THE MEDICI AND THE RENAISSANCE

We start at the Medici Palace, built in the mid 15th century and first residence of the powerful and proud family. We’ll visit the beautiful courtyard decorated with busts and statues, the garden, the chapel with the amazing fresco paintings of the “Cavalcade of the Magi” by Benozzo Gozzoli and the Hall of Mirrors.
The visit continues at the Basilica of San Lorenzo, the oldest church in Florence, which became, in the 15th century, the family church of the Medici. Embellished, amongst others, by the works of Donatello, Andrea del Verrocchio, Filippo Lippi, and Bronzino, the church also stands as a manifesto to the architecture of the Renaissance and the genius of Filippo Brunelleschi.
Our visit will finish at the Medici Chapels, the mausoleum of the Medici, sumptuously decorated with inlays made with semi-precious stones and colored marbles. Inside we’ll see the New Sacristy, entirely conceived by an almost sixty-year-old Michelangelo; it is the last work he did in Florence.

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Cosimo the 1st transferred the family residence to Palazzo Vecchio, the old medieval government palace standing in Piazza della Signoria since the early 14th century. While maintaining the stern appearance of a medieval fortress, the interior was refurbished entirely, becoming the private residence of the new Duke of Florence and also his political quarters. Inside we’ll visit the courtyard extravagantly decorated with fresco paintings of the mid 16th century. On the first floor, we are welcomed by the Hall of the 500, richly decorated by the artists led by the expert hand of Giorgio Vasari. On the second floor, you can admire the apartments where Cosimo and his beautiful wife Leonor di Toledo lived. We’ll finish the visit in the “Hall of maps,” a testimony of the skilled cartographers of the late 16th century.
Our visit continues at the Pitti Palace, the last and most magnificent residence of the Medici family. We’ll visit the Palatine Gallery, where a significant part of their collection of paintings is kept. Masterpieces by Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, and Rubens, amongst others, are displayed in the beautifully decorated rooms, which eco the grandeur of the Medici court.

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Florence hosts the most extensive collection of works by Michelangelo, some of which was commissioned by the Medici family, who discovered and nurtured Michelangelo’s talent. We have several itineraries where you can find the masterpieces that are scattered all over the city.
This tour will take you through the Laurentian Library, where you can admire Michelangelo, the architect. Our next stop takes us to the Medici Chapels, where the maestro decorated the New Sacristy, his last work in Florence. Our final destination is the Accademia Gallery, where one of his most famous statues is hosted: David. Inside the museum, you’ll also admire some of his unfinished sculptures: the Slaves and Saint Matthew.

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Our itinerary starts at the Bargello Museum, which hosts the Bacchus, Michelangelo’s first all-round statue, a marvelous Tondo Pitti, and another very famous David, the one sculpted by Donatello. The tour continues in the Casa Buonarroti, the palazzo that Michelangelo bought for his father that hosts a fascinating collection: drawings and small clay statues, as well as his earliest known work: the Virgin of the stair and the Battle of the centaurs.  Our visit finishes in the beautiful Basilica of Santa Croce, where the maestro is buried.

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