The spacious Piazza della Signoria is dominated by the Palazzo Vecchio, home of the powerful Medici fr a while. The Secret Passages tours there was excellent.
South of the Piazza del Duomo is the political heart of the city, the Piazza della Signoria, created in the very early fourteenth century to provide a suitable frontage to the recently-completed Palazzo Vecchio.
The piazza was named for the highest governing body of the city, called the Signoria. This Priori, or Signori, was a council of eight men and their chairman, the Galfonier, chosen by lottery to serve on the Signoria. The lottery could be rigged by the ruling families of the time, which included the Medici, to promote their own favourable candidates. On election the council and the Galfonier had to move into the Palazzo della Signoria (as Palazzo Vecchio was then called) for the duration of their two month term.1
The wide space of the piazza was the place where a Parlamento was held in times of crisis. Apart from clerics, all males over the age of 14 were required to congregate in the piazza and vote to establish a Balia - a committee to deal with the crisis.
The Palazzo Vecchio, originally Palazzo della Signoria and completed in 1299, stands on the east side of the piazza
The entrance to the palazzo is flanked by two statues including a copy of Michelangelo's famous David, the original is now in Accademia.
The Neptune fountain of Ammannati did not impress Michelangelo who made up a scathing verse: "Ammannato, Ammanato, che bel marmo hai rovinato" - what a beautiful piece of marble you've ruined.
The equestrian statue in the piazza is of Cosimo I by Giambologna. It is deliberately modelled on the famous Marcus Aurelius statue in Rome and intended to draw a parallel between Rome's imperial might and the power of medieval Florence.
There is a replica of a wonderful Donatello sculpture of Judith and Holofernes on a pedestal outside the Palazzo Vecchio, caught as she is about to bring the sword down on Holofernes' neck.
The loggia on the south side of the piazza was completed in 1382. It had various functions including a place to swear in public officials but since the late 18th century it has been a platform to display sculpture.
Perseus
Among the statues Benvenuto Cellini's Perseus stands out. It was created for Cosimo I and represents the triumph of Medici rule over other forms of government. At the opposite end of the loggia is Giambologna's Rape of the Sabine.
The Palazzo Vecchio on the Piazza della Signoria was originally the Palazzo della Signoria, completed in 1299, the seat of the Florentine Republic since its inception in 1293.1
When Grand Duke Cosimo de' Medici I (1519-1574) became Duke of Florence in 1537 he moved into Palazzo Medici, north of the Piazza del Duomo. But in 1540 he moved again, this time to the Palazzo della Signoria, at which time it became known as Palazzo Ducale. Ten years later he moved to the Palazzo Pitti across the Arno. It was at this point that the building started to be known as Palazzo Vecchio - the Old Palace.
The Medici family were bankers and not regarded as nobility. However, they served on the Signoria from its earliest days, when the nobility no longer had an automatic right to hold political office.
As bankers the Medici family became immensely rich and Cosimo became obsessed with establishing the Medici as the premier family of the republic. He desired to upgrade his status from Duke of Florence which would need the support of the pope. Alongside this ambition he set about creating the appearance of high social standing by lavishly decorating his palaces, erecting two fountains - including the Neptune Fountain - in the Piazza della Signoria, placing statues in the loggia, including Perseus and Medusa.1
Within the Palazzo Vecchio he richly embellished the government rooms and completely remodelled and decorated the Great Council chamber, also known as the Hall of the 500. Built by Savanarola, a puritanical Dominican monk, at the end of the 15th century, as an extension to the Palazzo della Signoria, this was an austere room. Cosimo I doubled its height and had Giorgio Vasari design paintings and frescoes on the ceiling and walls to depict Medici power and achievements.
Coat of Arms of Cosimo de' Medici I and Eleonora of Toledo.
Cosimo lavishly decorated apartments for himself and his wife Eleonora, decked with expensive tapestries, and began collecting rarities, both hallmarks of wealth.
