Palazzo Vecchio Florence: a comprehensive guide to history and art

What to see in the palace that symbolizes Florentine power: monumental halls, secret passages, and Roman excavations

Palazzo dei Priori or Palazzo Ducale? Palazzo della Signoria or simply Palazzo Vecchio, named after the moment when the Medici left the old royal palace to move to the more comfortable Palazzo Pitti...? The first mystery is the name, but this is not the only mystery surrounding the palace, which is as fascinating as it is rich in history and layers. In fact, perhaps it is attractive precisely because of this.

Palazzo Vecchio is the fortified heart of Florence, built in 1299 based on an original design attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio. It stands on the ancient ruins of the Roman theater of Florentia, completed in the 1st century AD, now visible along a circuit that winds through the basement of the Palazzo, with an entrance under the ticket office.

From Roman foundations to medieval Florence

There, where the oldest part of Florentia seamlessly joins medieval Florence, the time machine performs a miraculous countdown and, for the space of a few minutes—the time it takes to walk underground—you find yourself transported to the city of guilds and communes. Designed to house the government of the commune and then the Republic of Florence, composed of members appointed by the Florentine guilds (Priori), Palazzo Vecchio was later enlarged towards Via dei Leoni.

Michelozzo's Courtyard and Vasari's intervention

The breathtaking courtyard of Palazzo Vecchio, restored by the Kering Group in 2021, was designed by Michelozzo in 1453: the famous architect replaced the pillars with cylindrical and octagonal columns and then built the loggia. In 1556, Cosimo I asked Giorgio Vasari to make this space even more spectacular for the wedding of Giovanna d'Austria to Francesco I de' Medici (HERE you can learn more about Vasari's story).

The lunettes decorating the upper part of the portico represent the insignia of the churches of Florence but also the symbols of the powerful guilds of arts and crafts. The panels below depict views of some cities of the Habsburg Empire to pay homage to Joanna of Austria. The cities depicted are Prague, Passau, Stein, Klosterneuburg, Graz, Freiburg im Breisgau, Linz, Bratislava, Vienna, Innsbruck, Eberndorf, Constance, Neustadt, and Hall. The vaults are enriched with grotesque decorations. Pier Paolo Minoccio da Forlì was commissioned to execute the stucco work on the columns in the courtyard.

In the center, replacing the ancient well, a fountain designed by Vasari was erected: a large octagonal base with the last two steps rounded and a porphyry column supporting a marble basin. In 1557, the oldest bronze statue of a cherub with a dolphin by Andrea del Verrocchio (circa 1470) was placed on the fountain. In 1959, it was moved to the second floor of the palace and replaced in the courtyard by a copy.

The Medici era and the Salone dei Cinquecento

The building's golden age coincided with the moment when the Medici family chose it as their residence. It was 1540: the young Duke Cosimo I and his wife Eleonora di Toledo arrived at the palace. The austere medieval fortress now had to be transformed to convey the enlightened and grandiose power of the Medici to the people. The architect Giorgio Vasari, interpreter of Cosimo's vision, was called to the court, and work began. The most striking changes involved the Salone dei Cinquecento: built at the end of the 15th century at the instigation of Girolamo Savonarola, who hoped for greater dialogue between power and subjects, its enormous dimensions were enlarged in height at Cosimo's behest. The greater space, the numerous light sources, the columns, and the niches celebrating the Medici dynasty transformed it into a sumptuous throne room.

The side walls, where today we can admire frescoes depicting the victorious battles against Pisa and Siena, celebrating Florentine power and the dynasty, are the subject of a fascinating story involving Leonardo and Michelangelo in the early 16th century. Both were called upon to decorate the Hall but did not complete their works, traces of which are still sought periodically today, even under Vasari's current paintings.

Study of Francis I, Secret Passages and Ducal Apartments

The Salone dei Cinquecento leads to Francesco I's Studiolo, a small room with no visible windows where Francesco I, Cosimo's son, cultivated his interests in the arts and experimental sciences, and housed the rarest and most precious items in his collection of natural curiosities and small works of art.

