CITY CENTRE NORTH - Florence and Tuscany - page 80

Palazzo Medici
Riccardi 5
Via Cavour 1 . Map 2 D5 (6 D1) .
Tel [phone]. Cappella dei
Magi

# 9am-7pm Thu-Tue.

¢ Booking is

advisable in busy periods.

1 May, 25 Dec. &

^ 7
Home of the Medici for
100 years from 1444, the
palazzo was later acquired by
the Riccardi family and now
houses government offices. It
was built to an austere design
by Michelozzo for Cosimo
il Vecchio, who rejected
Brunelleschi's original plans
as being too flamboyant -
Cosimo did not want to flaunt
his wealth. The windows on
either side of the entrance
were added in 1517 and
designed by Michelangelo.
Through the main door, the
courtyard walls are covered in
ancient Roman masonry frag-
ments. The roundels above the
arcade show scenes copied
from antique intaglios now
on display in the Museo degli
Argenti (see p123) . Donatello's
statue of David (now in the
Bargello, see pp68-9 ) used to
be here, but today the place of
honour is given to Bandinelli's
marble statue of Orpheus .
Only a few rooms in the
palazzo are open to the public.
In the Cappella dei Magi is a
colourful fresco of The Pro-
cession of the Magi painted in
1459-60 by Benozzo Gozzoli.
It depicts several members
of the Medici dynasty (see
pp48-9). The Sala di Luca
Giordano is named after the
Neapolitan artist who painted
its walls with The

The Last Supper (1445-50) by Andrea del Castagno in Sant'Apollonia

Giardino dei
Semplici 8
Via Micheli 3 . Map 2 E4 . Tel 055
275 74 02.

Apotheosis of the Medici in
High Baroque style in 1683. A
selection of marble sculptures
from the Medici Riccardi
collection is on display in
a recently renovated wing.
The palazzo often plays host
to temporary art exhibitions,
for which there is an
additional admission charge.

# 9am-1pm Sun-Fri.

¢ 1 Jan, 6 Jan, 25 Apr, Easter

Sun & Mon, 1 May, 13-17 Aug,
1 Nov, 24-26 Dec, 31 Dec.

6

7 &

Cenacolo di
Sant'Apollonia 6
Via XXVII Aprile 1 . Map 2 D4 .
Tel [phone]. # 8:15am-
1:50pm daily. ¢ 1st, 3rd & 5th Sun,
2nd & 4th Mon of the month.
6 7

The cloister and refectory of
what was originally a convent
for the Camaldolite order of
nuns are now used by the
students of Florence University.
On the main wall of the refec-
tory is a fresco of The Last
Supper painted in 1445-50,
one of the few surviving
works by Andrea del Castagno,
pupil of Masaccio and among
the first Renaissance artists to
begin to experiment with
perspective. Here Judas sits
isolated in the foreground of
the picture, disrupting its
balance and breaking up the
long white strip of tablecloth.
He is shown in profile with the
face of a satyr: a mythological
creature, half-man, half-goat,
often used in Renaissance
paintings to represent evil.

Giardino dei Semplici

The word “Semplici” refers
to the raw ingredients,
“simples”, used by medieval
apothecaries in preparing
medicine - thus the Giardino
dei Semplici was where medic-
inal herbs were grown and
studied. It was set up in 1545
by Niccolò Tribolo for Cosimo
I in the area between Via
Micheli, Via Giorgio la Pira and
Via Gino Capponi. The garden
retains its original layout but
now the collection includes
tropical plants as well as flora
native to Tuscany.
Around the garden are small
specialist museums: a geology
collection includes fossils; the
mineralogy section shows the
geological structure of Elba,
whose ores attracted bronze
traders in the 10th century
BC. The botanical museum
has specimens of rare plants.

San Marco 7
See pp96-7.

Statuary in the garden of the
Palazzo Medici Riccardi