Insider's Guide to Florence's Palazzo Veccio
The Palazzo Vecchio, or Old Palace, is Florence's town hall - an enormous Romanesque fortress combined with a palace, and one of the most impressive you'll find in Tuscany. It overlooks the Piazza della Signoria (which features a copy of the David by Michelangelo) and a gallery of statuary in the Loggia dei Lanzi. The Palazzo is one of Italy's most significant public areas.
This was originally called the Palazzo della Signoria, since that was the name of the ruling body of the Republic of Florence, which was housed there. However, many other names applied, too, including the Palazzo dei Priori, the Palazzo del Popolo, and the Palazzo Ducale, depending on what the building was being used for. The current name came about when the home of the Medici duke moved across the river, into the Palazzo Pitti.
The building was originally constructed at the very end of the thirteenth century and the beginning of the fourteenth. The goal was to create a palace that was worthy of Florence, and that would give better protection to the city's magistrates in times of trouble. It was constructed on the ruins of two previous Uberti family palazzos, a family considered the rebels of Florence, so that they could never build their homes in the same location again.
The building also included an ancient Foraboschi family tower, then called La Vacca, into the substructure of the tower on the building's facade, causing that tower to be off center in the building. This tower contains a pair of small cells that were used to imprison (at different periods) Cosimo de Medici the Elder and Girolamo Savonarola. This is called the d'Arnolfo toper, and is named after its designer.
It also features a Lederle clock. The original clock was made by Nicolo Bernardo, but it was replaced in the mid seventeenth century by one created by Vincenzo Viviani.
The building features two rows of Gothic windows, each with its trefoil arch, and decorative cross and lily bas-reliefs are located on the spandrels between these trefoils. The building is crowned with a crenellated battlement supported by small corbels and arches, under which are a repeated series of the Florentine republic's nine painted coats of arms. Some of these arches are functional in the event of an attack, and could be used to drop hot liquid or rocks onto invaders below.
When Cosimo I moved to the Palazzo Pitti, he renamed this palace the Palazzo Vecchio. He also commissioned an above ground walkway from the palace, through the Uffizi and over the Ponte Vecchio to the Palazzo Pitto, and moved the governmental offices to the building which is now the Uffizi.
Most of the Palazzo Vecchio is a museum now, hosting beautiful works of art all over the interior, but the building is also an important monument to the government of Florence. Often overshadowed by the Uffizi Gallery, the Palazzo Vecchio and the area around it are worth a look for tourists. Check them out, and see if this area has the Florence apartments you've been looking for. Browse our great range of Uffizi apartments today.
 |
 |
 |