Decorated between 1570 and 1575 by a group of artists led by Giorgio Vasari, according to themes dictated by Vincenzo Borghini, it is entirely covered with paintings alluding to the relationship between Art and Nature and to the materials of the rarities that were kept in the cabinets hidden inside the walls. One of these panels opens onto a door leading to another small room used as a study or treasure trove by Duke Cosimo: it is the first of the Secret Passages encountered when visiting the 16th-century rooms of the Palace. Not included in the normal museum itinerary but accessible by special appointment, these passages were reserved for the Medici family and a few privileged guests.

Today, the Secret Passages tour allows visitors to reach the roof of the palace and look out over the trusses that support the imposing ceiling of the Salone dei Cinquecento, a masterpiece of Renaissance carpentry and engineering.

A strong and ambitious principality such as that of Cosimo I opened itself to the world to show its power: the Quartieri di Leone X and degli Elementi are the two mirror-image floors of the palace designed to receive guests of the court and showcase its grandeur. The lower floor, dedicated to the “earthly gods” of the Medici dynasty, and the upper floor, dedicated to the “celestial gods” of ancient mythology, feature a striking series of paintings orchestrated by Vasari and the court scholars, constituting a direct or indirect hymn to Cosimo and his ancestors.

Symbols and allegories are intertwined with historical episodes that actually took place, cloaking the dynasty in an almost divine aura. Next to the representative quarters, the Ducal Apartments are the most private part of the palace, intended for the family. The decorations in Eleonora di Toledo's apartment are surprisingly graceful, with a private chapel frescoed by Bronzino. The duchess had come to Florence leaving behind the sunshine of Naples, and Cosimo tried to make her life in the austere building more pleasant by opening spectacular loggias and terraces within its walls, with magnificent views of the city.

Monumental halls and climb to Arnolfo's Tower

On the second floor is the Sala dei Gigli, the ancient Chancellery with portraits of the famous Machiavelli that evoke its original function, the Sala delle Carte Geografiche or Guardaroba, where the valuable objects of the Medici collections were kept, around the oldest large terrestrial sphere known to man - narrate other important moments in the history of the city and serve as a prelude to the climb up Arnolfo's Tower, which, at 95 meters high, towered over the city, towering above all other towers belonging to the Florentine nobility by law.

Along the 406 steps leading to the top of the tower, you first encounter the ancient walkway with a breathtaking view and then the Alberghetto, the city's most secret prison, where Fra Girolamo Savonarola spent his last days. One last interesting fact: between the first and second floors is a mezzanine, originally medieval but modified by Michelozzo shortly after the mid-15th century, which housed, among others, Maria Salviati, mother of Cosimo I. Today, these rooms display a precious collection of paintings and sculptures donated to the city by the American art scholar Charles Loeser in 1928. A close friend of another famous collector, Herbert Percy Horne, Loeser made Florence his second home and celebrated its Renaissance spirit throughout his life, as these rooms attest.

Archaeological excavations beneath Palazzo Vecchio

Since last December, the excavation area under Palazzo Vecchio, with the remains of the ancient Roman Theater Florentia, has been visible and accessible again. The area can be visited every Saturday and Sunday at 12:00 p.m. and 12:45 p.m. with guided tours (maximum 15 people, with a ticket costing €4).
The archaeological excavations in the basement of Palazzo Vecchio were completed in 2010, bringing to light evidence of the Roman theater of Florentia and subsequent stratifications.

The theater of Florentia, as far as the archaeological remains allow us to determine, must have had a considerable capacity at the time of its maximum expansion, estimated at around 8,000-10,000 spectators. Its remains extend over a large area of land beneath Palazzo Vecchio and Palazzo Gondi, with the cavea facing Piazza della Signoria and the stage along Via dei Leoni. The size and capacity of the theater are evidence of the population growth during the imperial age, a period in which the city underwent significant urban development.

The theater remained active until the 5th century AD; later, with the crisis of the Roman Empire and the Greek-Gothic wars, it gradually fell into disuse and disrepair. From the 11th century onwards, medieval buildings were constructed on top of the Roman structures, and in the following centuries, this area of the city underwent further development, becoming a dense urban fabric.

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