The Palazzo Pitti in Florence is the largest palace in the city and an outstanding architectural monument of the Early Renaissance. It is located on the south side of the Arno River, not far from the oldest Florentine bridge Ponte Vecchio. The original core of the present palazzo dates from 1458 and was built for the residence of the ambitious Florentine banker Luca Pitti. The palace is considered the largest museum complex in Florence, which houses a unique collection of masterpieces of world art. Its main building is 32,000 m² and is divided into several main exhibition galleries, each of which presents a special theme.
It is located in Florence Palazzo Pitti at the address: Piazza Pitti, 1 (the first number in Piazza dei Pitti, in the historic city quarter of Oltrarno). Gvicchardini Street leads to the Palace Square from Ponte Vecchio.
Short story
The construction of the palace began in 1458 by one of the Florentine bankers Luca Pitti, who was considered a friend, supporter and at the same time rival Cosimo Medici, very powerful in Italy and the richest politician and businessman in Europe. Not wanting to concede in luxury and scope to the Medici palaces, the vain Pitti intended to erect a grand residence. He ordered that even the windows of the new palace exceed the size of the entrance to the palace of his competitor. Work ceased when Pitti suffered financial losses after the death in 1464 of Cosimo de Medici. Six years later, Luke himself died, leaving the grandiose building incomplete.
Eleanor of Toledo, wife of the Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I, a descendant of the youngest branch of the Medici, in 1549 bought the palace from the ruined heir Luke Pitti. By order of the new owner, the building was completed and doubled by the architect Vasari, who also built a covered road, passing from the old Palazzo Cosimo and the residence of the government to the Palazzo Pitti. The path passed through the Uffizi Gallery and the Ponte Vecchio bridge and over time was called the Vasari Corridor. However, the palace became the official residence of the Medici only under Ferdinand I, the son of Eleanor and Cosimo. Then the Palazzo Pitti in Florence turned into a family treasury of jewelry, works of art, historical rarities. The owners bought the surrounding land of Boboli Hill, where a garden and park area surrounding the amphitheater was designed.
When, after 1737, the Medici clan, having no descendants, broke off, Palazzo Pitti moved to the Lorraine house, the new dukes of Tuscan. During the conquest of Italy by Napoleon Bonaparte, the palace briefly became the residence of the French emperor. After Tuscany passed to the Savoy dynasty, from 1860 the Palazzo Pitti also left this powerful family. The Palace of Florence until 1871 served as the main royal court of Victor Emanuel II, the monarch of the newly united Italy. And since 1919, the palazzo with all its contents was presented to the Italian people by Victor Emmanuel III.
Architectural features
The artist and architect Giorgio Vasari, who was also a historical writer, indicated that Brunelleschi was the architect of the initial building. However, modern art historians know for certain that he died long before the start of the grand construction. Most likely, Luca Fanelli, a student of Brunelleschi, was responsible for the architecture of the Palazzo Pitti in Florence.
Whoever erected the palace, his plan was contrary to the building fashion of the Renaissance. The rough-hewn rusting of the masonry gives the palazzo a strong, powerful and even harsh atmosphere, backed up by a three-fold series of seven arched openings resembling a Roman aqueduct. This design, original for that period, has stood the test of time, and the style of the original facade was sustained during subsequent additions, which can be clearly seen in the photo of the Palazzo Pitti (Florence). A similar architecture, with the imitation of ancient masonry in the style of all'antica can be found in buildings of the XVI and XIX centuries. And one wing of the Königsbau royal residence in Munich was modeled after the Palazzo Pitti.
Museum
The colossal palace building and the Boboli Gardens are divided into five separate art galleries and expositions. The museum contains not only the original exhibits from the Medici collection, but also added priceless samples from other collections acquired by the state. In 140 halls open to the public, an interior is presented, which was mainly created during the 17th and early 18th centuries.
Today, the Palazzo Pitti in Florence is coordinated by the public institution Polo Museale Fiorentino, which operates twenty city museums, including the Uffizi Gallery. Amici di Palazzo Pitti, a voluntary organization founded in 1996, maintains close contact with the government department, which allocates funds, patronizes the palace collection and makes proposals for its routine maintenance. The palace is a permanent venue for important cultural events and temporary exhibitions. Despite its transformation from a royal residence into a public public building towering above old Florence, the palazzo still retains the atmosphere of a private collection in a large house.
Palatine Gallery
Here is one of the most important Italian collections of works of the XVI and XVII centuries, containing more than 500 paintings of the Renaissance. Most of the exhibits belonged to the Medici private collection, as well as their successors. In this part of the Palazzo Pitti, the works are in the position in which they were arranged by the former owners, and not in chronological order or in accordance with museum canons.
The 28 halls of the Galleria Palatina contain works by Raphael, Correggio, Titian, Perugino, Rubens, Caravaggio, Pietro da Cortona, Van Dyck, Filippo Lippi, and other famous painters. All rooms are richly furnished with rare elegant furniture and painted with mythological scenes, as well as the famous cycle of frescoes dedicated to the life and upbringing of the prince. The best rooms were decorated by artist-architect Pietro da Cortona. Over the frescoes “Four Eras of Humanity”, depicting the age of gold, silver, bronze and iron, the master worked from 1637 to 1641, and this work is considered his masterpiece.
