Palazzo Pitti is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The construction of the building was commissioned in 1458 by Luca Pitti, a supporter and friend of Cosimo de' Medici. The early history of the Palazzo Pitti is surrounded by both fact and fiction. The 16th-century art historian Giorgio Vasari proposed that Brunelleschi was the Palazzo's architect, and that his student Luca Fancelli was an assistant but today it is Fancelli that is generally credited. Besides obvious differences from Brunelleschi’s style, he died 12 years before construction of the Palazzo began. Work stopped after Pitti suffered financial losses following the death of Cosimo de' Medici in 1464. Luca Pitti died in 1472 with the building unfinished.
The building was then sold in 1549 by Buonaccorso Pitti, a descendant of Luca Pitti, to Eleonora di Toledo. Eleonora was the wife of Cosimo I de' Medici of Tuscany, later the Grand Duke. Cosimo had Giorgio Vasari enlarge the structure to fit his tastes - the palace was more than doubled. Vasari also built the Vasari Corridor, an above-ground walkway from Cosimo's old palace and the seat of government, Palazzo Vecchio, through the Uffizi, above the Ponte Vecchio to Palazzo Pitti. This enabled the Grand Duke and his family to move easily and safely from their official residence to Palazzo Pitti. Initially Palazzo Pitti was used mostly for housing official guests and for infrequent affairs of the court, while the Medici’s principal residence remained in Palazzo Vecchio. It was not until the reign of Eleonora's son Ferdinando I and his wife Cristina of Lorraine, that the palazzo was occupied on a permanent basis and became home to the Medici’s art collection. Land on the Boboli hill at the rear of the palazzo was acquired in order to create a large formal park and gardens, today known as the Boboli Gardens.
The palazzo remained the principal Medici residence until the last male Medici heir died in 1737. It was then occupied briefly by his sister, the elderly Electress Palatine; on her death, the Medici dynasty became extinct and the palazzo passed to the new Grand Dukes of Tuscany, the Austrian House of Lorraine. The Austrian reign was briefly interrupted by Napoleon, who used the palazzo during his period of control over Italy.
When Tuscany passed from the House of Lorraine to the House of Savoy in 1860, Palazzo Pitti was included. After the Risorgimento, when Florence was briefly the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, Victor Emmanuel II resided in the palazzo until 1871. His grandson, Victor Emmanuel III, presented the palazzo to the nation in 1919. The palazzo and other buildings in the Boboli Gardens were then divided into five separate art galleries and a museum, housing not only many of its original contents, but priceless artifacts from many other collections acquired by the state. The 140 rooms open to the public are part of an interior, mostly created in two phases, one in the 17th century and the other in the early 18th century. Today, Palazzo Pitti and the surrounding Boboli Gardens house the Palatine Gallery, the Royal Apartments, the Gallery of Modern Art, the Silver Museum, the Porcelain Museum, the Costume Gallery, and the Carriages Museum.
The Galleria Palatina is the main collection. It is strong on 16th century works, and is located in a wing of the main palace. The Galleria d’Arte Moderna consists of works spanning the mid-18th to mid-20th centuries. I tis located in the main building on the floor above the Palatina. The Museo degli Argenti (The Silver Museum) contains objects, gold and jewelry from the Medici collections. You can access the Silver Museum from the main courtyard. The Museo del Costume contains rotating exhibitions of clothing from the 18th to mid-20th centuries. It is located in Palazzina Meridiana in the south wing. The Museo delle Porcellane contains French, Italian, German, and Viennese porcelain and ceramics. It is located in a pavilion at the top of the Giardino di Boboli. The Appartamenti Reali are the lavishly decorated state apartments following on from the Palatina. The Museo delle Carozze is closed at the present.
Our Recommendations
Pitti Gola e Cantina is located directly across from Palazzo Pitti. This small wine bar offers appetizers and snacks with their large selection of Tuscan wines by the glass or by the bottle. The owners are knowledgeable and friendly, and the food is great. Glasses of wine range in price from €5 - €8, small appetizers cost around €5, and large appetizer plates cost around €10 euro.
Pitti Vintage, located at Sdrucciolo dei Pitti 19/R, a small side across the street from Palazzo Pitti, one can find Italian and European designer vintage clothes, along with other one-of-a-kind vintage pieces. Check it out!
