Walking north from the Duomo’s entrance you can soon see, dominating the street like a stately cruise liner in port, the imposing, fortress-like mass of the Medici Palace. Begun in 1444 for the family’s patriarch and guiding light in all its political, commercial and intellectual ambitions, Cosimo de Medici, it was described by a visitor from Milan in 1459 as, “an earthly paradise”.
Florence was, at this time, proudly republican, ruled by a government of ‘all the (male), talents’. It is no accident that the learned citizens of Florence embraced so enthusiastically the rediscovery of the philosophy, culture and learning of ancient republican Rome. An ostentatious flouting of wealth was frowned upon as vulgar and contrary to the values of a sober and responsible society. “Envy is a plant one should never water”, warned Cosimo, who rejected Brunelleschi’s design proposal for his palace as too extravagant. The chosen architect was a family favourite, Michelozzo Michelozzi, who was already engaged in Cosimo’s renovations and extensions to the monastery and church of San Marco, a little further up the Via Cavour.
The palace broodingly occupies its location on the city’s main thoroughfare running from north to south. Its heavily fortified and rusticated walls at street level exude privacy and power. This gives way to a more sophisticated, subtle articulation of architectural forms on the first floor - the piano nobile - where the family lived and entertained. The domestic functions, including the kitchens, occupied the top floor. It was thought prudent, with the high incidence of kitchen fires that only the roof should burn, rather than all of the occupants’ priceless possessions kept below.
Running all around the exterior palace walls is a stone bench where the citizens of Florence could sit and take shelter from the Tuscan sun in the shade of the palace’s huge overhanging cornice above. This was another clever feature to placate those who might harbour resentment at the family’s position of privilege and influence in the governance of the city.
The palace’s interior is quite different. Here, Cosimo’s love and appreciation of the finest things in life were given full rein. The palace is of an open square design so once through the imposing outer walls you enter an elegant and beautifully proportioned courtyard, open to the sky, at the centre of which once stood Donatello’s sleek and youthful David - the first bronze life-size nude figure cast since antiquity (now in the Bargello museum). A second Donatello bronze, another Old Testament beheading, of Judith was commissioned for the fountain in the palace's garden where Cosimo grew some of his prized collection of orange trees - the Medici’s name was synonymous with oranges - the mala medica - thought to be one explanation of the distinctive balls or palle on the family’s coat of arms.
The jewels in the palace’s crown are the exquisitely beautiful frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli which adorn the walls of the tiny private family chapel - the only room left unaltered from its original state. The subject of the frescoes is the Procession of the Magi - the wise men being a not too subtle allusion to Cosimo and his family and supporters. The Medici belonged to a secular brotherhood devoted to the Magi which organised a pageant on the feast of the Epiphany and paraded through the streets of Florence ending at the church of San Marco - itself under Medici patronage. The flamboyant and glamorous cast of thousands in Gozzoli's frescoes includes Cosimo and several members of his family as well as a cheeky self portrait of the artist, turning his head to look out of the picture space as if to seek a round of applause for his audacious efforts.
Cosimo had a keen interest and expertise in agriculture. The family originated in the farmlands and rich, diverse landscape of the Mugello, to the north of Florence.
On his country estate, he tended to his vines as an act of contemplation and meditation. Gozzoli’s landscape on the chapel walls is imaginary but reflects very clearly the land management systems and rural pastimes of the countryside at this time.
*Sit on the bench outside free of charge but arrive early or pre-book to go inside (closed on Wednesdays). https://www.palazzomediciriccardi.it/en/
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