Palazzo Vecchio

The Palazzo Vecchio stands in Florence’s main square, the Piazza della Signoria, beside the Loggia dei Lanzi’s open-air gallery of statues. Built in 1299 on the ruins of two earlier buildings owned by the Uberti family, it was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio to house the city’s ruling magistrates. The massive stone cube is crowned with battlements and nine painted coats of arms of the Florentine republic. A tall tower rises from one corner, its clock first made in 1353 and later replaced in the 17th century. The tower once held cells where Cosimo de’ Medici and Girolamo Savonarola were imprisoned. The palace’s long history reflects Florence’s changing powers. Originally called the Palazzo della Signoria, it became the Medici residence under Cosimo I in 1540 before they moved across the river to Palazzo Pitti. Cosimo commissioned Giorgio Vasari to build the Vasari Corridor linking the two palaces. In the 19th century the building served as the seat of Italy’s provisional government when Florence briefly became the kingdom’s capital. Today it remains both a museum and the working seat of the city council. Inside, three courtyards reveal different eras. The first courtyard, designed by Michelozzo in 1453, holds a porphyry fountain topped by a copy of Verrocchio’s Putto with Dolphin. Frescoes by Giorgio Vasari depict cities of the Habsburg lands, painted for the wedding of Francesco I de’ Medici. The second courtyard, called ‘The Customs’, supports the great Salone dei Cinquecento on massive pillars built by Il Cronaca. The grand hall itself, measuring over fifty metres long, was begun by Simone del Pollaiolo for Savonarola’s council and later enlarged by the Medici.