The rusticated stone blocks on the ground floor of the Medici Riccardi Palace grow smoother and lighter as they rise toward the heavy cornice. Michelozzo built this fortress-like residence for Cosimo the Elder in fourteen forty-four. When…
The Medici Dynasty Trail
Follow the rise of the ruthless family that financed the Renaissance from their modest neighborhood roots to the absolute rulers of Florence.
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1. Medici Riccardi Palace
2. Basilica di San Lorenzo
The Basilica di San Lorenzo is defined by its raw, unfinished brick facade, a rough-hewn surface that contrasts sharply with the white marble monuments nearby. This was the parish church of the Medici family, who funded its construction to…
3. Cappelle Medicee
The Cappelle Medicee in Florence features a massive, octagonal dome of gray stone and brick that rises above the Basilica of San Lorenzo. This structure serves as the burial chapel for the Medici family, housing the remains of grand dukes…
4. Piazza del Duomo
The massive green, white, and pink marble facade of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore dominates the Piazza del Duomo. Construction on this site dragged on for over a century, stalled repeatedly by the sheer scale of the dome that the…
5. Church & Museum of Orsanmichele
The square stone building features massive, arched windows filled with intricate gothic tracery, each framed by marble tabernacles housing statues. Originally built as a grain market in the fourteen century, the structure served the city’s…
6. Palazzo Vecchio
The Palazzo Vecchio features a jagged, asymmetrical tower that rises nearly three hundred feet above the Piazza della Signoria. Florence commissioned this fortress in twelve ninety-nine to house the city's highest magistrates, the Priors.…
7. Uffizi Galleries
The U-shaped building lining the Arno River is the Uffizi. Cosimo de Medici commissioned the architect Giorgio Vasari to build these offices for the Florentine magistrates in fifteen sixty. While the bureaucrats held their meetings on the…
8. Ponte Vecchio
The Ponte Vecchio spans the Arno River with three segmented stone arches that support rows of projecting shops. Originally, butchers occupied these stalls because the river washed their waste away, keeping the city streets clean. In…
9. Palazzo Pitti
The Palazzo Pitti dominates the Oltrarno with a rugged, fortress-like facade of massive, rough-hewn stone blocks that appear to grow directly out of the hillside. Luca Pitti commissioned the building in fourteen fifty-eight, intending to…