The Palazzo Medici Riccardi
The Palazzo Medici Riccardi is located on Via Cavour. You can reach it from the Duomo (cathedral) by taking Via de' Martelli, which you go up to Via Cavour, lying in its continuation.
Address: 3 Via Cavour
Opening hours: every day except Wednesday, 9:00–19:00.
Admission: €10 from 2 November to 28 February, €15 from 1 March to 1 November (reservation recommended).
Its construction, commissioned by Cosimo the Elder from Michelozzo, began in 1444. The palace remained the residence of the Medici until Cosimo I moved into the Palazzo Vecchio and then the Palazzo Pitti. In 1659 it became the property of the Riccardi family. Its imposing facade has a ground floor of rustic rustication, long stone benches for clients, and rings for tying up horses. The imposing overhanging cornice is characteristic of Florentine palaces.
The beautiful square courtyard in gray-blue stone, with a statue of Orpheus in the center, opens onto the garden adorned with statues and terracotta pottery. A staircase leads to the upper floor and to the Capella dei Magi (Chapel of the Magi), painted in fresco on three walls by Benozzo Gozzoli.
The Procession of the Magi winds through a landscape of mountains and plains dotted with imaginary cities. Members and allies of the Medici family are depicted in it: the young man, on the white horse caparisoned in gold, would be the young Lorenzo the Magnificent.
Do not hesitate to walk through the upper floor to see the gallery of mirrors, with its painted mirrors and the vault by Luca Giordano, the antechamber with the Virgin and Child by Filippo Lippi, and the reception rooms.
