Florence & Tuscany Guide / Museums / Palazzo Vecchio

A Vibrant Energy

Enter a theatre of elaborate and beautiful statues and be dazzled by the sense of energy and vitality that flows from them. Walk into a courtyard built with elegance and structured skill and look up at massive pillars that are eight feet in circumference. The Palazzo Vecchio, home of the famous Medici family stands on the Piazza della Signoria, in Florence with its superb battlements and its bell tower built by Arnolfo. Imagine a world of elegant royalty, rich ministers and an exquisitely frescoed palace and sculpt the mind with the triumph of noble families.

Feel the essence of strength and antiquity as you view the façade of the palace. Transport yourself back in time and go back to the past to the original National Palace built in 1299. Structured by Arnolfo Lapo, the palace was supposed to play the dual role of a residence for magistrates and also a place for public meetings. But Arnolfo’s creative design was finally approved and applied though he met with incredible problems. Designed as a town hall and created like a fortress, The Palazzo Vecchi was habited in 1540, by the entire Medici clan for nine years before they moved to the Palazzo Pitti, claiming that the Palazzo Vecchio was too small for them!

With one of the most arresting Squares, the Palazzo Vecchio known as the ‘Old Palace’ was built to house the loyal republican Government as the foundation of the ‘Signoria’. The Palazzo Medici with its awesome tower is the main building in the Piazza della Signoria that showcases a number of salons and chambers which are held as a tribute to the exotic Medici family with tributes and accolades portraying the royalty behind the family. Explore the 15th century Audience Room and the Room of the Lilies with the inner courtyard decorated with Verocchio’s refreshing Putto fountain with stone lions and the famous ‘Genius of Victory’ by the eternal Michaelangelo. Pretend you are the glamorous Eleanora di Toledo and enter her rooms full of splendor and rich décor. Travel to the old times seeking treasures guided by Fra’ Ignazio Danti who painted 57 maps in 1563 in the Sala della Carte.

Mesmerizing, Mysterious, Magical

Walk down secret walkways, and discover that Palazzo Vecchio is connected with the Pitti Palace as you go down the Vasari Corridor that passes through the Uffizi. Enjoy a romantic stroll over the Ponte Vecchio and cross over to the other side of the River Arno. Vasari designed this special corridor after the Medici clan moved to the Pitti palace. Don’t be disappointed if you cannot visit all the rooms of the Palazzo Vecchio as some of them have been converted into offices of the City Council. But most of the rooms can be viewed at your leisure. But come and experience the spirit of reincarnation and you can actually imagine Eleanora straightening her cosmetics and touching her precious collection of jewelry! Pass on to the Hall of the Five Hundred and see it thronged with noble men. Visit the residence of the Priors and the chambers of Leo X now converted into the reception rooms of the Mayor and the council men. The hall of the Two Hundred is also changed into the meeting room of the council.

Pass through a lovely court and see the ‘Termini of Marble’ by Bandinelli painted at the entrance which also hosts huge expressive statues, one of them being the slaying of Cacus by Hercules by V.Rossi of Fiesole who was Bandinelli’s pupil. Walk into an exquisitely decorated apartment and let its light make your soul glow. Touch the marble statues and let the painted walls decorate the mind with its crafted architecture and style. Notice the architecture of days gone by and see beautifully outfitted apartments proportioned to perfection. Walk up staircases that are hidden behind fabulous paintings that lead to the private quarters of the renowned Duke Cosimo. As an interesting fact, you will be greeted by a guide dressed as the elegant Eleonora waiting to lead you into her lovely home that takes you back into the rich and passionate lives of the Florentines and give yourself an excellent expedition into the Monumental Apartments.

As you look across the apartment, a great platform surrounds it from which one is amazed by the view of the floor below which takes you to the rich culture of the Florentines. Take the stairs and view with the mind’s eye a passionate and involved generation rushing around trying to preserve the great talent, honor and wealth of a great city. Come down to the massive hall that is 150 feet in length and 60 feet wide with a ceiling that seems to go on forever. Go on and take a look at incredible frescoes on the walls by Vasari, the artist and sculptor. Filled with scenes of valor and chivalry and fair women, the walls take on the hues of courage punctuated with the ambience of the victorious battles of the Florentines. The eye traverses a great length to a rich array of oil paintings with fabulous colors with gilded frames, joists and beams. Life sized figures, in Vasari’s own proud words in which he quoted that he took only two days to fresco.

A trip to eternity

As the imagination takes wing, you come across a range of statues that seem real and life-like. Crossing over to the great platform at the entrance of an impressive doorway, Bandinelli’s expression of the royalty of yore takes shape with Pope Clement the Seventh who is seen sitting about to crown Charles the Fifth who is kneeling waiting to take on the responsibility of caring for his country. Continuing with the same effect of the rich tales of olden days, Bandinelli has sculpted Pope Leo the Tenth taking in the artful ambience with statues of Pietro and Alessandro di Medici at his side. Rossi, the sculptor bent on Bandinelli’s pursuit of representing the great men of those times has crafted the statues of Roman Generals in their rich regalia which are actually the Medici tribe of Cosimo, Pater Prince and Cosimo the first, Grand Duke of Florence.

