PALAZZO STROZZI

Situated between Piazza Strozzi and Via Tornabuoni, Palazzo Strozzi is one of the symbols of Renaissance architecture. Filippo Strozzi, the merchant who commissioned the palace, bought and had many of the surrounding buildings demolished to make way for his palace. Benedetto da Maiano was appointed to design the building but in fact confined himself to executing a model of the palace for his client. Building thus began in 1489 under the supervision of Simone del Pollaiolo, known as Cronaca. Filippo Strozzi died before the palace was completed and his sons were the first to take up residence there around the year 1505. After a long period during which the Strozzi family resided mainly in Rome, the palace was restored to new splendour around the middle of the nineteenth century, initially under Princess Antonietta and later, under Prince Piero who had the building renovated by the architect Pietro Berti between 1886 and 1889.

Reflecting the desire of Filippo Strozzi, the palace appears as a small fortress in the heart of the city. Built to a rectangular plan, its three storeys are each divided by linear cornices. One of the building's main features is the accuracy with which the canons of fifteenth century architecture were observed in constructing the façade: symmetrical and linear, it is built from massive blocks of stone, large and rough-hewn in the lower part of the building, smoother towards the upper storeys.

The imposing doorways on three sides of the palace, in via Tornabuoni, Piazza Strozzi, and Via Strozzi, are surrounded by rectangular windows bordered by rough masonry. Around the two upper storeys are two orders of mullioned windows with the Strozzi family coat of arms in the arch of each. The impressive, splendidly decorated, projecting cornice is supported by great brackets. The exterior is further embellished by magnificent torch-holders, forged by Niccolò da Nofri, known as Caparra, to a design by Benedetto da Maiano.

Inside, the attractive courtyard executed by Cronaca is surrounded on all four sides by arches resting on columns with Corinthian capitals. On the ground floor it is possible to observe the splendid Sala Ferri, and on the second floor, overlooking the courtyard, a portico with columns on which timber truss beams rest.

The palace belonged to the Strozzi family until 1937, when it was bought by the Istituto Nazionale delle Assicurazioni, and later turned over to the State in 1999, who assigned it to the City of Florence.