The Palatine Gallery in Palazzo Pitti

Almost the royal palace of Florence, Palazzo Pitti rises on the Boboli hill and surpasses all other Florentine houses in size and magnificence. After a brief introduction to the building and its owners, from the Pitti to the Medici, we will climb the vast stairs to the palazzo and reach the first floor, where the Medici art collection is displayed in the Palatine Gallery. As we enter the rooms once inhabited by the Grand Duke and Duchess, we will encounter a series of absolute masterpieces: from the Bartolini Tondo by Filippo Lippi, to works by Raphael such as the Madonna dell’Impannata, the portraits of the Doni spouses, the Madonna della Seggiola, the Velata, just to mention a few, plus the Sleeping Cupid by Caravaggio, The Consequences of War by Rubens, and works by the Venetian painters: Giorgione, Titian and Tintoretto. The halls containing these works will leave you breathless with their ceilings fully frescoed by Pietro da Cortona, one of the main painters of the Baroque period: the rooms named after planets feature a sort of manual to educate the young Grand Duke, depicting the virtues that were to guide him in his decisions and lead him to glory and immortality.

The building was inhabited not only by the Medici, as also the Lorena and Savoia families left their mark here. Before leaving the gallery, we will walk the Royal Apartments where Vittorio Emanuele II of Savoia, the first King of Italy, lived when Florence was promoted to capital of Italy.