Florence, Pitti Palace reopens the Royal Apartments: journey through the history of three dynasties

Starting Jan. 21, the Pitti Palace in Florence reopens to the public the majestic rooms of the Royal Apartments, located on the second floor of the Palace. After five years of closure and meticulous restoration, these spaces, once inhabited by the Medici, Lorraine and Savoy dynasties, once again welcome visitors on a permanent basis and on a daily basis. The 14 rooms, which have seen the passage of three ruling dynasties, resulting in different styles reflecting eras and tastes of different personalities and dynasties, represent a journey through history, combining art, architecture and the memory of three hundred years of court life.

Among the first residents was Grand Prince Ferdinand de’ Medici, who lived in this wing in the 17th century. The last to live here was Victor Emmanuel III of Savoy, who donated the palace and the Boboli Gardens to the Italian state in 1919. The Royal Apartments, closed since 2020, underwent a complex restoration, involving frescoes, stucco, furniture, paintings, textiles and floors. The restoration project also included the removal of carpets and rugs to bring back the original, perfectly preserved parquet floors. The work involved wall decorations, silk wall hangings, curtains and furniture, with special care taken to preserve the authenticity of each element. The decorative styles of the rooms reflect the taste of the different eras, from the Medici to the Savoy, via the Habsburg-Lorraine.

The Royal Apartments can be visited daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with escorted tours every hour. The last visit is scheduled at 5 p.m.

“After five years of closure, the Royal Apartments of the Pitti Palace reopen to the public,” says Uffizi Director Simone Verde. “It happens thanks to a meticulous work, lasting many months, which delivers to citizens an amazing result, the intact resurrection - almost a physical journey through time - of one of the most identifiable places in Italian history, characterized by a stratification of styles and experience that has remained substantially untouched over the centuries until today. In the Apartments, in fact, relics of the Medici past and the long Lorraine interlude coexist harmoniously, sealed by the definitive contribution of the Savoy family, which enriched the residence with furnishings brought here from the royal palaces of almost all the other annexed territories.”

Curator of the Royal Apartments at Palazzo Pitti, Alessandra Griffo, says, “Reopening the apartments allows us to recover the vision of Palazzo Pitti in its integrity, not as a set of independent museums, but as a single palace. The work carried out respected the rearrangement ordered in the 1990s when the 1911 inventory was taken as a reference, the last one documenting the layout of those spaces, occasionally inhabited by the Savoy family. Few changes were made: arranging some pieces differently and introducing some paintings, otherwise kept in storage, with the intention of better highlighting the Medici phase, when the apartment was inhabited by Grand Prince Ferdinand (1663-1713).”

The halls of the Royal Apartments

We begin with the Green Room, which was originally the Guard Room of Grand Prince Ferdinand (1663 - 1713). The vault houses Luca Giordano’s “Allegory of Peace between Florence and Fiesole,” while the walls are covered in green silk from the Lorraine period. Also worth seeing is Vittoria della Rovere’s cabinet, decorated with tiles and semiprecious stones. Dating from the Habsburg-Lorraine era (1737 - 1799 and 1814 - 1859), on the other hand, is the decoration by Giuseppe Castagnoli, just as Lorraine is the covering of the walls and furniture in green background silk that gives the room its name. During the Savoy reign, portraits of French origin were added.

The Throne Room, with its crimson upholstery and majestic chandelier, was adapted by the Savoy during the period of Florence’s capital (1865 - 1870) to house the throne (made by adapting a Grand Ducal armchair to which the Savoy coat of arms was added). It was formerly the Audience Hall of the apartment of Grand Prince Ferdinand (1663 - 1713), later to become the Chamberlain’s Hall under the Hapsburg-Lorraine (1737 - 1799 and 1814 - 1859). Medicean and Lorraine elements stand out in its interior, such as the decoration of the vault executed by Giuseppe Castagnoli. Later, in 1856, for the wedding of hereditary Archduke Ferdinand IV (1835 - 1908), the tapestry was replaced with the current crimson-bottomed silk wallpaper, and the chandelier was also installed.