Go up to the first floor and see the grand Salone dei Cinquecento with work by Cronaca (1495), built for the General Council of the People with the change in the state reforms brought about by Girolamo Savonarola. Fra Girolamo Savonarola was the friar who supervised the ‘Bonfire of Vanities’ and was later imprisoned for it. Peek into the past and see the vast halls come to life with rich work by Michaelangelo and Leonardo. An interesting fact leads up to Leonardo da Vinci who painted one of the long halls of the Palazzo Vecchio with scenes from battlefields. Always experimenting with different mediums, he mixed wax with his color pigments and since it did not dry fast enough, he tried to dry it with braziers filled with hot coals and to everybody’s horror, the wax melted in myriad colors which ran down the walls! And as for Michaelangelo, he barely started his drawings of the frescoes which he was supposed to paint on the opposite wall, when Pope Julius II requested him to come to Rome to adorn the Sistine Chapel. Michaelangelo’s sketches were torn apart by the young artists and the pieces were taken away by them! So finally Vasari and his pupils were called in to finish the frescoes and paintings.

Go into the past with artistic and valued work by Vasari and his pupils to the second half of the 16th century. Look up to the platform with statues by Bandinelli and Caccini and let your mind traverse the entire length of the paneled ceiling and the lovely frescoes which depict a memorable and historical past and the aesthetic sense of the Medici family. Take a bold step and step in to the exquisite Studiolo of Francis I that is considered a precious gem of Mannerism art, where the Prince in 1570 went discreetly to look at his fabulous collection of jewels and priceless art which he treasured with passion. Studiolo di Francesco I comprises of a gloomy room where the eldest son of Cosimo conducted his experiments in alchemy and science with baroque paintings that covered cupboards hidden in secret places. Now experience the feeling of ownership and possession as you travel to each of the rooms where the noble personalities retired or spent their leisure time. The first floor beautifully frescoed takes you into the suite of rooms occupied by Cosimo the Elder, Lorenzo and Leo X. Come down to the second floor and find the lovely Quarter of the Elements and the apartments of Eleonora di Toledo in all its glory. Pray at the exquisitely wrought chapel of the princess and imagine a host of handmaidens waiting to help you up from your prayer stool.

An infinite penchant for art

The Rossi family talented with an artistic penchant has exhibited their talents in the Labors of Hercules. Exquisite and wrought with an imaginative energy the eye takes in the sculptures of Hercules and Antaus and Hercules and the Centaur that transports the mind to a mythical world of mystery. Absorb the spirit of courage and bravery as the Centaur tries to kick Hercules as he raises his club to give it that final blow. You will be torn with sympathy and moved to tears with the sculpture of Hercules slaying the demi-god, Cacus, as he gives in to the death that Hercules is bestowing on him! Move on to the statue of the Roman General that holds the mind with its exquisitely carved helmet and the cloak that depicts a rich tapestry woven to perfection and represented in marble.

Get ready for a breathtaking journey into the world of the maestro, Michaelangelo. Follow his aesthetic path and take in the ‘Genius of Victory’. Marvelous and graceful, the sculpture depicts a youth who is half turned, giving the impression that the figure is almost spiraling with realistic looking drapery that falls in delicate folds. The kneeling figure lies in total abandon giving in to the statue of Victory that holds you in complete awe at the intricacy of work and the fabulous talent and imagination behind this majestic work of art. You will thank your lucky stars that you chose to come to Florence to be rewarded with such fantastic sights. If you are an artist or sculptor or an artistic tourist, the Palazzo Vecchio holds the secrets of exactly what you have been yearning for. Take in the noble Grecian statues with an aura of dignity and cosmic power. Bandinelli has poured all his passion into his statues of Adam and Eve that towers with a massive and realistic portrayal. The hall seems to be a veritable fairy land with its never-ending flow of marble with its rich splendor of frescoes and sculptures that assault the senses into a state of a ‘Never Never Land’. But fortunately all of this talent is true as you take in the splendid culture of Florence, the tradition of the noble Medici family who were fortunate to have the genius of Michaelangelo.

The last juncture of your explosive journey into the world of Florentine art and sculpture blended with the sands of time take you to the vast Loeser collection donated by Charles Loeser, the American art critic before he died in 1928, to the Town of Florence. The last part of the monumental apartments showcase the Tuscan paintings and sculptures of the 14th and 16th centuries with expressive works of Tino da Camaino, Berruguets, Rustici, Bronzino and Cellini. Witness a host of mesmerizing works of art by Vasari, Ghirlandaio, Francesco Salviati and Bronzino with their wonderful frescoes and go into a land where reality combines with make believe. The Sala dei Gigli proudly exhibits Domenico Ghirlandaio’s fresco of Saint Zenobius with heroes of the past and Donatello’s Judith and Holfernes a bronze which was sculpted in 1455, as one of his last works.

The sculptural masterpieces of the Renaissance reveal Perseus by Benvenuti Cellini, which is world famous and Giambologna’s Rape of the Sabine Woman, Giorgio Vasari’s Perseus and Andromeda, Vasari’s Capturing Siena and Verocchio’s Angel with Dolphin. The Palazzo Vecchio invites you to evolve with its heavenly treasures with the Activities Tour which takes you to Secret Routes with an Invitation to the Court tours. So come and enjoy a trip to the past on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 9 p. m. to 7 p. m. and on Thursday, Sunday and Holidays from 9 a. m. to 2 p. m. for just at a cost of Euro 6.

Go on an eternal adventure and discover the mysteries that clear the mists of time…