The Medici family owned Florence back in the day. Their
palaces were the most elegant homes in all of Tuscany. It’s only fitting that
you visit them! If you don’t want to wait in line and deal with the massive
crowds in Palazzo Vecchio, then I would suggest visiting Palazzo Medici Riccardi.
Towards 1444 Cosimo the Eldest, the patriarch of the Medici family commission
to Michelozzo a place to be built in via Larga near the San Lorenzo church. The
palace was to be the first Renaissance building erected in Florence. Known for
its delineated and rusticated floors and huge cornice crowning the roofline,
the palace stands out for its arched windows arranged along the front and the
closed loggia on the corner of the building.
After the Medici moved to Palazzo Vecchio in 1540, the
palace became the home for lesser family members until 1659. Ferdinando II sold
the home to the Ricardi family. The Riccardis took it upon themselves to take
the palace and enhance its appearance on the inside. The most important works
consisted in the large hall decorated with the frescoes of Luca Giordano who
gave one of the most extraordinary examples of Baroque architecture in
Florence. They also added a new staircase in the entryway designed and built by
the architect Foggini.
Now Palazzo Medici Riccardi
is a major museum of Florence. Since 1972, the exhibition area of
Palazzo Medici Riccardi has offered both tourist and visitors a chance to see
not just the historical pieces of Foggini and Giordano, but holds pieces of
modern and contemporary art as well. When you do visit, please make sure you
enter the Chapel. This Chapel was frescoed in 1459 by Benozzo Gozzoli showing
the Procession of the Magi. This fresco showed the train of the Concilium that
was occurring in Flornce in 1439.
For a house for the lesser family, this place is still quite
fantastic. Waking down the halls of this majestic palace showed me the true
power and wealth of both the Medici and the Riccardi families. With the elegant
Baroque and Renaissance feel along with a beautiful courtyard to match, I would
have love to be a second cousin to their family.
