| PITTI PALACE · MEDICI CHAPEL · UFFIZI · FLORENCE DOME · PALAZZO SIGNORIA | |
| In the second half of the 15th century, the banker Luca Bonaccorso Pitti commissioned this palace to Filippo Brunelleschi, situated in the first great square in the area that the Florentines call “Di là d’Arno” or “beyond the Arno” at the feet of Boboli hill. This Palace has a long history with various works and extensions which have lasted throughout four centuries. The present version of Palazzo Pitti is larger than the original, which consisted of two floors covered with rustic stone ashlars. The Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders, all helped to enrich this architectural Renaissance style of austere and balance. Cosimo I, of the Medici family, purchased the Palace in 1550 with the intention of a new residence and in 1558, he charged Bartolomeo Ammannati to do work on refining aspects which also included the addition of large windows in the facade called inginocchiate, and the creation of the courtyard. The creation and construction of the Great Garden Boboli, named for by the homonymous hill, was commissioned out to Niccolò Tribolo. The addition of a vast corridor for the family, so as to be able to walk from the Palazzo to the Piazza Signoria protected from the dangers of an attack, was built in 1565 by Vasari. The halls of entertainment in the summertime residence on the ground floor were decorated during the period of Grand Duke Ferdinando II. Also for the event of his wedding to Vittoria della Rovere, which was to take place in his winter residence, the first floor was also decorated. Great artists such as Giovanni da Sangiovanni and Pietro da Cortona were summoned to render the palace breathtakingly royal with their extraordinary works. At the end of the 18th century, the final addition was made to the building which was the Palazzina della Meridiana, commissioned out to Gaspare Maria Paoletti and Pasquale Poccianti by Pietro Leopoldi and done in neo-classical style. Through time Palazzo Pitti has assumed different functions, but today is the seat of important museums.  |
 PITTI PALACE |
| You can find the Medici Chapels inside the basilica of San Lorenzo, which was the church considered by the Medici’s to be their own private one and located in front of the residence on what is now Via Cavour.
Begun in 1520 as a personal sepulchre, Cardinal Giulio de’Medici future Pope Clemente VII and Leone X, involved Michelangelo Buonarroti in the project of the Sacrestia Nuova, a chapel en pendant with the Sacrestia Vecchia by Filippo Brunelleschi, where distinguished members of the Medici family would be buried. The works were finally completed in 1546 by Giorgio Vasari after Michelangelo left Florence for Rome in 1534. The Chapel was initially projected to provide for the tombs of Lorenzo il Magnifico, of his brother Giuliano de' Medici, of Lorenzo the Duke of Urbino (Piero's son, the eldest son of Lorenzo) and of Giuliano the Duke of Nemours (the third son of the Magnifico): the two Magnifici and the two Capitani. In the end only the tombs of the Capitani were completed. On the left of the altar is the sepulchre of Lorenzo Duke of Urbino, whom, in the act of reflecting, was defined by Vasari as il Pensieroso (the thoughtful); beneath him are, set over the volutes of the sepulchre, the symbolizations of il Crepuscolo (dusk), characterized in the face by the famous uncompleted typical of Michelangelo, and l'Aurora (dawn), of which the plastic force reveals the interest cultivated by the artist towards anatomical studies. In front of it, there is the sepulchre of Giuliano, the symbol of active life, with the swagger-cane in his hand and, underneath it, il Giorno (the Day) and la Notte (the Night). This statue created by Michelangelo in 1521 and placed above the sarcophagus of the two Magnifici represents, in fact, the spiritual mainstay of the Chapel and is surrounded by the statues of the two patron saints of the Medici family: on the right Cosma, produced by Montorsoli in 1537, and on the left Damiano, created by Raffaele da Montelupo in 1531. |
 MEDICI CHAPEL |
| The Uffizi Palace is one of the most admired monuments of Florence, a masterpiece of inestimable value Designed by Giorgio Vasari around the middle of the 16th century the Palace was commissioned by Cosimo I. Sadly, some of the surrounding buildings needed to be demolished to make space for the realization of this project, including the church of San Pier Scheraggio. The Palace was built with the intention of hosting the thirteen administrative Uffizi, meaning judicial magistrate, and therefore is derived its name. When Vasari died, before the completion of the Palace, the job was given to Buontalenti and Alfonso Parigi. In 1586, the Teatro Mediceo was projected by Buontalenti at the will of Francesco I, the son of Cosimo I. This theatre also served as the seat of the senate while Florence was the capital of Italy. The building is U shaped or “horseshoe” has two floors and opens up towards the Arno River. A large corridor with six high arched windows overlooking the courtyard and the Arno conjoins the two bodies of the building which are parallel. In the portico which runs along the whole length of the Palace and sustained by pillars, you can find statues of famous Florentines in all the niches representing the time period from the Middle Ages up to the 19th century. The Uffizi Gallery, the famous museum hosted inside the Palace, is one of the most admired and visited museums in the world, housing great works of art and history from the 13th to the 18th centuries. In 1993 the Accademia dei Georgofili in the Palazzo was involved in a terrorist bombing attack undergoing damage and losses of inestimable value. After a long work of restoration, the Palazzo was returned to its original splendour. |
 UFFIZI PALACE AND MUSEUM |
