Palazzo Vecchio in Florence

After participating in Jake's Impetvs game set during the Great Italian Wars coupled with the jump-started launch of my own Great Italian Wars project and the arrival of a small stack of Italian Wars books, thoughts returned to my visit to Florence.  Florence.  When I think of the Renaissance, Florence is the city that immediately comes to mind.

On our first night in Florence, we dined in an open air restaurant on the Piazza del Signoria facing Palazzo Vecchio with this view.  Cool view, eh?

Palazzo Vecchio

During our stay in Florence, the B&B in which we stayed was less than a five minute walk to The Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore.

Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore

From the Cathedral, it was only a short walk to the Palazzo Vecchio or old Palace near the banks of the Arno River.  For Renaissance battle frescoes, the palace is worthy of a stop.

Palazzo Vecchio

Lorenzo the Magnificent keeping a watchful eye.  Who would not like the moniker "The Magnificent?"

Lorenzo the Magnificent

Through the main gate and across the inner courtyard, the palace opens up into the great room, or Hall of 500.  While entry into the Great Hall is on the ground floor, I climbed upstairs to gain a better vantage point.  At one time, this was the largest public meeting room in Italy. 

Hall of 500

The size of the frescoes is immense.  These battle scenes were created by Giorgio Vasari in the 1560's.  Both Michelangelo and Da Vinci were originally commissioned to paint the frescoes but Michelangelo really never made much progress and Da Vinci's work was damaged by using heat to decrease the drying time.  Unfortunately, the heat from the hot coals melted the wax in the frescoes.  Speculation is that Leonardo's work is still behind one of Vasari's frescoes. 

The Hall of 500's east and west walls display three battle frescoes on each depicting Florentine military victories over Siena and Pisa.  On the west wall, are three frescoes,

Defeat of Pisans at Tower of San Vincenzo, 1505

Siege of Livorno Lifted, 1496 (center panel)

Battle of Stampace, 1499

and on the east wall, three frescoes,

Victory of Cosimo I at Battle of Marciano, 1554

The Conquest of Porto Ercole, 1555 (center panel)

Taking of Siena, 1554

Lining the walls of the hall are sculptures showing the Labors of Hercules by Rossi.

and Michelangelo's statue of Victory.

A brief tour of one room, in one palace in one Florence.  

No visit to the Piazza del Signoria would be complete without a photo of Perseus holding the head of Medusa.