Guided Tour of Pitti Palace, a Royal Residence

In the lively Oltrarno neighbourhood resides The Pitti Palace

This is one of the greatest Renaissance-era buildings that served as deep inspiration for the royal palaces throughout Europe. Originally belonging to the Florentine banker Luca Pitti. In 1549, it was bought by Cosimo I de’ Medici and his wife Eleanor of Toledo, as their new, official Grand Ducal seat.

They had property spanning all over the city centre, including Palazzo Vecchio that connects to the Uffizi, with a long aerial passageway crossing the river over Ponte Vecchio, built by Vasari in 1565. The royal residence went on to become home to the Lorraine dynasty and subsequently to Vittorio Emmanuel II, the King of Italy.

Today Palazzo Pitti houses no less than six museums containing collections of late-Renaissance and modern art, silver, jewellery, ivory, porcelain and the most extensive costume gallery in Italy.

As we cross the threshold of the palace, we are introduced to the inner courtyard, built in 1561 by Mannerist architect Niccolò Ammannati, where water games were made possible by flooding it, creating a lake. The most memorable was the naumachia staged with real boats to celebrate the marriage of Ferdinand I to Christine of Lorraine.

The cooler ground floors once the Grand Dukes’ ‘summer apartments’ , offer a setting that merits a visit just for the frescoed walls by Giovanni da San Giovanni painted between 1635-36 to mark another grand marriage of Ferdinand II and Vittoria della Rovere.

On the noble floor of this magnificent, multi-storied palace, sits The Palatine Gallery (or ‘gallery of the palace’)

A treasure intentionally created to reflect the splendour and wealth of the Medici collections. Full of details and wonder, it is an elaborate expressive statement reflecting a grandiose ruler. It also boasts an unforgettable, picturesque view of the Boboli Gardens. 

Home to endless beauty, it boasts a wealth of impressive late Renaissance and Baroque art after the Uffizi, displayed in twenty-eight lavishly decorated rooms, including the Sala della Stufa frescoed by Pietro da Cortona, who introduced Baroque to Florence right here. The gallery also contains one of the most significant collections of works by Raphael, Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo, Rosso, Rubens, Caravaggio, Artemisia Gentileschi with a vast array of lavish Baroque frames.

Also on the palazzo’s noble floor, the Royal Apartments occupy the fourteen reception rooms, which in the 1700s were arranged according to the taste of Grand Prince Ferdinand dei Medici and were later renovated by the Lorraine Grand Dukes. Home to the Savoy royal family from 1865 when Florence was the capital of Italy, the sumptuous rooms bear tangible traces of the life and times of this dynasty.

On this tour, experience opulence and the beauty of Florence

About the Palatine Gallery guided tour:

• A road through the history and development of the Pitti Palace.

• Stepping into what were once the Grand Duke’s summer apartments and appreciating the great baroque frescoes by Giovanni da San Giovanni.

• Immerse yourself in the masterpieces of the great High Renaissance and Baroque protagonists.

• Discovering the Palatine Gallery’s Royal Apartments (when open).

*Note: This tour could be paired with the Glorious Gardens of Florence: Boboli and Bardini, the Artisans Florence Guided Tour: Florentine Oltrarno Artisanal Path or On the Footsteps of the Medici Tour.