In 1549 the unfinished palace was sold by Luca Pitti's descendants to Eleonora of Toledo, Duke Cosimo's wife, and it was finished by Ammanati during the latter half of the sixteenth century; the wings are a later addition. The whole building, with its huge dimensions and boldly rusticated masonry, is one of the most monumental and grandiose of European palaces.

It was first the residence of the Medicean Grand Dukes, then of their Austrian successors, and is now one of the royal palaces of the King of Italy.

Notable Works in the Royal Apartments

In one of the royal apartments there is a famous painting by Botticelli, Pallas Taming a Centaur, believed to reference Lorenzo the Magnificent’s return to Florence after his diplomatic triumph in 1480.

The stately Pallas is crowned with olive branches, her mantle is green like Dante’s Beatrice, and her white dress is decorated with Lorenzo’s crest—the three rings. The Centaur is powerfully rendered, echoing Botticelli’s interpretation of the mythic monsters hunting tyrants through the river of blood in Dante’s Inferno.

Opposite Pallas, a small tondo shows the Madonna and four angels adoring the Child in a garden of roses and strawberries. Discovered in 1899 and attributed to Botticelli, it is now believed to be a school work.

The Picture Gallery: Heart of the Pitti Palace

The gallery presents a remarkable assembly of masterpieces displayed in richly decorated rooms with allegorical ceiling paintings in the dramatic and ornamental style of Pietro da Cortona and his contemporaries.

“Both in Florence and in Rome
The elder race so make themselves at home
That scarce we give a glance to ceilingfuls
Of such like as Francesco.”

Although the Quattrocento is sparsely represented, the collection excels in works from the Cinquecento, the height of the Renaissance.

At the top of the staircase stands a marble fountain attributed to Donatello. The rooms are named after themes painted on their ceilings. Below are highlights from the six principal salons.

Principal Rooms and Masterpieces

Sala dell’Iliade

Major Works

• Fra Bartolommeo, Madonna and Child with Saints (1512)
• Titian, Cardinal Ippolito de’ Medici (1533)
• Titian (formerly Giorgione), The Concert
• Andrea del Sarto, two Assumptions (1526, 1531)

Additional Pieces

• Early Titian, The Saviour
• Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, two portraits
• Portrait known as La Gravida, likely early Raphael
• Paolo Veronese, Daniele Barbaro
• Titian, Philip II of Spain
• Rubens, Holy Family

Sala di Saturno

Raphael Highlights

• Madonna del Gran Duca (1504–1505)
• Portraits of Angelo and Maddalena Doni
• Madonna del Baldacchino (1508)
• Madonna della Seggiola (1513–1514)
• The Vision of Ezekiel (c. 1517)

Additional Works

• Fra Bartolommeo, Risen Christ with Four Evangelists (1516)
• Andrea del Sarto, Disputa (1518)
• Perugino, Deposition from the Cross (1495)

Sala di Giove

Highlights

• Raphael, La Velata
• Titian, La Bella
• Andrea del Sarto, Annunciation, Madonna in Glory, St. John the Baptist
• Bartolommeo, St. Mark
• Rosso Fiorentino, The Three Fates
• Morto da Feltre, The Three Ages

Sala di Marte

Key Works

• Titian, Young Man with a Glove
• Raphael (workshop), Holy Family of the Impannata
• Cristofano Allori, Judith
• Andrea del Sarto, Scenes from the Life of Joseph
• Rubens, Four Philosophers
• Van Dyck, Cardinal Giulio Bentivoglio
• Portraits of Pope Julius II, attributed to Raphael

Sala di Apollo & Sala di Venere

Major Works

• Raphael, Portrait of Pope Leo X with Cardinals
• Andrea del Sarto, Pietà (1523–1524)
• Titian, Magdalene and Pietro Aretino
• Murillo, Mother and Child
• Rubens, Landscape (The Hay Harvest / Return of the Contadini)

Sala dell’Educazione di Giove & Adjacent Rooms

Featured works include:

• Fra Bartolommeo, Holy Family with St. Elizabeth
• Boccaccino, The Gipsy Girl
• Velázquez, Philip IV of Spain
• Filippo Lippi, Madonna and Child with the Pomegranate
• Mariotto Albertinelli, Holy Family
• Luca Signorelli, St. Catherine Writing
• Domenico Veneziano, Portrait in Red and Head of a Saint
• Lorenzo Costa, Portrait of Giovanni Bentivoglio

Later Rooms

While many works in these galleries are of secondary importance, notable pieces include portraits by:

• Titian
• Sebastiano del Piombo
• Bronzino
• Sir Peter Lely (Oliver Cromwell)

Francia Bigio’s Calumny and Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith also appear here.

Transition to the Uffizi

A descending passage reveals glimpses of the Boboli Gardens and corridors lined with Medicean portraits, depictions of Florentine festivals, and historical scenes—leading ultimately across the Ponte Vecchio and onward to the Uffizi Gallery.