Monday it was back to class, with a new teacher, Massimo. I was planning on visiting Palazzo Vecchio after lunch, so I ate at an outdoor café near Piazza Signoria, Trattoria da Benvenuto (veal scaloppini, l’acqua frizzante, vino rosso – all for €21). I headed over to the Palazzo and had no trouble buying a ticket to walk through. The Palazzo Signoria is/was the town hall of Firenze as signoria is an abstraction of the noun describing a government. The Palazzo has the replica of Michelangelo’s David which is where it was initially placed (the original is in the Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze which is a wonderful art museum).
In 1299 the city began the project and selected Arnolfo di Cambio, the architect of the Duomo and the Santa Croce, for the building. In 1504 both Michelangelo and Da Vinci were both retained to paint frescos in the Palazzo and the stories abound of them not being happy working near the other. In 1540 Cosimo I de' Medici moved his official seat here from the Medici Palazzo. When Cosimo moved to the Palazzo Pitti, he officially renamed his former palace the Palazzo Vecchio, the "Old Palace". Cosimo commissioned Giorgio Vasari to build an above-ground walkway, the Vasari corridor, from the Palazzo Vecchio, through the Uffizi, over the Ponte Vecchio to the Palazzo Pitti. Vasari also directed many other renovations and created artwork in the Palazzo.
The palace gained new importance as the seat of united Italy's provisional government from 1865–71, at a moment when Florence had become the temporary capital of the Kingdom of Italy. Although most of the Palazzo Vecchio is now a museum, it remains as the symbol and center of local government; since 1872 it has housed the office of the mayor of Florence, and it is the seat of the City Council. I saw at one point what seemed to be a government meeting with carabinieri providing security.
Florence has a long-standing relationship with Kyiv, becoming sister cities on July 27, 1967, a year after the devastating Florence flood of 1966. In 2021 Ukraine gifted a statue of a poet to Florence, which continues to stand inside the Palazzo.
Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/5wUMydDukDmrNxXt7
In 1299 the city began the project and selected Arnolfo di Cambio, the architect of the Duomo and the Santa Croce, for the building. In 1504 both Michelangelo and Da Vinci were both retained to paint frescos in the Palazzo and the stories abound of them not being happy working near the other. In 1540 Cosimo I de' Medici moved his official seat here from the Medici Palazzo. When Cosimo moved to the Palazzo Pitti, he officially renamed his former palace the Palazzo Vecchio, the "Old Palace". Cosimo commissioned Giorgio Vasari to build an above-ground walkway, the Vasari corridor, from the Palazzo Vecchio, through the Uffizi, over the Ponte Vecchio to the Palazzo Pitti. Vasari also directed many other renovations and created artwork in the Palazzo.
The palace gained new importance as the seat of united Italy's provisional government from 1865–71, at a moment when Florence had become the temporary capital of the Kingdom of Italy. Although most of the Palazzo Vecchio is now a museum, it remains as the symbol and center of local government; since 1872 it has housed the office of the mayor of Florence, and it is the seat of the City Council. I saw at one point what seemed to be a government meeting with carabinieri providing security.
Florence has a long-standing relationship with Kyiv, becoming sister cities on July 27, 1967, a year after the devastating Florence flood of 1966. In 2021 Ukraine gifted a statue of a poet to Florence, which continues to stand inside the Palazzo.
Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/5wUMydDukDmrNxXt7