavian Amphitheatre in Rome), demonstrating the demographic development of the city at the time.

During the Medieval period, it was incorporated into other buildings. Though it was not been systematically excavated, occasional discoveries have been made, such as in 1887.

It is possible to observe the radial corridors of masonry at the base of the semicircular Auditorium; and the vomitorium (the central corridor allowing access to the theater), the inner margin of the orchestra platform.

Roman Amphitheater Ruins: Florence, Italy. The excavations of the Roman Amphitheatre can be visited with a separate ticket, (4 Euro) or a combination ticket which includes the Palazzo Vecchio Museum and the Archaeological site.  It can also be visited, on request, with free one-hour guided tours, on Saturday and Sunday, 11 AM, 11:45 AM, 3:30 PM and 4:15 PM. Each group can be composed by a maximum of 20 people. For safety reasons, the excavations are not accessible to children under 8 years, while disabled people can access to it only partially and guided by a companion. E-mail: info@muse.comune.fi.it.

Palazzo Vecchio – Apartments of the Elements (Florence, Italy)

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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.

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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.

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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.

Palazzo Vecchio – Apartments of the Priors (Florence, Italy)

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Audience Chamber – Magistrate’s Desk (ca. mid-16th century, walnut, on permanent loan from State Archives of Florence, 1918)

The Apartments of the Priors, like those making up the adjacent Apartments of Eleonora of Toledo, are situated in one of the oldest parts of the palace.  Built between the late 13th and early 14th centuries, it housed members of the body governing the Florentine Republic which, at the time, consisted of the eight elected priori or priors (two for each of the four quarters of Florence, they were all obliged to reside permanently in the palace for the duration of their two-month mandate), the Gonfalonier of Justice (Gonfaloniere di Giustizia, the “Standard Bearer of Justice”) who acted as the figurehead of the state, two advisory bodies, the Twelve Wise Men and the Sedici Gonfalonieri, and two legislative bodies, the Consiglio del Popolo and the Consiglio del Commune.

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Hall of the Lilies – Bronze Statue of Judith and Holofernes (Donatello)

Though their private quarters were renovated by Duke Cosimo I to become private chambers for his wife, Eleonora of Toledo, the public rooms now known as the Apartments of the Priors kept their more or less public character (Cosimo I de’ Medici simply had the walls of the Audience Chamber frescoed and a new room, currently the Hall of the Maps, built).

Audience Chamber

The Audience Chamber (Sala dell’Udienza) or Hall of Justice, containing the oldest decorations in the palace, was used to house the meetings of the six priori (guild masters of the arts) and granted audiences to subjects of Duke Cosimo I. Like the Hall of Lilies next door, it results from the partition of an existing hall as large as the whole of the Hall of the Two Hundred on the floor below.

It was split it into two separate chambers by a special wall, without real foundations, erected by Benedetto da Maiano between 1470 and 1472. Its carved coffer ceiling and frieze of painted wood, laminated with pure gold, was done, from 1470–1476, by Giuliano da Maiano (elder brother of Benedetto) and his assistants.

On his return from exile after his predecessor’s death, Duke Cosimo I had the walls frescoed, from 1543-1545, by Francesco de’ Rossi (also known as Francesco Salviati) with a decorative value representing Stories of Marcus Furius Camillus (a Roman general, mentioned in the writings of Plutarchus, who freed Rome from the Gaul in 390 BC). Since Salviati had his schooling in the circle around Raphael in Rome, these large frescoes are mirrored on Roman models and therefore not typical of Florentine art.

Carved coffer ceiling and frieze of painted wood

The marble door frame communicating with the Hall of Lilies, with the statue of Justice, was a marvel sculpted by brothers Giuliano and Benedetto da Maiano from 1476-1480.  The door with marquetry portraits of Dante and Petrarch was also done, from 1476-1480, by Giuliano and Benedetto da Maiano. Its inlaid woodwork (intarsia) was carved by Francesco di Giovanni (known as Del Francione ) based on a design by Sandro Botticelli.  The marble portal of the Chapel, with the Monogram of Christ, was based on a design by Baccio d’Agnolo (1529).

Chapel of the Priors

A small doorway leads into the adjoining small Chapel of the Signoria. In the 14th century, a chapel set aside for the Priors, dedicated to St. Bernard, was known to have existed but its precise original location is unknown. In 1511, at the time of the first Republic, Gonfaloniere Piero Soderini commissioned Baccio d’Agnolo to build the present chapel. In 1512, after the return of the Medici, building work continued.

