PALAZZO PITTI The Palazzo Pitti was originally built as a residence for the banker Luca Pitti, around the middle of fifteenth century, following a design by Brunelleschi. The Medici, who purchased the building a century later, commisioned Bartolomeo Ammannati (1558-1570) to enlarge it. Ammannati transformed two side doors into ground-floor windows, lengthened the facade, and created the most beautiful of Renaissance courtyards, the Cortile dell' Ammannati, in the interior of the Palazzo. In 1783 the Duke of Lorraine added the so-called "rondт", the beautiful side wing which juts out into the square (on the right). A second wing (on the left) was added in the nineteenth century. Inside the Palazzo is the Galleria Palatina, containing works by Titian, Raphael, Tintoretto, Caravaggio, Botticelli, Andrea del Sarto, Filippo Lippi, Perugino, Velazquez, van Dyck, and Rubens. The Galleria d'Arte Moderna contains a good selection of Italian paintings from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including works by the Macchiaioli, a nineteenth-century school of Tuscan painters whose works were characterized by "macchie" or spots. The Museo degli Argenti displays silver, gold, stone, glass, and crystalware, as well as precious china. The Collezione Contini-Bonacossi is located in the Palazzina della Meridiana. It contains works by Duccio da Boninsegna, Goya, and Veronese. Also located in the Palazzina is the Galleria del Costume, with rotating exhibits of clothing from different periods. In the right wing of the Palazzo is the Museo delle Carrozze containing coaches from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Behind the Palazzo lie the famous Boboli Gardens, a vast and splendid Italian-style public garden which reflects, in every way, the taste of the high Renaissance period (masses of trees treated as architecture, lawns, grottos, fountains, etc.) The Palazzo is also the site of temporary exhibitions. Among the numerous palazzi constructed in Florence, the most spectacular is the Palazzo Pitti. Michelozzo's Medici plan is here magnified on a gigantic scale. Each story is over forty feet high, the rustication is huge (using stones of a warm golden tone), and the windows are like enormous portals. The palazzo's formality, size, and forbidding quality are uncommon in Florence. The Palazzo Pitti with its original seven bays and the Boboli Gardens in the sixteenth century. Duke Cosimo I Medici acquired the palace from Luca Pitti in 1549 and moved here from the Palazzo Medici to celebrate his marriage to Eleonora of Toledo. Eleonora then initiated the building of one of the greatest gardens of all times. The design called for wide straight public avenues leading to intimate grottoes which were filled with fountains and statues (see L.106). (4) Bartolomeo Ammannati (1511-92) COURTYARD Pitti Palace Florence Begun 1560 The enlargement of the Pitti Palace was one of the most grandiose architectural projects in Florence during the latter part of the sixteenth century. The courtyard is the most striking part of the work. Designed by Bartolomeo Ammannati, the entire facade is rusticated. This includes the columns, arches, and lintels with wide blocks of stone. A smooth surface quality is retained only in the capitals, bases, and entablature. The strongly textured and rough surface was planned to harmonize with the garden. Ammannati or Bernardo Buontalenti (1536-1608) AMPHITHEATER IN THE BOBOLI GARDENS Pitti Palace Florence Begun 1599 Behind Ammannati's courtyard is a formal amphitheater shaped like a horseshoe in imitation of the ancient Roman circus. The amphitheatre was used as a stage for amphitheatre pageants and displays of the Medici Court. A ring of lush evergreen surround the area.