Royal apartments
The 14 dwellings intended for the daily life of the Medici family, and then their receivers, were largely changed in the 19th century. Although most of the rooms are designed in the Empire style, there are still rooms in which the decoration and furniture of the Medici era have been preserved. The rooms contain a collection of their portraits. Unlike the large halls of the Palatine Gallery, the rooms of the Royal Apartments are much smaller, more intimate and more suitable for everyday needs. A similar setting, including four-poster beds and other furniture, cannot be seen elsewhere in the palazzo. The entire interior with magnificent gilded decoration of rooms impresses with luxury and grandeur.
Modern Art
This gallery of the Palazzo Pitti in Florence contains important works of Italian painting from the late XVIII - early XX centuries, presented in more than 30 rooms. The exposition was founded as a collection of the best works of the Academy of Arts and design contests, and then began to replenish with numerous city and private collections. Here is an excellent selection of Macchiola paintings and works by Giovanni Boldini, Dupree, Morandi, De Pisi, De Chirico, as well as works by avant-garde and futurists. Over the years, the collection has been enriched with precious private donations. The modern art gallery, located on the second floor, offers amazing views of the Boboli Gardens. The interior of the halls is richly decorated with neoclassical and romantic works.
Medici Treasury
This is the name of the silver museum located in the Palazzo. It represents not only Florentine craftsmanship, but also jewelry art collected outside the republic, as well as archaeological values. The official name of this department is “Treasures of the Grand Dukes”. The exposition is one of the most interesting and diverse in Florence, it tells about the sophisticated production and artistic perception of the Renaissance. The collection includes cameos, ivory and silver works, crystals and precious stones, jewelry, Chinese and Japanese porcelain, various miniatures.
The museum is located in rooms that were once personal royal apartments. But even earlier, they were intended for the family property of the Medici dynasty. Because the interior is richly painted with frescoes of the XVII century, and the chapel is decorated with precious stones and religious works of great value. From the windows of these apartments you can admire the beauty of the Boboli Gardens and see the courtyard of Ammannati.
China museum
This exposition has been open since 1973 in one of the garden buildings of the Casino del Cavalier. The works of the most famous porcelain enterprises in Europe are demonstrated here. The exhibition perfectly presents the creations of the Sevres and Meissen factories. Many items from the collection were once donated to the Florentine rulers by other European sovereigns, and some of the works were specially commissioned by the Grand Ducal Court. Of particular note are several large sets made at the Vincennes factory (later renamed Sèvres), as well as a set of miniature figures from porcelain biscuit.
Costume Gallery
The exposition is located in fourteen rooms of the garden-pavilion Meridiana, south of the main building. It can also be reached from the Boboli Gardens. This is the only museum in the country that details the history of Italian fashion. The collection was founded in 1983 and became the newest of all presented in the palazzo. It includes more than 6,000 units, clothes and fashion accessories from the time of the XVIII century to the present day. Ballroom and formal dresses, uniforms, haute couture, ready-to-wear models, theater and cinematic costumes are presented here. Some exhibits are extremely rare, for example, the funerary robes of the 16th century by Prince Medici I Cosimo, his wife Eleanor and the youngest son Garcia. In those days, the bodies of the deceased, for church rites and farewells, were dressed in the most beautiful garments, which were replaced by simpler decorations just before the burial.
The exhibits of the halls reflect the history of fashion over the past centuries, and also show the works of the most famous designers of the twentieth century, such as Valentino, Versace, Armani, Missoni, Saint Laurent. Also very interesting is the collection of theatrical costumes compiled by Umberto Tirelli, and the collection of twentieth-century jewelry. Most items in the gallery come from public and private donations. And often donors provide clothing items that once belonged to celebrities, which carries great historical and documentary value. Such collections include dresses by the Sicilian aristocrat Donna Franca Florio, one of the most famous figures of the royal era, or costumes by Eleanor Douz, the famous actress of the Italian theater.
Carriage Exposition
The ground floor exhibition presents carriages and other equestrian vehicles used by the Grand Ducal Court from the late 18th and throughout the 19th century. Some of the carriages are very decorative, decorated not only with gilding, but also with magnificent plot painting. And those that were used in the most ambitious cases are decorated with gold crowns. This element indicated the rank and status of the owner, such as the Golden Carriage. The rest of the strollers presented here belonged to the king of both Sicilies, the archbishops and other dignitaries of Florence.
Opening hours
In Florence, the Pitti Palace, like almost all museums, is closed for excursions every Monday, as well as on public holidays, on Christmas and New Year's Eve.
Features of the operating mode for visiting:
- opening and closing time - 8:15 - 18:50;
- cash desk closure - at 18:05;
- final operations begin at 18:30.
- The Royal Apartments close every year throughout January for maintenance.
How to get to Pitti Palazzo in Florence? There are public buses number 36, following the D line, to the Pitti stop from the city center. And on the side where the Boboli Gardens are located, buses number 11, arriving at the center, approach the Calza stop.
And useful information in the end. Every first Sunday of the month - entrance to the palazzo is free. And if in the early morning until 8:59 to buy a ticket and enter the museum until 9:25, then a 50% discount is guaranteed, according to the official website of the Palazzo Pitti.