The Palazzo Vecchio, aka Palazzo della Signoria in bygone times, has been the headquarters of the Florentine town hall since 1872. It sits in Piazza della Signoria.
Arnolfo di Cambio was the design brain behind this pretty building. The commission given by the Florentine government in the 1200s included both bodies of the Signoria: the Priori (the city council) and the Gonfaloniere della Giustizia (the high magistrate). It had to be a place safe enough to prevent any attack to its members as Florence was undergoing conflicts in town and with other Tuscan towns. Therefore, the design di Cambio chose was a fortress-like building. The construction took from 1298 to 1324, after his death. When Walter VI of Brienne, Count of Brienne and Duke of Athens, took control of the town, this fortress style was kept when in 1342 its facade was modified.
The building features a cavernous open gallery and a tower known as Torre d’Arnolfo of about 95 metres of height. The tower features two cells and a bell at the highest end. It used to be tolled to call the Florentines to gather in the square or announce any danger. In the first bottom half of the tower there is an enormous clock. It was commissioned to Nicoló Bernardo and was changed by a clock that Vincenzo Viviani was commissioned in the 1600s.
When Cosimo de’Medici the Elder was the head of the government in the second half of the 15th century, he commissioned more changes. His architect Michelozzo was requested to embellish the Salone dei Duecento (Hall of the Two Hundred) and the design of the first courtyard. Girolamo Savonarola, the monk and head of the government of the Republic of Florence, commissioned Cronaca the building of the Salone dei Cinquecento (Hall of the Five Hundred) for the huge number of the members of the Consiglio Maggiore (Main Council) to gather there.
In order for the monarchy to regain power in Florence, a conspiracy was organized and Pope Alexander VI excommunicated the monk in power. Savonarola was arrested, hanged and burnt on the false charges of heresy, incitement to public disorder and religious error. He had suffered torture and imprisonment in the Torre d’Arnolfo and died with his followers Dominic monks, Fra Silvestro and Fra Domenico da Pescia, in 1498. There is a plaque where the stake was to commemorate these events
The enlargement the palace underwent in the 16th and 17th century kept its appearance. The first one commissioned by Cosimo I to Vasari and the second one commissioned to Bernardo Buontalenti.
It became twice seat of provisional government in the second half of the 19th century and Chamber of Deputies and the Foreign Office when Florence was designated the capital of the Kingdom of Italy from 1865 to 1871.
In the inside as well as the outside the palace is a magnificent architectural and artistic gem. It is an example of the art and architecture from the 13th to the 16th century. The building is divided into three levels and different courtyards.
There is a cavernous entrance and three courtyards on the ground level
A 16th century frontispiece of marble, a copy of Michelangelo’s David (whose original is in the Museo dell’ Accademia) Baccio Bandinelli’s 16th century sculpture Ercole e Caco and the Monograma di Cristo escorted by two gilded bronze lions adorn the entrance. Michelozzo designed the first courtyard in the 15th century. It is embellished by the replica of Vasari’s Fontana con Putto whose original was Andrea del Verrocchio’s.
The Second Courtyard features many enormous columns executed by Simone del Pollaiuolo on which the huge Salone dei Cinquecento sits.
The Third Courtyard used to house public offices.
A precious and gigantic stairway whose design was Vasari’s is located between the second and the third courtyard goes to the first floor. The Salone dei Cinquecento, Leon X Quarters and the Studio are on this level.
Simone del Pollaioulo planned the Salone dei Cinquecento and Vasari was in charge of enlarging and decorating it. The frescoed ceiling depicting the main events in the life of Cosimo I is its work. Michelangelo’s La Battaglia di Cascina and da Vinci’s La Battaglia di Anghiari used to hang here before being lost. Pieces that remain in it are Michelangelo’s marble sculptures Il Genio della Vittoria, Vincenzo Rossi’s six marble sculptures representing I Lavori di Ercole executed in the 16th century, a statue in honour of Pope Leon X, a sculpture called the Coronation of Carlos V dal Papa Clemente VII and large frescoes of epic depictions.
The Quartiere di Leone X projected and adorned by Vasari were the pope’s apartments.
The Studiolo was the work of Vasari and his students. It was Francesco I’s study room where at present it is possible to admire Bronzino’s portrait of Cosimo I de Medici and Eleonora di Toledo and Ammannati’s bronze sculptures (16th century).
The stairway leading to the second floor is also Vasari’s design.
The Sala degli Elementi features five rooms and two terraces planned by Giovanni Battista del Tasso (16th century) and handed over to Giorgio Vasari. Walls and ceilings in the Sala degli Elementi are decorated with frescoes with depictions of allegories and mythological scenes. The Sala di Giunione exhibits the original bronze Putto col Delfino executed by Andrea del Verrocchio.
The Quartiere di Eleonora were Cosimo I ‘s wfe apartments. She was Don Pedro Álvarez de Toledo, Marquis of Villafranca and Viceroy of Naples ‘s daughter. The most outstanding rooms are the Camera Verde whose ceiling was frescoed by Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio (16th century). From here a door leads into a corridor linking Palazzo Vecchio and Palazzo Pitti whose plan was Vasari’s on commission by Cosimo I.
The chapel’s frescoes are Bronzino’s work. The Pieta is one of its highlights which hangs over the altar.
Giovanni Stradano was commissioned to embellish with paintings the Sala di Gualdrada in the 16th century.
The Chamber of Justice used to be in the Sala dell’Udienza. The 15th century carved coffer ceiling lined with real gold is Giuliano da Maiano’s work of art. There is a wonderful door in this room whose portal has marble mouldings executed by Benedetto and Giuliano da Maiano and magnificent intarsia by Francione . This door leads into the Sala dei Gigli. The frescoes on the walls called Le Storie dei Fatti di Furio Camillo are Cecchino del Salviati’s (16th century).
The Sala dei Gigli sports Benedetto and Giuliano da Maiano’s precious frieze of fleur-de-lys and a statue of Saint Giovanni Battista e Putti also by them. The walls feature depictions of religious and Roman scenes by Domenico Ghirlandaio (15th century). This room houses the precious Giuditta e Oloferne executed by Donatello.
The Cappella della Signoria, whose walls and ceilings were covered with frescos by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, built in honour of Saint Bernard.
The Sala delle Carte Geografiche is where the valuable and huge collection of maps assembled by Cosimo I in his times are kept. Among them is his giant mappamundi. The room is watched over by the beautiful carved ceiling executed by Dionigi Nigetti (16th century).
The Vecchia Cancelleria served as Niccolò Macchiavelli ‘s office when Florentine was a republic. It is decorated with his polychrome terracotta bust and his portrait by Santi di Tito (16th century).
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