Palazzo Vecchio

Florence's Palazzo Vecchio is a Gothic town hall decorated by Renaissance masters

Palazzo Vecchio
Piazza della Signoria
tel. +39-055-276-8325
www.museicivicifiorentini.it
Fri–Wed 9am–7pm
Thurs 9am–2pm
Adm

Sights nearby
*** Piazza della Signoria [square]
*** Uffizi Galleries [museum]
* Museo della Scienza [museum]
*** Ponte Vecchio [bridge]
** Bargello [museum]
Orsanmichele [church]

Where to eat nearby
Gelateria Carrozze [gelato]
* I Cche C'é C'é [meal]
*** I Fratellini [snack]
* Acqua Al 2 [meal]
Casa di Dante [meal]
* L'Antico Trippaio [snack]
* Alle Murate [meal]
** Le Mossacce [meal]
*** Vivoli [gelato]
* Gelateria Perché No? [gelato]
Le Volpi e l'Uva [snack; across river]

Hotels nearby
Relais Piazza Signoria [moderate]
Residenza Della Signoria [cheap]
Galigai Tower [cheap/moderate]
La Casa Del Garbo [moderate]
Relais Uffizi [moderate]
Gallery Hotel Art [premier]
» More hotels near the Palazzo Vecchio

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TOURS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS that include Florence

Intrepid Travel 2011 Italy trips
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G Adventures 2011 Italy trips
• Ultimate Italy (13 days)
• Italy Culture and History Explored (9 days)
• The Taste of Tuscany (8 days)
• Venice to Rome Adventure (8 days)
• Italy Family Adventure (10 days)

iExplore Italy trips 2011
• Italy Experience (9 days)
• Italy in Style (9 days)
• Magical Tuscany & Portofino Peninsula (10 days)
• Tuscan Delights (8 days)
• Splendors of Italy & Southern France (16 days)

The Palazzo Vecchio in FlorenceThe late 13th-century Palazzo Vecchio (Old Palace) is a imposing rough-hewn fortress in severe Gothic style, replete with crenellations and battlements and highlighted by a 308-foot campanile that was a supreme feat of engineering in its day.

It served as Florence's city hall for many years (a role it fulfills again today) and then home to Duke Cosimo I de' Medici (that's Giambologna's bronze statue of him on horseback anchoring the middle of Piazza della Signoria outside).

Cosimo I lived here for 10 years beginning in 1540, when much of the interior was remodeled to the elegant Renaissance style you see today, before moving to new accommodations in the Palazzo Pitti.

You enter (maybe; see "Tips" below) off Piazza della Signora (past a replica of Michelangelo's The David on the site where the real one once stood) and through the stunning entry courtyard, with intricately carved columns and extraordinarily colorful 16th-century frescos by Vasari. In the center of the courtyard is a fountain of a Putto Holding a Dolphin, a copy of Verrocchio's original (which is displayed upstairs).

Beyond this is a more workaday open courtyard crowded with staircases and portcullis doors and, most importantly, the ticket and information office, where you can buy admission to the rooms upstairs (and sign up for tours; see "Tips" below).

The Hall of the 500

The Salone dei 500 in the Palazzo VecchioThe highlight of the interior is the massive first-floor Salone dei Cinquecento (Hall of the Five Hundred), whose rich frescoes by Vasari depict Florence's history, with an emphasis on the greatness of his patron, Cosimo I. Formerly the city's council chambers where the 500-man assembly once gathered, this grand hall is still used for government and civic functions.

There are several highlights in the huge room. The statue of The Genius of Victory is by Michelangelo (1533–34). Commissioned for the tomb of Pope Julius II, it was later acquired by the Medici from the artist's nephew and set up here. Its sinuous form (pictured below) inspired many of the Mannerist artists of the next generation.

Across the room from it stands Giambologna's plaster model for Virtue Overcoming Vice, commissioned to balance the Michelangelo.

Off one corner opens the tiny, barrel-vaulted Studiolo of Francesco I, an elaborately decorated private office and laboratory where Francesco, Cosimo I's eldest son and successor as Grand Duke, could indulge in his scientific and alchemy experiments surrounded by paintings of allegory, myth, the natural elements, and his own family by the likes of Vasari and Il Poppi.

