Pitti Palace

You have crossed the river, and before you stretches the most imposing facade in Florence: more than two hundred metres of rusticated stone. This is the Pitti Palace, which, oddly enough, does not bear the Medici name.

1A rival's palace

It was commissioned around 1458 by Luca Pitti, a wealthy banker who wanted to outdo the Medici in grandeur. Tradition credits the design to Brunelleschi, but he died in 1446 and the attribution is doubtful; many scholars think of his circle or of Luca Fancelli. The Pitti fortune declined and the building stood half-finished for decades.

2The Medici's new home

In 1550 it was bought by Eleonora of Toledo, the Spanish wife of Cosimo I. She was looking for a healthier residence with a garden, away from the bustle of Piazza della Signoria. Behind the palace the Boboli Gardens were laid out, and Bartolomeo Ammannati enlarged the building. From then on it was the home of the grand dukes, first the Medici and then the Lorraine, and the Vasari Corridor linked it to the Uffizi and Palazzo Vecchio.

During the years when Florence was capital (1865-1871), King Victor Emmanuel II lived here.

In 1919 the House of Savoy handed the palace over to the Italian state, and today it houses several museums, including the Palatine Gallery.

3What to look for

• The giant rustication: some of the stone blocks are several metres long.
• The arched windows, repeated in an almost endless rhythm.
• The sloping forecourt, which gently descends from the palace down to the street.