Pitti Palace
Cross over the Ponte Vecchio, or old bridge, given its name due to the fact that it is the oldest bridge in Florence and visit one of the most frequented sites on the southern bank of the Arno. This palace was designed by Brunelleschi for the Pitti family who were rivals of the day of the Medicis. The Piazza de' Pitti is closed on three sides by the circling wings of the Palace proper and is informally known as the Royal Palace. The palace is built on three floors, with three entrance doors on the ground floor and seven windows on each side of the two upper floors. A balcony crosses the entire front, linking up all the windows and it is finished off with a veranda just below the roof. As with most things, the Medici's soon made the huge and imposing building their own and it now testimony to their investment in the art of their time that it houses the family's massive art collection. Treasures on the three floors include works by Raphael, Filippo Lippi, Tintoretto, Veronese and Tintian, all hung in lavishly decorated rooms. Next to the gallery proper are ten of the original Royal Apartments and the Silver Chamber displaying some of the personal possessions of the Medici family. At the back of the Palale facing south are the Bolboli Gardens whose terraces slope down the hill and house yet another museum, the porcelain museum.
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