Address: Piazza Pitti, Palazzo Pitti
These occupy the right half of the main floor of the
Pitti Palace and are an important
record of the three main phases of the palace's history. To the
first period (mid-sixteenth to end of the eighteenth century),
characterized by the sumptuousness of the Medici court, belong
the rooms overlooking the Piazza once occupied by the Grand Ducal
heir, with corresponding rooms on the other side for his wife.
Today, they retain the appearance given them by the Grand Prince
Ferdinando de' Medici who lived there until his death in 1713. A
few treasures remain from the Medici period, among them the
precious ebony and pietra dura holy water stoup of the Grand
Duchess Vittoria della Rovere (seventeenth century) and the
Chapel, once the bed alcove of the Grand Prince
Ferdinando; its late seventeenth century character is typified by
the stoup designed by Giovanni Battista Foggini (1652- 1725) and
the elaborate frame on the Madonna by Carlo Dolci (1616-1686).
On the extinction of the Medici dynasty in 1734, the apartments
passed to the reigning Lorraine family and underwent restorations
and refurnishing according to the changing taste of the period.
From this time date many Neo-classical frescoed ceilings and the
delightful oval Queen's Dressing Room. This is decorated with
silk panels hand-embroidered to the designs of Ignazio Pellegrini
and has a ceiling of coloured Rococo stuccoes.
At the time of Italy's unification and when Florence was briefly
capital of Italy (1860-70), the apartments were used by King
Victor Emanuel of Savoy; some rooms were completely refurnished
and carpeted according to the taste of that period; an example is
the neo-Baroque red damask in the throne room, dating from the
second half of the century. Three historical moments and styles
are seen side by side in this series of rooms, giving a sense of
the growth of the palace over long periods of time. Other rooms
where many portraits of the Medici and Lorraine families are
shown also form part of the monumental apartments, and also house
important series of eighteenth century French tapestries such as
those showing the Story of Esther and the Hunts of Louis XV.
Among the rooms placed at the sides of the original core of the
Pitti Palace, the most notable are
the Sala di Bona frescoed by Bernardino Poccetti in 1608 and the
White Room, completely decorated with glowing stuccoes by Grate
Albertolli in the Lorraine period. In this room are held
exhibitions and fashion shows, for which Florence is justly
famous.