The chapel contains a reliquary of St. Bernard. Here the priors, in the execution of their duties, used to supply divine aid. Thirty-two Latin inscriptions, from the Bible and Classical or early Christian writers, declaim the moral and religious principles that were supposed to guide the decisions of the government officials who gathered to pray here. Before he was hanged on the Piazza della Signoria and his body burned, Girolamo Savonarola said his last prayers in this chapel.

The dove of the Holy Spirit among the Apostles

On a background imitating gold mosaic, Ridolfo Bigordi (known as Ridolfo Ghirlandaio and son of the better known Domenico) decorated the on the walls and ceiling (its vaults echo the ceiling of Raphael’s Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican) of the chapel with marvelous frescoes featuring religious themes, scrolls, Florentine emblems and ornamental motifs.

The Holy Trinity and the Four Evangelists

The Holy Trinity, on the ceiling, and The Annunciation on the wall facing the altar, are of particular interest. The altar formerly had a painting (now on exhibition in the corridor of the Uffizi Gallery) representing the Holy Family by Mariano Graziadei da Pescia (a pupil of Ridolfo Ghirlandaio). Today, it has a good painting of St. Bernard by an unknown artist.

The chapel was also home to the archives and most precious objects in the Treasury of the Signoria.  Among its most treasured possessions, kept in the aumbry to the right of the altar, is the famous Digest of Justinian codex (533), which was removed from the city of Pisa, and a rare 9th century Greek evangelistary, as recorded by an inscription in the grille painted on the aumbry doors (now in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence).

Hall of Lilies

The Hall of the Lilies, like the Audience Chamber next door, also resulted from the partition of an existing hall into two separate chambers by Benedetto da Maiano between 1470 and 1472. The walls were intended to receive a cycle of Illustrious Men, models of civic virtue who were akin to the cycle that decorated the previous 14th century hall.

In 1482, the Signoria entrusted its decoration to Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Perugino, Biagio d’Antonio, Piero del Pollaiolo, some the greatest artists of the day, almost all of whom had recently returned from decorating the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

However, only Domenico Ghirlandaio completed the task and frescoed one of the walls (from 1482-1485) with the The Apotheosis of St. Zenobius (bishop and first patron saint and protector of Florence), depicting the saint between Saints Eugene and Crescentius and the Marzocco lion (the symbol of the city), and painted with a perspectival illusion of the background (where one can see the Cathedral, with Giotto’s original facade and bell tower). A bas-relief of the Madonna and Child can be found in the lunette above.

Carved coffer ceiling

This fresco is flanked, on both sides, by frescoes of famed Romans with Brutus, Gaius Mucius Scaevola and Camillus, on the left , and Decius, Scipio and Cicero on the right. Medallions of Roman emperors fill the spandrils between the sections. . The Statue of St. John the Baptist and Putti are all done by Benedetto da Maiano and his brother Giuliano.

The Angevin emblem, a fleur-de-lys (in gold leaf) on a blue ground surmounted by a red rake as a tribute to the French (longstanding defenders of Florentine freedom), by Bernardo di Stefano Rosselli in 1490, decorate the other three walls and the carved ceiling.  The door leading to the Audience Chamber, with the marquetry figures of poets Dante and Petrarch, are part of the unfinished project

Hall of Geographical Maps

The door in this wall, flanked by two dark marble pillars (originally from a Roman temple), leads to the Hall of Geographical Maps (Stanza della Guardaroba) or Wardrobe where the Medici Grand Dukes kept their precious belongings. In 1988, after its lengthy restoration, the (original) statue “Judith and Holofernes” by Donatello was given a prominent place in this room.

Model of the Pinnacle on the Tower

The cabinets and carved ceiling were done by Dionigi Nigetti. The cabinet doors are decorated with 53 remarkable maps, of scientific interest, and oil paintings by Fra Ignazio Danti (1563–1575), brother of the sculptor Vincenzo Danti and Dominican monk who followed the Ptolemaic system, while already using the new cartographical system of Gerardus Mercator, and Stefano Buonsignori (1575–1584). Of great historical interest, they give a good idea of the geographical knowledge in the 16th century. In the center of the room is the mappa mundi, a large globe ruined by excessive restorations.

