IV.

Art Galleries, Bridges, and Churches

Between the Palazzo Vecchio and the Arno stands the Palazzo degli Uffizi, built late in the 16th century to house government offices and law courts. It is famous for its art gallery, the Uffizi Gallery, one of the finest in Europe, which contains an unsurpassed collection of works by the greatest painters of Italy and a rich sampling of works by Flemish and French masters. The nearby Ponte Vecchio, which is lined with goldsmiths’ and jewelers’ shops, was built about 1350; it is the only bridge in Florence spared during World War II and leads across the Arno to the Palazzo Pitti on the left bank. This building, begun in 1458 and subsequently much enlarged, was the residence of the grand dukes of Tuscany from 1550 to 1859. It contains another famous art collection, particularly rich in works by Andrea del Sarto, Raphael, Il Perugino, Titian, and Tintoretto. Behind the Pitti are the vast Boboli Gardens, used for outdoor concerts during the music festival held each year in May.

On the right bank of the Arno, in a kind of half-circle around the cathedral and the Palazzo Vecchio, are many famous churches and palaces. Noteworthy are the 13th-century Gothic Church of Santa Trinità, possessing a fine, luminous interior and a 16th-century baroque facade; and Santa Maria Novella (13th-15th century), with a colored marble facade and richly decorated cloisters, one of the most beautiful churches in the city. Eastward are the 15th-century church and cloisters of San Lorenzo, designed by Brunelleschi. The adjoining structure is the Medici Chapel, private chapel and burial place of the famous Medici family. Above the crypt of the Medici Chapel is the New Sacristy (1519-1534), for which Michelangelo was both architect and sculptor; the sacristy contains the tombs of Lorenzo II de’ Medici, duke of Urbino, with figures of Dawn and Twilight; and of Giuliano de’ Medici, duke of Nemours, with figures of Day and Night.

The Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, built by Michelozzo for Cosimo de’ Medici in the mid-15th century, faces San Lorenzo across a large piazza. Typical of the residences built by prominent families in this period, the ground floor is a private fort with a graceful courtyard, and handsome chambers occupy the upper stories. It houses the Medici Museum. A few streets to the northeast is the former Dominican monastery of San Marco, also largely the work of Michelozzo. It is now a museum in which are preserved the works of the two monks and painters Fra Angelico and Fra Bartolommeo, as well as the cell once occupied by the preacher and reformer Girolamo Savonarola. Nearby are the Spedale degli Innocenti (foundling home), with Brunelleschi’s graceful portico decorated with ten of Andrea della Robbia’s best-known blue and white terra-cotta medallions; the Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts, housing many works of Michelangelo, including his David (1501-1504); and the Archaeological Museum, with an outstanding Etruscan collection.

Southward, near the Arno, stands the handsome Franciscan Church of Santa Croce, built, except for a modern facade, in the 13th and 14th centuries. This church, with an interior of classic Franciscan simplicity and decorated with frescoes by Giotto and other masters, is called the Pantheon of Florence because it contains the tombs of Michelangelo, the statesman and political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli, the poet and dramatist Conte Vittorio Alfieri, and the operatic composer Gioacchino Antonio Rossini, as well as monuments to many other noted Italians.