Palace sights in Florence
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Palazzo Pitti
Begun in 1458 for the Pitti family, rivals of the Medici, the original nucleus of this palace took up the space encompassing the seven sets of windows on the 2nd and 3rd storeys. Cosimo I and Eleonora di Toledo acquired the palace in 1549 and it remained the official residence of Florence’s rulers until 1919, when the Savoys handed it over to the state.
The ground-floor Museo degli Argenti often has no silver on display. Go figure. Come instead to see the elaborately frescoed audience chambers, which host temporary exhibitions.
Raphaels and Rubens vie for centre stage in the enviable collection of 16th- to 18th-century art amassed by the Medici and Lorraine dukes in the…
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Cappella dei Magi
Also known as Capella di Benozzo, this tiny chapel flaunts a series of wonderfully detailed serene frescoes (1459) by Benozzo Gozzoli, a pupil of Fra Angelico. The ostensible theme of Journey of the Magi is but a slender pretext for portraying members of the Medici clan in their best light; try to spy Lorenzo il Magnifico, Cosimo il Vecchio and the artist’s self-portrait in the crowd. Only eight visitors are allowed in at a time for a maximum of just seven minutes; reserve your slot in advance at the palace ticket desk.
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C
Palazzo Vecchio
The seat of city government since the 1300s, this fortress-palace, with its soaring 94m-high Torre d’Arnolfo, is synonymous with Florence itself. Medici dukes turned the medieval building into a Renaissance palace in the 1500s, filling it with art and frescoes that still grace its labyrinth of rooms. Spring for the guided ‘secret passage’ (€2) tour, which takes you backstage into the Medici’s private digs. There are also good tours for children that include costumed re-enactments of Medici court life.
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