The Old Chancellery, part of a section of the palace built in 1511 (at the time of Gonfaloniere Piero Soderini)  to link the building’s 14th century core with the Great Council Room (now Great Hall of the Five Hundred ), was erected towards the end of the 15th century.  During the time of Duke Cosimo de’ Medici and his successors, it became one of the rooms of the Wardrobe which housed the ruling family’s moveable possessions. The room is entered via a two-light window, set in the east wall of the Hall of Lilies, which formerly overlooked the Dogana (“Customs Courtyard”).

Old Chancellery

Originally having windows down both of its long sides, the room housed the office of the First Chancellor of the Republic, a figure who worked alongside the Gonfaloniere in running the palace. In 1511, the office was held by humanist Marcello Virglio Adriani. It was also the office of the great statesman and scholar Niccolo Machiavelli (author of such celebrated works as The Prince, the Mandragola and The Art of War) when he was Secretary of the Second Chancellery.  His polychrome terracotta bust, probably modeled on his death mask donated by collector Charles Loeser, and his portrait are by Santi di Tito, placed here in the last century to recall the room’s original function. On the pedestal in the center of the room is the famous Winged Boy with a Dolphin by Verrocchio, brought to this room from the First Courtyard.

The reassembled Study Room, used by Cellini to restore the treasures of the Medici princes, was where, from the little window in the wall, Cosimo I spied on his ministers and officers, during meetings in the Salone dei Cinquecento. It later became a museum of Mannerist paintings.

Apartments of the Priors: 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.

Palazzo Vecchio – Apartments of Eleonora (Florence, Italy)

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Private Chapel of Eleonora of Toledo – Deposition of Christ (Bronzino, oil on wood)

The Apartments of Eleonora, part of the original core of the building, was erected between the late 13th and mid-14th centuries. For two centuries, they housed the private apartments of the members of the medieval city government, the Guild Priors and the Gonfalonier of Justice, who resided in isolation in the palace for the duration of their mandate.

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Room of Esther. On the upper right is a copy of the oil on panel painting “Battle of Anghiari” done by an unknown artist (after Leonardo da Vinci, 1505-1563?). It is on permanent loan from the State Art Galleries of Florence (1930)

In 1540, when Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici moved his court into the palace, he assigned these apartments to his wife Eleonora di Toledo (the daughter of Don Pedro de Toledo, viceroy of Naples) whom he had married the year before. All the members of the duke’s family had their private rooms in this wing of the building. Cosimo’s rooms were on the first floor while the children’s rooms were located above Eleonora’s apartments.

Cabinet with Mythological Themes

Under the direction of Battista del Tasso, work began at once on converting the apartments into the duchess’s private rooms and it included the construction of the famous private chapel frescoed by Agnolo di Cosimo (known as  Agnolo Bronzino). From 1561 to 1562, building continued under the artist Giorgio Vasari and his assistants, raising almost all the ceilings and decorating them in honor of Eleonora di Toledo with stories of classical heroines celebrated for “equalling men’s virtue,” when not actually surpassing it. The duchess lived barely long enough to see the work completed, dying of malaria in December 1562. The oil on wood paintings are by Giorgio Vasari and Giovanni Stradano while the gilded stucco and wood frames are by Battista Botticelli.

Green Room/Eleonora’s Study

The Green Room (Sala Verde), so-called because of the now lost (they have been replaced by a standard green hue) landscape paintings that once adorned its walls, was the first in a series of rooms which Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici decided to restructure when he moved into the palazzo. However, the grotesque decoration in the vault, based on Classical models and remarkable for the presence of numerous parrots and other species of birds, has survived. The room is thought to have originally resembled a kind of trompe l’oeil loggia.

Ceiling fresco at Green Room/Eleonora’s Study

Built between 1539 and 1540, it has decorations on the ceiling and walls by Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio (1540-1542), the painter responsible for decorating the Chapel of the Priors in the Palazzo some 30 years earlier.

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Set into the long wall of the Green Room is Eleonora’s Study, a small room thought have been used as a study or writing room. After he had finished decorating in fresco the walls of the Audience Chamber in the adjacent Apartments of the Priors, Francesco Salviati decorated the ceiling with grotesque work and with small mythological scenes of Roman inspiration (ca. 1545-1548).

The Private Chamber of Eleanora was one of the private rooms of Eleonora of Toledo, wife of Cosimo I de’ Medici. The paintings are by the Flemish painter Jan Stradan (better known under his Italian name Giovanni Stradano) while against the wall is a cabinet with Florentine mosaic designs. Originally called the “Room of Gualdrada,” the ceiling painting depicts Gualdrada refusing to kiss Emperor Otto IV, an episode that extols the virtues of purity and modesty.