| In the history of the Cathedral or Duomo of Florence there are six centuries of work. The original project was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio at the end of the 13th century, while the cupola was created by the artist Filippo Brunelleschi, the renowned artist of the Renaissance period. The facade however, that completed this magnificent work of architecture was carried out as late as the 19th century. Enriching the history of this monument there is a series of both exterior and interior interventions both decorative and structural, as well as the construction of two sacristies early on to the 16th century marble floors, the execution of the sculptures to the frescoes signed by Paolo Uccello, Andrea del Castagno, Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari (the Last Judgement in the cupola). Seat of the bishopric, this Cathedral was the third and last to be built in Florence in 1412 and given the name Santa Maria del Fiore or “Holy Mary of the Flower” in allusion to the lily symbol of the city. The Duomo was built on the top of Florence’s second Cathedral, Santa Reparata, when in 1293, the Florence Republic decided to replace this church with a larger and more magnificent cathedral and were also willing to fund its construction and therefore Santa Reparata was later demolished in 1375. A large part of the remains of this church can be seen today in the archaeological area underneath the Cathedral. The costs of the works of reconstruction however were also expected to be partly contributed by the population itself. A tax was put on all last wills and testaments which was in turn put towards the construction of the Cathedral. In 1294 the project was ultimately assigned to Arnolfo di Cambio and the first stone was ceremoniously laid by him on September 8th, 1296. Head Architect of the City Council, Arnolfo was already revolutionizing the Franciscan basilica of Santa Croce. The basilica was indeed of grandeur with three wide naves that meet in the vast chancel where the high altar stands and surrounded by the “trefoil” shaped tribune on which the cupola rests. Arnolfo spent his last years working on completing the two bays and the new facade which were only finished halfway. Like that of the Baptistery, the diameter of the Dome was projected to be 45.5 meters. Arnolfo worked on the Cathedral up until his death in 1302, but four years earlier had already begun work on the construction of Palazzo Vecchio as well. After the death of Arnolfo, the work grounded to a halt. In 1334 Giotto was named to oversee further construction but died shortly after in 1337. Most of this time was dedicated to the building of his bell-tower. Work was then succeeded by Andrea Pisano, author of the South Doors of the Baptistery, up until 1348 when the terrible plague reduced the population in half from 90,000 to 45,000. The bell-tower was finally completed in 1359 after 10 years of work overseen by Francesco Talenti. In 1360 a new project was begun with the collaboration of Giovanni di Lapo Ghini. The project saw the division of the centre nave into four square bays, with fewer windows than the original design by Arnolfo, and with two lateral bays. By 1370 the project was already well advanced, although Giovanni di Lapo Ghini had left, and a new project for the apse to amplify Arnolfo’s “trefoil”. In 1375 Santa Reparata was taken down which indicated that Santa Maria del Fiore was now ready to be the new cathedral of Florence. |
 FLORENCE DOME |
| A creation which began during the Middle Ages, Piazza della Signoria has been the centre of Florentine politics since early in the republic's history. It was in 1268 when the Guelf party, made up of primarily of a cultured middle-class with commercial origins, once again gained control and decided to take down the houses of their Florentine rivals the Ghibelline. Upon the ruins of the 36 houses that were demolished this famous “L” shape square became history. No other buildings were ever constructed to take their place and this is also why the buildings around the square are unaligned.
The square's name actually derives from the Palace, designed by Arnolfo di Cambio in 1298, where the government of the Republic (called the "Signoria") resided. The palace continued to maintain its political function in Florence during the reign of the Medici and later under Duke Cosimo I, who resided there between 1540 and 1565. It was during this time that Giorgio Vasari was commissioned to double the building in size. Later when the Grand Duke and his family decided to move to the new Pitti Palace in 1565, Palazzo della Signoria began to be known as Palazzo Vecchio. Certainly not only the civil centre of Florence but one of the most visited open air attractions of the city where the Uffizi and Loggia dei Lanzi can be found containing numerous works of art. A number of sculptures are on display under the elegant arches of the loggia which were erected for the public ceremonies of the Signoria. First, there are the six Roman staties against the wall in back representing heroines. There is also the RAPE OF POLISSENA, a 19th century work by Pio Fedi. HERCULES AND THE CENTAUR is by Giambologna. To the sides of the loggia there are two masterpieces: PERSEUS WITH THE HEAD OF MEDUSA by Benvenuto Cellini and the RAPE OF THE SABINES by Giambologna. The statues in the square deserve a chapter all to themselves. Apart from the great sculptures lined up in front of the facade of Palazzo Vecchio including probably the most famous which is the copy of David by Michelangelo replacing the original in tha late last century. In front of the fountain of Neptune by Ammannati a round marble plaque on the ground marks the exact site where the Dominican monk Fra Girolamo Savonarola, after being tortured on the rack for weeks in the palace, was hung and burned along with two other brothers on the 23rd of May, 1948. The square is bordered by a series of houses that date from the 14th-16th centuries, among them the Tribunal of the Mercanzia (1359, an ancient court of justice that dealt in commercial matters), and 16th century Palazzo Uguccioni, whose facade is thought to have been designed by Raphael. The palace containing the Alberto Della Ragione Collection, which the Genoan collector donated to the City Council (1970), stands at number 5. Its 21 rooms contain 250 Italian paintings from the period between 1910-1950. The huge palace of the Assicurazioni Generali, built in Renaissance style in 1871, stands on the sites of the ancient Loggia of the Pisans and the church of Santa Cecilia. In 1980 when the square was repaved, substantial remains of many of the buildings that stood here in antiquity were discovered. After studies were done by the Board of Architectural Assets the area was confirmed as being the site of the first human settlement, that was founded across the Arno, while the Neolithic remains that were discovered dated back even earlier than the foundation of the Roman city. In addition a great many remains of Roman Florence were found underneath the mediaeval houses, including some thermal baths and a workshop for the dying of cloth. The presence of this type of production shows that, long before the enormous development in the 12th-13th centuries that brought so much wealth to the "city of the Flower" and allowed it to finance all its artistic masterpieces, this activity was already playing an extremely important part in the history and economy of the city. |
 PALAZZO DELLA SIGNORIA |
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