Home Cuisine Landscape and nature Architecture and art Sport Accommodation Visiting Gadget Learning Arts and Crafts The way we were Organized tours Home Cucina Paesaggio e natura Arti e Mestieri Sport Accoglienza Visitare Gadget A scuola di... Architettura e arte Come eravamo Tour organizzati
Italiano
English
Visiting
Visiting
Visita il Mugello, culla dei Medici, a due passi da Firenze e le bellezze toscane
 

Visiting Tuscany

 

 
 

Palazzo Vecchio

The foundations of the palace designed by Arnolfo di Cambio were laid in February 1299. The main facade and the 94-metre tower had already been completed by 1302, but the rear of the building was constructed and amplified in various periods through to the final modifications made by Ammannati in 1588. It was originally conceived of as the residence and offices of the Priori and the Gonfaloniere di Giustizia, who were commonly called "Signori". They held office for two months during which time they were obliged to live prevalently in the palace following severe rules similar to those of a convent community.

The name of this palace has changed names a number of times; initially known as the "Palatium Populi" ("Palagio" in spoken language), it was later called the "Palazzo della Signoria". In 1540 it was renamed "Palazzo Ducale" when Duke Cosimo I took power, and only later did it become known as "Palazzo Vecchio". When Firenze was the capital of Italy from 1865 to 1871, it was the seat of the Parliament.

There have been few changes to the exterior over the last seven centuries, but the interior has changed appearance a number of times. At the end of the 1400s, when Savonarola was in power, he had the famous Salone dei Cinquecento built where the 500-hundred strong people's council could meet to deliberate. Later, under the rule of Cosimo I, Vasari transformed it in honour of his rise to power with frescoes of the Florentine victories over other Tuscan cities. In 1454, Michelozzo rebuilt the austere medieval courtyard of the palace in the style of the early Renaissance. A hundred years later, Vasari embellished it with gilded stuccoes and frescoes with images of the principal cities of the Habsburg empire in honour of Giovanna of Austria, wife of Francesco De' Medici. At the centre of the courtyard there is a small fountain, the Putto with Dolphin (now a copy) by Verrocchio, positioned on a porphyry basin by Francesco Ferrucci. Around about 1550, Duke Cosimo came to live in the palace together with his family and had it altered to suit his needs by Vasari, who created meeting rooms and family apartments and engaged numerous artists of the age to assist him.

Only some of the artistic treasures of Palazzo Vecchio can be described here. Besides the Salone dei Cinquecento, there is the Studiolo di Francesco I, an extremely atmospheric room shaped like a Florentine chest, without windows and entirely frescoed by various artists. Francesco spent a great deal of time here immersed in his scientific studies. The Sala dei Gigli, with a beautiful entrance portal and a coffered ceiling, was the work of Benedetto and Giuliano da Maiano; inside there is the original of the Donatello bronze entitled Judith and Holofernes, which was commissioned by Cosimo il Vecchio. The room is decorated with gold lilies on a sky blue background (hence the name), which do not refer, as one might imagine, to the symbol of Firenze, but to the French lilies of the Anjou, protectors of the Guelph clan.

The Sala delle Udienze, together with the Sala dei Gigli, once formed a single large room used for meetings of the Priori and for court sessions. The artist Giuliano da Maiano decorated both the coffered ceiling and the marble portal with the stem of the Florentine people. The frescoes in this room were done by Salviati.
Today Palazzo Vecchio is the seat of Firenze City Council and many parts of it can be visited by the public.

Picture by Sandro Santioli
Translated by Jeremy Carden

 
 
 
   
 
return to top of page
   
       
  Terra di Toscana

© All rights reserved Polimedia di Laura Fumoni
Via Landucci 39 - 50136 - Firenze - P.IVA 06790950486 - REA C.C.I.A.A. FIRENZE N. 656544
Press registration n. 5528 10/11/2006 - Editor Polimedia

 
  Advertising | About us | Contacts | Site search | Copyright | Privacy | Cookie policy