Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz

Palazzi

Hilde Lotz-Bauer’s photographs document the development of Florentine palace construction over more than four centuries. One medieval example is the Palazzo Spini Feroni, which is topped by battlements, on the corner between the Via Tornabuoni and the Piazza Santa Trinità. Leon Battista Alberti designed the façade of the Palazzo Rucellai with references to the architectural principles of construction used in the ancient world; Bernardo Rossellino took over construction of the palace between 1445 and 1470. According to Vasari, the Palazzo Strozzi can be traced back to Benedetto da Maiano, who varied the design of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi for this palazzo (construction between 1489 and 1503 under Cronaca and Giuliano da Sangallo). The Palazzo Gondi, which can be traced back to plans by the architect Giuliano da Sangallo from 1490, modifies the solid ashlar masonry of the Palazzo Medici, which is based on mainly medieval construction principles, as a systematic décor in the spirit of the classical world. Behind the bronze horse heads of fountain on the Piazza della Signoria, you can see the façade of the Palazzo Uguccioni (1549). The rusticated elevated ground floors is followed by two floors structured with Ionic columns and Corinthian columns respectively. The core of the Palazzo Pitti was commissioned by Luca Pitti in 1448. Since Duke Cosimo I.’s time, it has been gradually extended to create a prestigious seat of power for the Medici family, of previously unknown importance. In the flamboyant ashlar arrangement of the inner courtyard, Bartolomeo Ammannati varied the majestic rustication, in which the rows of arches for the façade were constructed from 1558 to 1570. The façade frescoes of the Palazzo dell’Antella in the Piazza Santa Croce, rebuilt around 1620 by Giulio Parigi, display allegorical images with virtues and deities.