The Medici Riccardi Palace

Palazzo Medici Riccardi is located in what is today called Via Cavour, just a few steps away from the Basilica of San Lorenzo. It is the first Renaissance palace to be built in the city and subsequently an example of civil architecture that was used by other Florentine families for the construction of their own noble palaces.

Cosimo il Vecchio, the patriarch of the Medici family, commissioned the construction of the new family residence in what was then called Via Larga in 1444. The task was entrusted to the architect Michelozzo, to the detriment of the more famous Filippo Brunelleschi, whose project, according to Vasari’s writings, had been considered by Cosimo to be too sumptuous and magnificent and could have brought envy of the family’s riches more than a contribution to the city’s grandness and splendour.

In addition to being a private residence where the first branch of the Medici family lived, such as Lorenzo the Magnificent, the palace fulfilled a public function since the most important political figures of the time were welcomed in its sumptuous rooms, such as Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, when passing through Florence during the Mantua Council.

In 1540, Cosimo I de' Medici decided to transfer the family residence to Palazzo Vecchio. The old Medici residence in Via Larga was inhabited until 1659 by minor personalities of the family, until Ferdinando II sold it to the Marquis Gabriello Riccardi for forty thousand ecus. 

The Riccardis then made significant changes and enlargements to the building. For example, the large room on the first floor was built in 1685 and it represents one of the most fascinating rooms in Baroque Florentine. It is called the Mirror Gallery because it is decorated with gilded stuccos and painted mirrors that create a series of illusionistic effects aimed at surprising and involving the viewer. The beautiful vault was painted by Luca Giordano, a Neapolitan painter, who represented the Apotheosis of the Medici family, protectors and benefactors of the Riccardis.

Inside the building you can also admire the "Magi Chapel", a small room with beautiful frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli celebrating the members of the Medici family and their friends and trade partners.