Palace Pitti and Duomo Florence Cathedral<< >>
Palace Pitti and Duomo Florence Cathedral are just two gems in this wonderful city. The capital of the Tuscany region it has a population of about half a million. Built around the banks of the River Arno, it is a city, which is bursting with culture and art Situated just over the Ponte Vecchio away from the centre of Florence you will find the remarkable Pitti Palace. It comprises a selection of museums and galleries and a ten-acre Italian garden. The history of the Palace Pitti building is that it was built in fourteen fifty-eight by Luca Pitti a Florentine banker to demonstrate his wealth and power to the famed Medici family. He named it Palazzo Pitti. However in fifteen forty-nine the Pitti family fell on hard times and sold the sumptuous palace Pitti to Cosimo I de' Medici as a family residence. The famous Italian Boboli Gardens were originally laid out in fifteen forty-nine and later expanded to what they are today. Napoleon in the late eighteenth century use it as a power center and in nineteen nineteen it came into public possession opening as an art gallery. Today it houses the well known Palatina Gallery displaying the works of Raffaello, Andrea del Sarto, Caravaggio, Botticelli, Titian, Ruebens, Velazquez, Bronzino, Murillo and other masters. The paintings are displayed in sumptuously decorated rooms with baroque stuccoes and frescoes. When touring the gallery you not only get to view great masterpieces but you also get a glimpse of how the Medici’s lived. As you view room after room of sheer luxury.
The Silver Museum, which holds the Medici jewellery collection. The Modern Art Gallery, which shows the best of nineteenth and twentieth century Italian art. The Coach Museum that displays state coaches. The Costumes Gallery, which again is self-explanatory. The Royal Apartments that was first occupied by the Medici family and later by Italy’s royal House of Savoy. The Boboli Gardens were created from the quarry that was left after the quarried stone for the palace had been used. The Pitti Palace is a wonderful place that you could visit again and again.
Arnolfo di Cambio a renowned sculptor and architect of his day designed the cathedral and the building was opened in about thirteen sixty-seven. Santa Maria del Fiore was built with public funds as a ‘state church’ and has become the focal point of the city. For magnificent views over Florence you could climb up to the unmistaken cupola lantern. The mighty cupola or dome is a hundred and thirty-eight feet in diameter surpassing the Pantheon and Saint Peter’s in Rome. When it was completed in the fifteenth century it was the largest church in Europe at one hundred and fifty meters long, ninety meters wide and around ninety meters high. It can hold twenty thousand people. Most of the original sculptures that adorned the Duomo are now kept in the Museum of the Opera del Duomo but you can still see the great Pietà by Michelangelo. The stained glass windows of the Cathedral were in the fourteenth and fifteenth century some of the most extensive the forty four windows depict Old and New Testament saints and scenes from the life of Christ and Mary.
The ‘Giotto’ bell tower of Santa Maria del Fiore, which was begun by Giotto in thirteen thirty-four. Sadly he died before its completion. The oldest building in the immediate vicinity is the Baptistery of Saint John, which is thought to have been a pagan temple that was converted to Christian use. The three sets of bronze doors and the bronze and marble statuary above them of the baptistery are marvellous works of art. Michelangelo called the eastern gates the ‘Gates of Paradise’. You haven’t seen Florence until you have seen the ‘Duomo’ and climbed up to the cupola lantern for rooftop views. Put a sparkle into your travel and visit Palace Pitti together with the Duomo or Florence Cathedral. << >>
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