Palazzo Pitti, a large palace with lots of royal history

First of all, I want to wish you all a very happy 2025! I hope the year started
well for you. A new year gives new expectations, wishes and the most important:
new energy.

In November and December it became so busy, that I did not get around to writing
and blogging, but I do not want to break my promise I've made last year.

So let's resume the trip to Florence and discover more about the de' Medici family.
My fifth castle visit of 2024 took place in Florence and it was a fantastic one.
There, I visited the Palazzo Pitti, the main residence of the de' Medici family. 

The Palazzo Pitti some royal history

At the beginning the building of Palazzo Pitti was ordered by banker, Luca Pitti, a 
friend and supporter of Cosimo de' Medici. However the building works stopped,
when Luca Pitti suffered financial losses after the death of Cosimo de' Medici.

Luca Pitti died in 1472, while the Palazzo still was unfinished.

Luca Pitti, source picture: Wikipedia

In 1549, the Palazzo Pitti was sold to Eleonora di Toledo, the wife of 
Cosimo I de' Medici (who later became Grand Duke of Tuscany). During that time
the Palazzo Vecchio was the main residence of the family.

Eleonora di Toledo, source picture: Wikipedia

During the reign of Francesco I (son of Eleonora), he and his wife
Johanna of Austria, and his family occupied the Palazzo Pitti. 

The Palazzo remained the main family residence until Gian Gastone de' Medici,
Grand Duke of Tuscany. He was the last male heir of the de' Medici family.
He died in 1737.

Gian Gastone de' Medici: source picture: Wikipedia

Scandal at the Palazzo Pitti

In May 1670, with the death of Grand Duke Ferdinando II, Marguerite Louise
d'Orléans became Grand Duchess of Tuscany. The old tradition of admitting the
reigning Grand Duke's mother to the Consulta, or Privy Council, was reinstituted
at Cosimo III's accession.

Loathing Marguerite Louise for her treatment of Cosimo and herself,
Vittoria della Rovere, Cosimo III's mother, ensured that Marguerite Louise
was denied membership of the Consulta. Being thus effectively excluded
from politics, she was left with nothing else to do but supervise the education
of her son the Grand Prince Ferdinando. 

The Grand Duchess, furious at her exclusion, fought with Vittoria over
precedence and demanded entry to the Consulta. 

Marguerite Louise d' Orléans

against

Vittoria della Rovere

Cosimo III sided with his mother. Presumably yet another reconciliation,
however brief, took place in the summer of 1670, of which a sign was the
birth of the couple's last child, Gian Gastone on 24 May 1671. 

However, by early 1671, the fighting between Marguerite Louise and Vittoria
became so heated that a contemporary remarked that 

"the Pitti Palace has become the devil's own abode, and from morn till
midnight only the noise of wrangling and abuse can be heard"

Decline of the de' Medici Family

After the de' Medici family, the Palazzo Pitti went to
Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor

( known as Francis III, Grand Duke of Tuscany). 

However this didn't last long.

Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, 

source picture:Wikipedia

Even Napoleon Bonaparte used the Palazzo Pitti during his
control over Italy. 

When Tuscany was passed from the House of Habsburg-Lorraine to the
House of Savoy, King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy became the new owner.
He resided in the Palazzo until 1871.

His grandson, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy presented the Palazzo to the
nation of Italy.

What to see?

Me at the backyard of Palazzo Pitti

First of all, the Palazzo Pitti - what's in a name - isn't small at all, it's very huge.
There are different parts with lots and lots of rooms.

The Palatine Gallery for example contains 28 rooms with lots of paintings.
This collection was first open for public in the late 18th. century. Leopold II, 
Holy Roman Emperor and Grand Duke of Tuscany made this possible. It really
is amazing! There are works from Raphael, Titian, Perugino (Lamentation over
the Dead Christ), Correggio, and even 'our' Peter Paul Rubens.

Then there are the Royal apartments, they contains mostly de' Medici portraits.
Which, was for me interesting to see.

The Treasury of the Grand Dukes also was very interesting, just as the 
Porcelain Museum and the Costume Museum as well. So, you have to take your
time to visit this Palazzo Pitti.

A visit

We visited the Palazzo Pitti in June 2024 and bought a Firenze Card. In this
card a visit to the Palazzo Pitti was included.

The Palazzo Pitti contains a very nice garden. In a next blog post, I will tell you more
about the beautiful Boboli Garden.

💥 Nice to know!

The Palazzo Pitti inspired the Rezidenz in Munich. The Königsbau wing of the
Munich Residenz, the former royal palace in the capital of Bavaria,
was modelled after the Palazzo Pitti.   💥