Merchant Luca Pitti helped sustain the power of his friend, 15th century Florence’s ruling citizen, Cosimo de’ Medici. Pitti aimed to demonstrate his family's rank above others so commissioned a palatial residence on the south bank of the River Arno.

Design, perhaps inspired by Brunelleschi, is generally credited to Fancelli, a student of the famous architect. After Cosimo’s death in 1464, Pitti fortunes declined and work on the palace had to stop.

Years later, Eleonora di Toledo, spouse of the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, acquired Palazzo Pitti. She purchased the adjacent hillside for creation of Boboli Gardens and began massive improvements to house the Medicis in unparalleled grandeur.

Palazzo Pitti was the nerve center for generations of Medicis, subsequent ruling Dukes of Lorraine and eventually, Victor Emanuel II, first King of united Italy. In 1919, the royal House of Savoia deeded the palace to the people. It was divided into galleries to showcase several important art collections.

Today, Palazzo Pitti is a popular attraction with about 140 rooms open to the public. The most famous exhibit is the grand and gilded Galleria Palatina, with priceless masterpieces of Titian, Botticelli, Raphael, Rubens, Caravaggio, Lippi, Rembrandt and others. These are sumptuously framed and displayed in 17th century style.

The astounding Renaissance and Baroque collection is complemented by the Galleria d’Arte Moderna. It shows works from 1784 to 1924, spread over 30 rooms. (In Florence, "Modern Art is pre-WWII, more recent works are "Contemporary Art".)

The Royal Apartments are 14 richly decorated rooms with frescoes, important paintings and period furnishings. Separate galleries in the main buildings include the Museum of Silver, the Costume Gallery and the Carriage Museum. In the Boboli Gardens is the Porcelain Museum, opened in 1973.

Boboli Gardens, an 11-acre masterpiece of landscape architecture, rises behind the palace. This was the first important addition after Medicis acquired Palazzo Pitti. Near the main buildings are formal gardens with symmetrical hedges, fountains, statues and an amphitheatre, a unique outdoor location that hosted celebrated theatrical performances. Walkways lead up to an oval garden with da Bologna’s statue of Oceanus, a simple and majestic fountain.

Palazzo Pitti is best reached by one of the city's electric mini-buses (D line). Admission is 8.50 euros and the facility operates until 6:30 pm. A visitor’s level of interest in fine art will determine the comfortable length of time to stroll through the galleries and gardens. For many, that might take about 4 hours, for others, a whole day. Handicapped access is fairly good.

Small binoculars help detailed examination of paintings and frescoes. As in all galleries, photography with flash is not allowed to casual visitors. However, many publications with superb photos can be purchased in the gift shops.

Caution: Florence can overwhelm because of the huge volume of fine art exhibited. To enjoy comfortably, prepare in advance. Study your itinerary and learn basic information about the sites you will visit. Don't try to achieve too much in one trip.

As with good food, savour each bite.

Palazzo Pitti is my favorite place in Florence. Yes, the Ufizzi Gallery is great but remember that the Medici family actually envisioned the Ufizzi, the Pitti Palace and linking them to the Vasari corridor as a whole; your pilgrimage to Florence will not be complete without the palace. I found that here you can easily get in without standing in line for several hours and there are no crowds, which are so typical of the Uffizi Gallery. The paintings are well placed and you can sit down and look at the walls and ceilings; you can really pay attention and not wait for a chain of tour groups to pass through so that you can come up to the painting. Back to the palace though. In 1549 Eleonora di Toledo, wife of Cosimo I, bought the palace from Luca Pitti, a rival of the Medici, whose fortunes began to decline. Bartolomeo Ammannati took up work on the building in 1560 and converted the two side doors of the facade into elaborate ground-floor windows. Giulio and Alfonso Parigi then copied the doors after 1616 when they enlarged the façade to its present colossal dimensions. Maria de' Medici, Queen of France (1573-1642), used the palace as a model when she had the Luxembourg Palace built in Paris. Under the Lorraines, architects Giuseppe Ruggeri, Gaspare Maria Paoletti and Pasquale Poccianti, added the Palazzina of the Meridiana and the two wings curving around the square. The wings called Rondòs were added at the end of the 18th C (on the right), and in the 19th C on the left. The various ruling families of Florence continued to occupy the palace, or part of it, until 1919 when the King Victor Emmanue III presented it to the State. Today the apartments have all the original wall coverings, tapestries and furniture. I was disappointed when I found that the biglietto cumulativo ticket does not exist anymore. (It used to give access to Galleria Palatina, Galleria de Moderna, Galleria de Costume, Museo degli Argenti, Giardino di Bóboli and Museo delle Porcellane.) Now you have to buy separate tickets for each attraction, and they are valid for one day only.

This palace has several museums under the same roof. Palatine Gallery and Appartamenti Monumentali can be seen with the same ticket. Another ticket admits to both Museo degli Argenti and Galleria del Costume. Carriage museum is closed for restoration.

Palatine Gallery is open: 8:30 am – 6:50 pm Tue-Sat, 8:30 am – 7 pm Sun and holidays.

Appartamenti Monumentali have the same opening hours as Palatine Gallery, closed Jan-Mar.

Museo degli Argenti is open: 8:30 am – 1:50 pm daily, closed 1st, 3rd, 5th Mon and 2nd, 4th Sun of the month.

The entrance to the museums is right in the center of this huge palace that was originally designed by Brunelleschi but then was expanded to three times its original length. Its construction started in the 15th century, continued into the 16th, and the side wings were added in the 19th century.

This is not a very famous collection of paintings but it is to some extent bigger and better than the famous Uffizi. Most of the paintings in the collection of the Palatine Gallery are from Medici collections. Here you will be genuinely impressed by the paintings of Raphael (about 15 all together and 7 of them grouped in one of the large halls), Titian (about 25, among which "Mary Magdalene" is one of the most famous in this collection; you can also see 2 copies of this portrait in the collection of Palazzo Doria-Pamphilj in Rome), Fra Bartolomeo, Botticelli, Rubens, Tintoretto, Veronese, Caravaggio, Van Dyck, Perugino, Sustermans, Ghirlandaio, Reni, Lippi, Sodoma, Velazquez and many others. The rooms also have ceilings with frescoes painted by Pietro di Cortona that show the education of Medici by gods.

The apartments have all the original wall coverings, tapestries, the most beautiful chandeliers of Murano glass. All the rooms also have various tables with inlays of different types and color of wood showing exotic birds and ornaments. Galleria del Costume as its name suggests shows the history of costumes through the time starting with late 18th century and through the 1940’s. It has a very interesting collection that you can easily cover in 10 minutes.

Continued in Part II

The Pitti Palace is a former residence of rulers of the area. May date back to Medici family as there are Medici family portraits on display. There is also artwork on display by Raphael, Rubens, Titian and Tintoretto. The rooms we toured were elaborate, especially the ceilings. Lots of gold, chandeliers, painted ceilings etc. Adjoining the Palace are the Boboli Gardens which are also available to tour as part of the same ticket. There are some structures in the gardens where from the rooftops you can get a great view of the area. Price is about $7 per person