The wing of the piano nobile not occupied by the Galleria Palatina painting collection is taken up with the private apartments used first by the Medici and then by the Lorraine Grand Dukes that inherited their titles.
These apartments were reopened in 1993 after being restored to their late-19th-century appearance, the era when the kings of the House of Savoy, rulers of the Unified Italy, used the suites as their Florentine home.
Amid the general interior-decorator flamboyance are some thoroughly appropriate baroque paintings by the likes of Sustermans, Carlo Dolci, and Anthony van Dyck, plus works by Caravagio and Andrea del Sarto.
Most rooms are named after the prevalent coloring of each chamber's elaborate silk wall hangings and curtains. The over-the-top sumptuous fabrics, decorative arts furnishings, stuccoes, and frescoes reflect the neo-baroque and Victorian tastes of the Savoy kings—though the Sala Celeste (Blue Room) does retain the 17C chandelier and Medici portraits by Sustermans there were here in the Medici era.
In the excellently preserved Sala Verde (Green Room)—otherwise mostly filled with paintings of French Royalty from the Bourbon collection of Parma (brought here by the Saoyard Kings)—hang a small Allegory of Peace between Florence and Fiesole by Luca Giordano and Caravaggio's 1610 Portrait of a Knight of Malta (Fra Antonio Martelli) ★.
What had been Ferdinand de' Medici's "Audience Chamber"—and, later, the Lorraine Grand Dukes' "Chamberlain's Room"—was transformed by the Savoy Kings into a neo-Baroque Throne Room, compelte with gilded red silk walls and a raised dais for the royal seat, hemmed by a minature golden balustrade and surrounded by Japanese and Chinese porcelain vases.
The misnamed Sala dei Pappagalli (Parrot Room—the birds worked into the silks walks are actually eagles) has an elaborated gilded stucco ceiling and neoclassical furniture from the period of Napoléon I, but the paintings on the wall include a small Portrait of a Woman possibly by Andrea del Sarto and depicting his wife (though others attribute the work to del Sarto's student Pontormo), another Portrait of a Woman by Lucas Cranach, and a Portrait of Giulia Varano della Rovere, Duches of Urbino by the workshop of Titian.
The canary-colored Camera del Re (King's Bedroom) once occupired by Umberto I contains a Madonna and Child with the young St. John by a young Andrea del Sarto.
» On to the Museum of Modern Art
Piazza Pitti (cross the Ponte Vecchio and follow Via Guicciardini; you can't miss it)
tel. +39-055-238-8614
www.polomuseale.firenze.it
Tickets: Select Italy
Galleria Palatina, Appartamenti Reali, and Galleria d'Arte Moderna:
Tues–Sun 8:15am–6:50pm
Galleria del Costume, Museo degli Argenti, Boboli Gardens, and Museo delle Porcellane:*
Tues–Sun as follows:
Jun-Aug 8:15am–6:50pm (Boboli Gdns: to 7:30pm)
Apr-May, Sept-Oct 8:15am–6:30pm
[portions of Oct and Mar after/before switches daylight savings time: 8:15am–5:30pm]
Nov-Feb 8:15am–4:30pm
* Museo delle Porcellane closes 15 min. earlier
Museo delle Carrozze: Currently closed
(Pitti Palace is free the first Sunday of each month)
Tickets: Select Italy
Firenze Card: Yes
Bus: C3, D
Hop-on/hop-off: Pitti (A)
Planning your day: Budget at least two hours for a cursory visit of just the Galleria Palatina and Appartamenti Reali.
If you plan to venture into
the Boboli Gardens, give it another hour.
If you have only passing interest in the other museums, each will take about 20 minutes.
Note that the last entry for every museum or part of the Pitti complex is 1 hour before closing.
The major parts of the Pitti Palace complex (Galleria Palatina, Apartamenti Reali, Boboli Gardens, and Porcelain Museum) are covered by the Firenze Card—free admission, no waiting in line. » more
If all you're into is the art, you can get a ticket covering just the Galleria Palatina and Modern Art Gallery for €8.50.
If, however, you'd like to wander the rest of the collections (and gardens) as well, don't spend another €6 or €7 on the separate collective ticket. Instead, get the "biglietto cumulativo," an all-access pass for €11.50 that lets you into all the Pitti galleries, apartments, and gardens for three days.
Or just use the Firenze Card.
Take a guided tour of Palazzo Pitti with one of our partners:
Pitti Palace tours
Boboli Gardens toursWarning: The Pitti Palace seems to revel in closing a handful of its (lesser) museums for years at a time—lately, it seems to be the collection of fancy carriages in the Museo dell Carozze.
Just which ones will be closed at any given time and for how long works on some mysterious schedule I have yet to discern. Check before visiting if missing, say, the costume gallery or the porcelain museum will spoil your vacation.
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Piazza Pitti (cross the Ponte Vecchio and follow Via Guicciardini; you can't miss it)
tel. +39-055-238-8614
www.polomuseale.firenze.it
Tickets: Select Italy
Galleria Palatina, Appartamenti Rrali, and Galleria d'Arte Moderna:
Tues–Sun 8:15am–6:50pm
Galleria del Costume, Museo degli Argenti, Boboli Gardens, and Museo delle Porcellane:*
Tues–Sun as follows:
Jun-Aug 8:15am–6:50pm (Boboli Gdns: to 7:30pm)
Apr-May, Sept-Oct 8:15am–6:30pm
[portions of Oct and Mar after/before switches daylight savings time: 8:15am–5:30pm]
Nov-Feb 8:15am–4:30pm
* Museo delle Porcellane closes 15 min. earlier
Museo delle Carrozze: Currently closed
(Pitti Palace is free the first Sunday of each month)
Tickets: Select Italy
Firenze Card: Yes
Bus: C3, D
Hop-on/hop-off: Pitti (A)
This article was written by Reid Bramblett and was last updated in April 2015.
All information was accurate at the time.
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