Palazzo Gondi

The Palazzo, designed in 1489 by the architect Giuliano da Sangallo, Lorenzo il Magnifico's favourite, has façades composed of three graduated orders of rusticated pietra forte. It was built for the banker Giuliano Gondi the Elder on the ruins of the ancient Roman theatre, above which a tower had also been raised housing the study of the notary Ser Piero da Vinci, father of Leonardo.

It was from his father's window that Leonardo drew The Hanged Man and, it would seem, the Annunciation.

The Palazzo was inaugurated in June 1495 on the occasion of a visit to Florence by the Duke of Urbino.

In the seventeenth century the handsome fountain was added in the courtyard. During the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth, various works of restoration and embellishment were carried out to adapt certain rooms to the taste of the day, among them the splendid alcove on the first floor frescoed by Matteo Bonechi.

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The Restoration

In 1870 the architect Giuseppe Poggi was commissioned by the City of Florence to widen the street separating Palazzo Gondi from Palazzo Vecchio. Poggi demolished the ancient tower absorbed into the palazzo and rebuilt the corner, completing Sangallo's design. He then built a terrace on the first floor overlooking via dei Gondi and used the old stonework of the tower for the façade below.

Restoration and maintenance of the Palazzo continued through the twentieth century. Amerigo Gondi transformed the attics and the historic roof loggia into an apartment with terraces commanding a singular view over the monuments of Florence.

In 2005 Bernardo and Vittoria Gondi resolved to undertake an extensive restoration lasting six years, so that Palazzo Gondi might live a new Renaissance, returning to the life of the city through new activities as a venue for events and a historic residence.

Though modest in size, only two bays by three, the silent and stately courtyard nonetheless draws the eye through the richness of its sculptural decoration, which contrasts with the sobriety of the façade. It is held to be among the most beautiful courtyards of Renaissance Florence.

The courtyard of Palazzo Gondi is traditional in form: Sangallo followed the Florentine manner, using arches on columns rather than his customary preference for the arch-and-pier motif found in his other buildings in Naples.

What further sets it apart from other Florentine courtyards is the use of an external stairway.

A great hall with a coffered ceiling, dominated by the monumental fireplace in pietra forte designed by Giuliano da Sangallo and surmounted by two large statues, Hercules and Samson, which as tutelary deities guard the door and windows of the palazzo. On the walls hangs a series of portraits of the most celebrated figures of the important French branch of the family, which supported the two Medici queens, Caterina and Maria. Adjoining are two drawing rooms with frescoes by Matteo Bonechi and Niccolò Contestabili.

A few paces from Palazzo Vecchio, on the rooftops at the height of the fifteenth-century loggia, there is an apartment with terraces commanding the city, from which a singular panorama may be enjoyed.

The most important Florentine monuments seem to enfold the terraces. One has the impression of touching Palazzo Vecchio and of commanding the Duomo and the other monuments, which rise above the old terracotta roofs.

In the old cellars with their irregular vaults there is a wine room in which the wines produced by the Gondi at Tenuta Bossi continue to age in the shadow of Palazzo Vecchio.