According to tradition, Gualdrada, a beautiful Florentine girl who lived in the 12th century and whom Dante mentions in the Divine Comedy, disobeyed her father’s command to allow Emperor Otto IV, who was visiting Florence, to kiss her. She objected that she would only allow her future husband to do so.

The ceiling painting is also an allegory that alludes to the independence of the city of Florence. The bond between Gualdrada and Florence is highlighted by the decoration in the frieze showing views of the city and its traditional festivities.

Private Chapel of Eleonora of Toledo

The adjoining, richly decorated private chapel of the Duchess Eleonora of Toledo, on the right, was built by walling off the first bay of an existing room (1539-1540).  It was frescoed by Mannerist Agnolo Bronzino at intervals between 1540 and 1565.

Miracle of Spring and The Gathering of Manna

One of the loftiest masterpieces of Florentine Mannerism, it celebrates the Medici dynasty in a complex iconographical program built around the Eucharist (in other words, Christ who died to save mankind). The frescoes in the vault refer to the Apocalypse.

Crossing of the Red Sea (Bronzino)

Another of Bronzino’s other masterpieces included Crossing the Red Sea.  The room’s small door indicates the beginning of the Vasari corridor, a passageway to the Palazzo Pitti built by Vasari for Cosimo I.

The dialogue between the altarpiece, with its Deposition, and the three walls, with their stories of Moses, presaging Christ’s sacrifice and the mystery of the Eucharist, points to the link between the Old and New Testaments. Over time (1545-1564), Agnolo Bronzino himself changed the three oil-on-panel paintings on the back wall with a large Pietà.

The present Deposition replaced an earlier, almost identical version which Cosimo gave to Emperor Charles V’s secretary (Besançon, Musée des Beaux-Arts); the panels with the Annunciation replaced a St John the Baptist (Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum) and a St Cosmas (fragment in a private collection).

Miracle of the Brazen Serpent

The ceiling frescoes features a head with three faces (symbolizing the Holy Trinity), St Michael the Archangel defeating the Devil, St John the Evangelist, St Jerome Penitent, St Francis receiving the stigmata, and the Cardinal virtues.

The Room of the Sabines, so named because of the ceiling decoration was, at one time, used for the ladies-in-waiting at the court of Eleonora di Toledo. It contains Portraits of Medici Princes (a painting by Justus Sustermans), statues by a Florentine art school and a tapestry by Fevère.

Latin historian Livy tells us that, after founding Rome, King Romulus deceitfully abducted the womenfolk of the neighboring Sabine tribes and brought them to his new city. The Sabines declared war on Rome, but their women, led by Ersilia (who had married Romulus), averted the clash between the two peoples by entering the fray and calling for peace.

Paneled ceiling of the Room of the Sabines

The episode, depicted in the center of the ceiling, celebrates the womanly virtue of mediation and features the Sabine women making peace between their own people and the Romans.

The Room of Esther celebrates Eleonora of Toledo in her role as duchess.  It’s ceiling depicts Esther begging Ahasuerus to halt the massacre of the Jews.

 

According to the Biblical book of Esther, after he repudiated Vashti, Persian King Ahasuerus chose Esther, a young Jewish girl of rare beauty, for his wife.  On the advice of his aide Haman, Ahasuerus ordered the Jews’ destruction, unaware that his new wife was a Jewess. By interceding with her husband, Esther saved her people. The decoration of the room

Esther begging Ahasuerus to halt the massacre of the Jews

The Dining Room, containing a lavabo and two tapestries by Van Assel representing Spring and Autumn, has a ceiling with the Coronation of Esther, decorated by Stradano, with an inscription in honor of Eleonora di Toledo.

Room of Penelope

The Room of Penelope has a ceiling depicting Penelope at the Loom surrounded by River Gods in the center, celebrating marital fidelity and extolling the role of the woman who attends to matters at home while her husband is away at war.

In the Odyssey, the poet Homer tells us that during the long voyage of Ulysses (also called Odysseus), king of Ithaca, his wife Penelope managed to avoid remarrying by postponing her choice of suitor until she had finished a piece of cloth which she wove during the day and secretly unraveled at night.

Penelope at the loom, surrounded by river gods

The frieze shows the adventures of Ulysses on his way home from the Trojan War, listed here in the order in which Homer tells them. The Madonna and Child and a Madonna and Child with St. John by Botticelli are on the walls.

The Madonna and Child and a Madonna and Child with St. John (Sandro Botticelli)

Apartments of Eleonora: 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.