The Celestial Drawing Room, originally the Sala dei Cimbali (i.e., it housed the musical instruments of Grand Prince Ferdinand’s apartment, then became a dining room in the Lorraine era, when the white and gold stucco decoration of the ceiling was also made) houses a 19th-century celestial tapestry and an 18th-century fireplace known as “of the eagles,” by the sculptor Francis Harwood. The large wooden chandelier and portraits by Giusto Suttermans take visitors back to the Medici period: the chandelier, in particular, is the only surviving lumiera from the Medici period (it was commissioned in 1697 by Grand Duke Cosimo III from the carver Vittorio Crosten and was originally mounted at the Villa della Topaia).

The Chapel is the room that best preserves the Medici appearance, dating back to Grand Prince Ferdinand, who nevertheless conceived it as an alcove with a small library attached, set up in the mezzanine concealed behind the carved and gilded screen. The stuccoes and symbols in the vault, designed by Giovan Battista Foggini, reflect his personal taste, while the draperies and chandelier date from the 19th century. It was Grand Duke Peter Leopold of Habsburg-Lorraine (1747 - 1792), who arrived in Florence in 1765, who wanted to turn the small room into a chapel. The chandelier, hangings, and crimson damask curtains are from the mid-19th century. In the Savoy period a partition created a corridor on the window side. Furniture and paintings hint at these multiple uses.

The Parrot Hall, originally used as an antechamber to the bedroom of Grand Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici (1663 - 1713), has undergone various transformations over the centuries. During the Lorraine period, in the second half of the 18th century, the room was redecorated with a new vault and equipped with a large stove. Later, under Grand Duke Ferdinand III (1769 - 1824), the walls were covered with a fine silk wallpaper from the Lyon Manufactory, which came from Vienna in 1814. During the Restoration, the imperial eagles that adorned the cloth were interpreted as parrots, a mistake that gave the room its current name. In the Savoy period, the pre-existing furnishings were largely preserved. The impressive crystal chandelier also dates to this phase. The room houses a collection of paintings, dating mainly from the late 17th and early 18th centuries, that belonged to Grand Prince Ferdinand and were already present in this area of the palace at the time of his inventory in 1713.

The Queen’s Drawing Room, originally intended as the private bedroom of Grand Prince Ferdinand (1663 - 1713), was later converted into a drawing room. During the Lorraine period (1737 - 1799 and 1814 - 1859), it became the first room of the Grand Duchess’s private apartment, a function maintained under the Savoy family as well. In 1833, on the occasion of the second wedding of Grand Duke Leopold II of Lorraine (1797 - 1870), Emilio Santarelli decorated the vault with fine stucco work. The furnishings were renovated in the late 19th century, reflecting the taste of Margaret of Savoy (1851 - 1926). Yellow silk wallpaper, of French manufacture from the first decade of the 19th century, enriches the room. On the walls are paintings celebrating Savoy history and the lives of four great Tuscan artists, Giotto, Cimabue, Simone Martini, and Michelangelo. These subjects enhance the Tuscan artistic tradition, paying homage to the cultural heritage of the place.

The Queen’s Chamber was part, during the Medici era, of the apartment of Grand Prince Ferdinand (1663 - 1713) and was used for the game of ’trick,’ an activity similar to billiards. During the Habsburg-Lorraine period (1737 - 1799 and 1814 - 1859), the room was initially used as the Grand Duchess’s sitting room, and was later converted into a bedroom. This function was also maintained under the Savoy family, until 1919, when it housed Queen Margaret (1851 - 1926) during her stays in Florence. The furnishings, fitted in 1844, include elegant blue silk brocatelle with a yellow background, which gives the room an intimate, muffled atmosphere. The room is enhanced by two dormeuses and various cabinets, contributing to a cozy and refined space.