(The wall paintings conceal cabinets for the Duke's instruments and experimental materials—the panel in the back right conceals a door leading into the secret stairs and hidden halls within the palazzo walls, which you can see on occasional special tours described under "Tips" below.)

The tragic tale of the frescoes you won't see in the Salone dei 500

The Genius of Victory sculpture by Michelangelo in the Palazzo Vecchio of Florence
The one Michelangelo they actually do have in the Palazzo Vecchio's Salone dei 500, his "Genius of Victory." One highlight of the room that was never to be was a series of frescoes commissioned from the two greatest artistic Titans of Italian history. Leonardo da Vinci was to fresco one wall, and Michelangelo the other, with battle scenes showing Florence's past military victories.

Michelangelo completed the life-sized preparatory sketches called "cartoons" (because they were done on large paper, which in Italian is cartone) before being called to Rome by Pope Julius II (to "decorate" the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel).

His sketches were left in Florence, where they were studied and copied by many aspiring artists, most of whom decided to take home a piece here and there. Soon, nothing was left of these never-realized Michelangelos. All we know about them comes from a few copies made by artists I shall charitably call less talented than Michelangelo.

Da Vinci, on the other hand, got a good head start on his side of the room, but his frescoes were done in by the man's own eagerness to experiment. He mixed wax in with his pigments, but the resulting frescoes were not drying fast enough.

So, to speed up the drying, he had wood-fired braziers set up all along the base of the wall—then watched, in horror, as the heat melted the wax in the partly-finished frescoes and the images simply slid down off the wall to puddle on the floor.

Whether he started over again is unknown, since Leonardo left for Milan in 1506.

The Ducal Apartments on the second floor

Upstairs, the richly decorated and frescoed salons—including the private quarters of Cosimo's wife, Eleonora de Toledo—offer an intriguing glimpse into how the ruling class of Renaissance Florence once lived.

There are loads more works by Vasari, plus works by Ghirlandaio and Donatello and many lovely, intensely colors paintings by Bronzino, especially in the Cappella di Eleonora, a private chapel for the duchess.

Tips

Planning your day: The varied collections are just interesting enough to soak up an hour or two of your time. To take (or return for) a tour—which, rather than visiting the main rooms, takes you behind the scenes—will take another hour to 90 minutes (see below).
Grab an audio-guide from the bookshop for about €4 to give the frescoed chambers and great artworks some context.
Use the Firenze Card: The Palazzo Vecchio is covered by the Firenze Card—free admission, no waiting in line.
Take one of the guided tours. Seriously, they're great, and some of them get you into bits of the palazzo normally closed to the public, including secret passageways and tight spiral staircases between rooms and floors. Cool.

One is led by a guide/actor playing (to the hilt) the role of well-connected Renaissance artist—and history's first art historian—Giorgio Vasari. He's a trip (pictured to the right, inside the Studiolo of Francesco I).

There are a variety of these tours, all offered by the palazzo's Museo dei Ragazzi, or "Museum of Kids"—though many are actually designed for adults (albeit always family-friendly). The upside: They're free! The big downside: They are always in Italian only, and some are offered only on the weekends.

Check www.palazzovecchio-museoragazzi.it for details; note that you must book ahead (the booking is free; they just want a head count).
In recent years, they've experimented with moving the entrance around to the left side of the palazzo. This is likely partly for crowd control (the front entrance is so busy with people milling around on the statue-lined front dais, not to mention the hordes swarming the Uffizi entrance just next-door), but I suspect it's also so they can hit you up for admission before you get a chance to see, for free, the frescoed entry courtyard.
Combo ticket: For reasons unclear, get can get an €8 combined admission good for both the Palazzo Vecchio's monumental quarters (normally €6) and the famous Brancacci Chapel at Santa Maria della Carmine (normally €4)—both worthy sights, though what they have in common is beyond me.

Piazza della Signoria - All the statues ranged out in front of the palazzo
Palazzo Pitti - An example of a Mannerist/baroque palazzo
The Medici clan
All the Michelangelos in Florence
All about Grand Duke Cosimo I
More sights in the historic center
Museums in Florence
Top sights in Florence

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This material was last updated January 2011. All information was accurate at the time.

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Palazzo Vecchio

The Hall of the 500

The tragic tale of the frescoes you won't see in the Salone dei 500

The Ducal Apartments on the second floor

Tips

Related pages