Administration building or a fortress?
In this tour, we will discover the main actor on Piazza della Signoria: for sure, the Palazzo Vecchio (our Town Hall). It was pretty small when the oldest part of it was built (at the end of the 1200s/beginning of the 1300s). The oldest part of the palace is the one that “looks like a fortress.” There is a reason why the first sponsors of the palace needed to have a building that was both an administrative building and a fortress. The architect of the oldest part of the palace was Arnolfo di Cambio. He was also the first architect of the Duomo.
Cosimo I de’ Medici… again.
Many new parts were added to the first part of the palace over the centuries.
The most significant works were carried out during the administration of Cosimo I de’ Medici (16th century), who administered the city from here.
The visit inside the palace is about the “new rooms” built and decorated during the 16th century and the old rooms that were just redecorated during the 16th century.
Be prepared for
- Salone dei Cinquecento (the room was already built at the end of the 1400s but completely decorated under Cosimo I de Medici),
- Quartiere di Leone X (with its rooms dedicated to some of the members of the Medici family, “Gods on Earth”).
- Quartiere degli Elementi (with its rooms dedicated to characters of the Greek mythology, “Gods of Heaven”).
- Quartiere di Eleonora di Toledo ( apartment of Cosimo’s wife Eleonora di Toledo ).
- Cappella dei Priori (the chapel of the Priors).
- Sala delle Udienze (courtroom).
- Sala dei Gigli (room of lilies), where we admire the masterpiece by Donatello Giuditta e Oloferne. Sala delle carte geografiche (room of maps).