The Oval Cabinet, along with the nearby Round Cabinet, was built between 1763 and 1765 at the behest of Maria Theresa of Austria (1717 - 1780), in anticipation of the arrival in Florence of her son Pietro Leopoldo (1747 - 1792), the future grand duke. Designed by architect Ignazio Pellegrini, the Oval Cabinet adopts a floor plan that reflects international Rococo taste. The highly refined gilded stuccoes were made by the Milanese workshop of Francesco Visetti, while the fireplace, in brocatelle from Spain, is also by Pellegrini. The walls are covered with white silk satin, produced by a Florentine manufactory between 1780 and 1783. This wallpaper, decorated with “chinoiserie” motifs so much in vogue at the time, is the only one from the Pietro Leopoldo period to retain its original position. The room, intended as a women’s drawing room, study or boudoir, retained this function even during the Savoy period, when it was used by Queen Margaret (1851 - 1926).

The Gabinetto Rotondo, located at the far end of the southern rondo and overlooking the terrace with a view of Florence, the Gabinetto Rotondo was part of the expansion ordered by Maria Theresa of Austria (1717 - 1780) between 1763 and 1765, in preparation for the arrival in Florence of her son Pietro Leopoldo (1747 - 1792) and consort Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Spain. The neoclassical decoration was completed in the following decade with contributions from Domenico Ruschi, known as Portogalli, who did the stucco work, and Giuliano Traballesi, author of the wall paintings. During the Napoleonic period, in the early 19th century, the Gabinetto Rotondo was converted into a library, with the addition of an internal staircase connecting it to the upper floor. With the Savoy family, and particularly during the period of Queen Margaret, the room was used for conversation and women’s work, as indicated by the small tables distributed among the elegant seating.

The King’s Chamber originally, during the time of Grand Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici (1663 - 1713), served as a transitory sitting room between his apartment and that of his consort, Violante Beatrice of Bavaria (1673 - 1731), overlooking the Boboli Gardens. With the arrival of Peter Leopold of Habsburg-Lorraine (1747 - 1792) in 1765, the room was integrated into the grand duke’s private quarters. The vault was embellished with white and gold stucco, and a large ceramic stove was installed. In 1820, Ferdinand III of Lorraine (1769 - 1824) had a yellow silk wallpaper of French manufacture, purchased during his exile in the Napoleonic era, installed. In the Savoy period, the room became the bedroom of King Umberto I (1844 - 1900). The furnishings were enriched with Empire-era furniture, supplemented by elements from the Medici-Lorraine Guardaroba, giving the room an atmosphere of great elegance and royalty.

When Peter Leopold of Habsburg-Lorraine (1747 - 1792) arrived in Florence from Vienna in 1765, the King’s Room became part of his private apartment. As with the other rooms in the quarter, the ceiling was decorated with white and gold stucco. Although the precious silk tapestry, made by Florentine manufactures, dates from this period, it was not fitted until a century later, during the reign of Umberto I of Savoy (1844 - 1900). During the Savoy period, the room was transformed into the king’s study, with the inclusion of an elegant French writing desk from the mid-18th century. This desk belonged to Louise Elisabeth, Duchess of Parma (1727 - 1759), and was transferred to the Pitti Palace in the 1880s, after the Unification of Italy.

The Red Drawing Room features a ceiling decoration of white and gold stucco, dating from the early Lorraine period (1737 - 1799). However, it was during the second Lorraine period (1814 - 1859), despite the presence of stars and bees, imperial symbols, that Florentine damask was mounted, made on a French model at the behest of Napoleon’s sister Elisa Baciocchi (1777 - 1820), Grand Duchess of Tuscany from 1809 to 1814. In the Lorraine period, the room was used as the Audience Hall by Ferdinand III of Lorraine (1769 - 1824), and the function as an audience hall was maintained during the Savoy period. During this period, some furnishings were introduced, including the Savoy cross, the distinctive symbol of the ruling family.

Finally, theKing’s Antechamber served as the entrance to the private apartments of the Grand Duke and, later, the King. It was known as theAnticamera degli Aiutanti in the apartment of Ferdinand III of Lorraine (1769 - 1824) and retained this function during the Savoy period. The ceiling decoration, done in white and gold, as well as the rare wallpaper, date from the second half of the 18th century, although the latter, of Florentine manufacture, was not mounted until 1900.

Florence, Pitti Palace reopens the Royal Apartments: journey through the history of three dynasties

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.