On the other side of the Arno River, a little less than a mile from our apartment, is the Palazzo Pitti. It truly is a royal palace. It was one of the homes of the Medici family for close to 200 years (from 1549 to 1737). The Medici family was a political powerhouse in Tuscany from 1434 to 1737.
In the late 18th century, the palazzo was used as a base by Napoleon. After the unification of Italy in 1861, when Florence was briefly the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, it served as the principal royal palace for Victor Emmanuel II who resided in the palazzo until 1871.
The palace and its contents were donated to the Italian people by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1919, and it was opened to the public as one of Florence's largest art galleries. Today, it houses several collections in addition to those of the Medici family and the palace itself is a work of art.
We chose the 3-day pass to see Palazzo Pitti. That gave us three wonderful days to take our time seeing the artwork, treasures, costumes, royal apartments with all the furnishings and the gardens. The entry fee was a bit higher than usual due to a visiting exhibition (€18 instead of €11.50) but still well worth it for three days.
The visiting exhibition La Bella Italia (The Beautiful Italy) was an event celebrating the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. Scattered throughout the palace, each collection was a different city of Italy, various capitals of the pre-unification Italy, Turin, Florence, Milan, Venice, Genoa, Bologna, Naples, and Palermo. It had works from antiquity to 1861 that were on loan from various important galleries across Italy. Although this exhibition was wonderful and we would have not seen all the great works that were there had it not been for this exhibition, it was set up in many of the larger rooms of the palace in such a way that it was difficult to see the grandeur of the room itself.
The first day we saw the Galleria dell'Arte Moderna (Gallery of Modern Art) which is situated on the top floor of the Pitti Palace. I think Italians have a slightly different view of what constitutes “modern” art. The collection of paintings and sculpture, mostly Italian, dated from the late 1700’s to World War I. We enjoyed the older works and even into the early 1800’s but once it started getting into the late 1800’s we were less impressed.
The palace and its contents were donated to the Italian people by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1919, and it was opened to the public as one of Florence's largest art galleries. Today, it houses several collections in addition to those of the Medici family and the palace itself is a work of art.
We chose the 3-day pass to see Palazzo Pitti. That gave us three wonderful days to take our time seeing the artwork, treasures, costumes, royal apartments with all the furnishings and the gardens. The entry fee was a bit higher than usual due to a visiting exhibition (€18 instead of €11.50) but still well worth it for three days.
The visiting exhibition La Bella Italia (The Beautiful Italy) was an event celebrating the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. Scattered throughout the palace, each collection was a different city of Italy, various capitals of the pre-unification Italy, Turin, Florence, Milan, Venice, Genoa, Bologna, Naples, and Palermo. It had works from antiquity to 1861 that were on loan from various important galleries across Italy. Although this exhibition was wonderful and we would have not seen all the great works that were there had it not been for this exhibition, it was set up in many of the larger rooms of the palace in such a way that it was difficult to see the grandeur of the room itself.
The first day we saw the Galleria dell'Arte Moderna (Gallery of Modern Art) which is situated on the top floor of the Pitti Palace. I think Italians have a slightly different view of what constitutes “modern” art. The collection of paintings and sculpture, mostly Italian, dated from the late 1700’s to World War I. We enjoyed the older works and even into the early 1800’s but once it started getting into the late 1800’s we were less impressed.
We visited the Galleria del Costume (Costume Gallery) which had clothing and accessories from the 16th to the 20th centuries. You could really see how there isn’t much new in fashion, it is always borrowing from another era. The slightly eerie thing here was the remains of the burial attire of Cosimo I de' Medici, who died in 1574, his wife Eleanor de’ Medici, and their son, Garzia, who both died in 1562. The Italians apparently exhumed them, took their clothes, did as much restoration as they could and put them on display. Not all the fabric survived and on Eleanor's dress it looks as though you could make out where the legs decomposed on the dress. Ick!!
The Museo degli Argenti (Silver Museum) has the important Medici treasures: semi precious stone vases, cameos, gold and silver plates, objects d’art made from crystal, shells, ivory and amber and the jewelry collection belonged to Anna Maria Luisa, the last member of the Medici Family. This collection was unbelievable. You must know you must be well off when you can afford to replace your umbrella handle and the finials at the top and at each end of the ribs with carved pink coral ones. They also had micro-mosaic broaches. The tiles were so small that you could put about 4 of them on the little head of a straight pin and you couldn’t see any gaps. Amazing, I couldn’t stop looking at them. I wanted a photo but the museum attendant was right in the room. Throughout two of the three days at the palazzo while we were in any of the galleries (not outside or the garden) we heard the repeated phrase of “No Photo” in an Italian accent. So all the photos I’ve provided are via my friend, the Internet.
The next day we went to the Palatine Gallery and the Royal Apartments which occupied the whole first floor (second floor to Americans). This area was the residence of the Medici grand-dukes. In 1828, when Tuscany came under the rule of the Lorraine family, the most important paintings in the Palace, most of which had been collected by the Medici, were hung in this gallery. There were wonderful paintings of Renaissance times, still lifes and portraits of nobles. The majority of the paintings, though, were of a religious nature, various stories of the bible, portraits of popes and saints and many paintings of “The Annunciation”. The art was wonderful and the rooms were even more impressive.
Usually when we see something interesting (or weird) we come home and look it up. After seeing two bizarre pictures in the Palatine Gallery I had to look up St. Agatha. The story goes that after Agatha of Sicily refused to marry some Roman prefect, she had her boobs cut off, was further tortured and killed in the year 251. She apparently is the patron saint to many groups. The shape of her amputated breasts, especially as depicted in artistic renderings (as she holds them on a platter), gave rise to her being the patron saint of bell-makers, bakers (whose loaves are blessed at her feast day), wet nurses, and more recently, she has become the patron saint of breast cancer patients.
The beautiful royal apartments had walls lined in silk with matching drapes with valences, jabots, decorative cording, braids, fringes and tassels all attached to big elaborate cornices. Each room was a different color and print of silk. The apartments were roped off right down the middle, each room connecting into the next, so couldn’t get right next to many of the furnishings and had to admire them from afar.
The last day we dedicated to Boboli Garden behind the palace. (You thought Boboli was a pizza crust.) The garden is 11 acres of grand avenues, small winding paths, fountains, grottos, statues and panoramic views of Florence. It was a wonderful day walking around the lush garden. In one open area we found big chestnut trees. Being that time of year they had littered their tasty bounty all over the ground. We picked up a few to bring home with us to roast, unfortunately I don’t think we roasted them long enough since they were very bitter.
We also visited Bardini Garden which is a short walk from a side gate of Boboli Gardens and was included in our ticket. Bardini Garden has been open to the public only recently. Originally a walled orchard covering the whole of the hill behind Palazzo Mozzi, it was transformed into a garden in the 1700's. Although it covers 9 acres it is a much more intimate garden with camellias just budding and azaleas, roses and a tunnel of wisteria all of which were not in bloom at this time of year. There were many statues throughout the garden and again breathtaking views of the city.
It was such a memorable 3 days; the gorgeous art, spectacular palazzo and the beautiful gardens – €36. Wonderful pizza each day for lunch – €56. Experiencing it all with my best friend – priceless!