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Palace

Palazzo Pitti

Italy · 15th century

Founded
1458
Style
Renaissance architecture
Architect
Filippo Brunelleschi, Luca Fancelli
Heritage status
Italian national heritage
Location
Florence
Visitors
≈650,000 (2022)
Coordinates
43.76515°, 11.25001°
Links
OpenStreetMap · Wikimedia Commons
Open on the map →Official website ↗Wikipedia ↗
Palazzo Pitti in Italy
Photo: Almaak · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Description

The Palazzo Pitti (Italian: [paˈlattso ˈpitti]), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly in the Renaissance style, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present palazzo dates from 1458 and was originally the town residence of Luca Pitti, an ambitious Florentine banker.

The palace was bought by the Medici family in 1549 and became the chief residence of the ruling family of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. It grew as a great treasure house, for generations amassing paintings, plates, jewelry and luxurious possessions. The Medici also added the extensive Boboli Gardens to the palace estate.

In the late 18th century, the palazzo was used as a power base by Napoleon during his conquests of Europe. For a brief period, it later served as the principal royal palace of the newly united Italy under the House of Savoy. The palace and its contents were donated to the Italian people by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1919.

The palazzo is now the largest museum complex in Florence. The principal palazzo block, often in a building of this design known as the corps de logis, is 32,000 square metres. It is divided into several principal galleries or museums detailed below.

The Palazzo Pitti is an integral part of the Historic Centre of Florence, which was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982. The palace exemplifies Florence's Renaissance heritage and urban continuity.

Text adapted from “Palazzo Pitti” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

In the rankings

Palazzo Pitti ranks #55 of 9,902 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #5 of the 624 mapped in Italy. Founded 1458, it is older than 46% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 596 atlas entries founded in the 15th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 41,324 times in the last 60 days, more than 99% of the atlas. Wikidata records about 650,000 visitors in 2022. 21 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Florence, 1 km away. It is one of the 52 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Tuscany. See how Italy compares in the castle statistics.

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