• Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Italian Notes
  • HOME
  • PEOPLE & PLACES
    • Abruzzo
    • Basilicata
    • Calabria
    • Campania
    • Emilia-Romagna
    • Friuli-Venezia Giulia
    • Lazio
    • Liguria
    • Lombardia-Lombardy
    • Marche
    • Molise
    • Piemonte-Piedmont
    • Puglia – Apulia
    • Sicilia
    • Toscana-Tuscany
    • Trentino-Alto Adige – Trentino-South Tyrol
    • Umbria
    • Veneto
  • FOOD
    • Antipasti
    • Primi piatti
    • Secondi piatti
    • Dolci
  • PR/ADVERTISING
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
  • Photo of courtyard in Palazzo Vecchio

Charmed by a Courtyard
in Palazzo Vecchio

In contrast to the bleak exterior, there’s a surprising playfulness to be found behind the entrance through the charming courtyard in Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.


I guess most visitors in Florence have walked up the stairs to Palazzo Vecchio, past Michellangelo’s statue of David and Bandinelli’s Hercules and Cacus, and been surprised by the beauty of the first courtyard.

Photo of courtyard in Palazzo Vecchio

Stuccoed and gilted columns support the arcades.

Grotesques, Gilt and Stucco

While the solid brick structure on Piazza della Signoria express medieval dominance and power, the interior displays a sense of humour along with the grace and elegance of the late Renaissance. There are all kinds of figures and people dancing on the ceiling in the grotesque decorations of the barrel vaults, and the columns exhibit a rich decorative imagination in gilt and stucco.

The whole setting exudes an energy and entertainment value that defies description.

Photo of courtyard in Palazzo Vecchio

Samson repressing one of the materialistic philistines.

Marble Muscles

In addition, the courtyard in Palazzo Vecchio is inhabited by several sculptures. First there’s this statue of a muscular man with a receding forehead, pressing his knee against the neck of another man, which passing guides describe as ‘Samson and the Philistine’ by Leonardo’s younger brother Pierino da Vinci, who died at the age of only 23.

I like the exaggerated cauliflower muscles on the backside and the sinewy legs of the repressed representative for the materialistic and uncultured masses. Yet the chiseled marble isn’t half as charming as the cute bronze baby balancing on one leg on a fountain in the centre of the courtyard.

Photo of courtyard in Palazzo Vecchio

An angel child hugging a dolphin

Welcoming the Bride

At first I took this fountain figure to be Cupid, but instead of a bow and arrow the chubby child holds on to a fish that is so slippery and alive it sprouts water. The Putto with Dolphin was originally made by Andrea del Verrocchio for the Villa Medici in Careggi, but it was brought to Palazzo Vecchio, when the son of Cosimo I married Joanna of Austria in 1565. For the same reason Giorgio Vasari, who designed the secret corridor on Ponte Vecchio, decorated the walls with cityscapes depicting Vienna, Linz and Innsbruck and other places in the Habsburg monarchy. The Duke of Tuscany clearly didn’t want his new daughter-in-law to become homesick.

Yet Joanna the Grand Duchess of Tuscany never felt at home in Florence. In spite of the welcoming courtyard, her husband preferred the company of his mistress, and 13 years and 7 children after her marriage the heavily pregnant Joanna fell from the stairs in the new Palazzo Pitti and died. But that is an altogether different story. It has nothing to do with the charming courtyard that serves as a small appetizer to the grand tour of Palazzo Vecchio.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail



Booking.com

0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Followon TwitterSubscribeto RSS Feed
Discover Rome - Italian Notes

Discover Rome

Discover Florence - Italian Notes

Discover Florence

Discover Venice - Italian Notes

Discover Venice

Discover Puglia - Italian Notes

Discover Puglia

Discover Sicily - Italian Notes

Discover Sicily

Discover Piedmont - Italian Notes

Discover Piedmont

Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

Accept settingsHide notification onlySettings

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Google Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Other cookies

The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

Accept settingsHide notification only