Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence

History of the Medici palace

In 1444 the banker Cosimo de' Medici, later known as Cosimo the Elder, asked the architect Michelozzo to build the family a new home. Legend says he first had a design from Brunelleschi but turned it down as too grand, likely to stir up the neighbours' envy. Michelozzo's palace is severe from outside: rough-hewn stone on the ground floor, smoother above, crowned by a massive cornice. It became the model for dozens of Florentine palazzi.

The Medici lived here for nearly a century. Lorenzo the Magnificent grew up in the palace and filled it with poets, philosophers and artists; the young Michelangelo lived in Lorenzo's household for several years and trained in his sculpture garden. In 1540 Duke Cosimo I moved to the Palazzo Vecchio and later to Palazzo Pitti.

In 1659 the Riccardi family bought the building. They lengthened the façade in the same style and redecorated rooms in Baroque taste. Today the palace is both a museum and the offices of the Metropolitan City of Florence, so some rooms are open to visitors and others are working offices.

The Magi Chapel

The palace's great treasure is the small private Magi Chapel on the first floor. In 1459–1461 Benozzo Gozzoli covered its walls with the Procession of the Magi: a long, festive cavalcade in gold and brocade winding through the Tuscan hills towards the Christ Child.

Among the riders, pages and servants Gozzoli painted the Medici themselves and their guests, and slipped in a self-portrait too, with his name written on his cap. The colours are astonishingly fresh: gold, scarlet, blue. The chapel is tiny, so visitors go in small groups for a few minutes; take your time and look for the hunting dogs, the cheetahs and the castles on the hills.

Over the altar is a copy of Filippo Lippi's Adoration in the Forest; the original is in Berlin. It's one of the few places where Medici-era frescoes can still be seen in the very room they were painted for.

What to see in Palazzo Medici Riccardi

• Magi Chapel — Benozzo Gozzoli's frescoes.
• Luca Giordano Gallery — mirrors, gilding and the painted ceiling.
• Michelozzo's courtyard — arcade and roundels.
• The garden — lemon trees in pots and statues.
• The kneeling windows — on the corner, designed by Michelangelo.
• Filippo Lippi's Madonna — in one of the rooms.

The mirrored gallery and the courtyard

The palace's second jewel is the Riccardi gallery. In the 1680s the Neapolitan painter Luca Giordano covered its ceiling with a vast allegory in honour of the Medici, all gods, clouds and shining sky. The walls are carved, gilded and set with mirrors that reflect the ceiling again and again, so the room seems to go on forever. It's still used for formal meetings and concerts.

Michelozzo's inner courtyard is a model of Renaissance harmony, with an arcade on slender columns and marble roundels above. Donatello's bronze David once stood here; it's now in the Bargello. Beyond lies a small garden with lemon trees in pots, ancient statues and benches, a good place to cool off in summer.

Tickets and tips

Tickets are sold on site and on the palace's official website. Numbers in the Magi Chapel are capped, so in high season it's worth booking a time slot ahead. The museum is usually closed on Wednesdays; check before you go.

The palace sits in the San Lorenzo quarter and pairs easily with its neighbours: the basilica, the Medici Chapels and the market. It's far less crowded than the Uffizi or Palazzo Pitti, so even in summer you can look at the frescoes in peace. Temporary exhibitions open here regularly; the programme is on the palace website.

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How to do it right

• Usually closed on Wednesdays.
• The chapel admits small groups.
• The courtyard is visible from Via Cavour.
• Quieter than the Uffizi.

Questions