Eleonora's rooms were those once used by the council of eight and the Galfonier during their term in office when they had to reside in the palazzo.
In the Green Room of Eleonora's apartments there is a decorative style reminiscent of the Fourth Style at Pompeii and other Roman cities. It shows many birds including parrots and is thought to have been a trompe l'oeil loggia. The style is evident in other rooms in the palazzo, including the entrance courtyard.
Cosimo developed a passion for pietra dura, coloured marble inlaid with precious stones, which was extremely expensive so another way to display wealth. This passion led to the development of the technique as a particular Florentine craft.1
In 2025 we did a wonderful Secret Passages guided tour.
A group of six of us met the guide in the courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio.
Our guide led us round to the south side of the palace to a small door set into the thick wall. She pointed out where the palace had been extended eastwards in the 14th and 15th centuries. Inside we were taken up narrow steps and passages and shown rooms used by Cosimo I and his eldest son Francesco I (1541-1587) who became Grand Duke in 1574 on the death of his father.
Francesco had no interest at all in politics. He was more interested in art and science and expanded the family's collection of antiquities. But his main interest was scientific research. He built laboratories at Casino Mediceo near San Marco and studied perpetual motion fire and the effects of poisons. The room we visited was where he kept his collections. It is lined with panels with paintings concealing doors to cupboards. The ceiling paintings depict what were considered to be the four elements of matter: earth, air, fire and water.
In one painting, The Alchemist's Laboratory, he had himself depicted as an alchemist in humble clothes. On the ceiling, amongst other paintings, are portraits of his father, Cosimo, and mother, Eleonora.
One wall panel swings open to give a view of the Hall of the 500.
Another panel in a corner conceals narrow stairs leading to a room used by Cosimo. Here the paintings depict his own interests: music, poetry, astronomy etc. This room is smaller than Francesco's and square in shape.
We left Cosimo's study from a door in the opposite corner which led to steps retuning to Francesco's study, then down again to an entrance into the Hall of the 500. From there we climbed up and up into the roof space above the enlarged Hall of the 500.
Vasari, who had designed and decorated much of the interior of the Palazzo Vecchio, was also responsible for this space. He quickly discovered, however, that his original construction with twelve vertical beams was insufficient to support the roof, so he reinforced with metal braces. Later thirteen further vertical beams were added.
This was a great tour, highly recommended.
We saw many other rooms in the palazzo, mostly richly decorated, but not as interesting as what we had seen on the tour, though the Hall of Geographical Maps was fascinating.
The Hall of Geographical Maps was part of the Wardrobe, a complex of rooms built by Cosimo to store the court's moveable possessions. This room was also designed to be a demonstration of cosmography with maps on the door panels of cupboard which lined the walls, a large earth globe and a large celestial globe. The original design called for the globes to descend from panel in the ceiling, with the celestial remaining suspended while the earth descended to the floor. Thus the room would represent the whole of the heavens and earth as known in the sixteenth century. The ambitious project was never fully completed.
On the way to the exit we passed through the Mezzanine, part of the oldest core of the palazzo dating from the early fourteenth century. It is the only place where the original painted wooden ceiling can still be seen.
Not far south of the Piazza della Signoria we had dinner one evening at Al Antico Fattore. Andrew's pappardelle with a wild boar sauce followed by beef strips with rucola and parmesan was good.
I, however, made very poor choices. I do like to try local dishes but in this case I wish I hadn't! First came a Bruschetta Burro Chianti - whipped pork fat on bruschetta. It was extremely rich and, though I only scraped it on, my stomach was quite upset overnight.
Then a fried rabbit and vegetables which all came coated in a thick batter - no inkling of this on the menu! The rabbit and vegetables were all very good but I scraped off as much of the batter as I could, it was too much.
On the other hand, we ate twice at Osteria Vecchio Vicolo, on the same street as Antico Fattore to the west and I enjoyed both meals. Their pizzas are excellent, and very large!
