The Casino Mediceo di San Marco is a late-

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...

style palace located on Via Cavour number 57 and via San Gallo in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, region of

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

, Italy.

History

At a palace at the site,

Lorenzo di Medici Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (; 1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492) was an Italian statesman, banker, ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Also known as Lorenzo ...

had used structures as a school and academy of arts (the ''Accademia degli Orti Medicei''), where the likes of

Pico della Mirandola Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (24 February 1463 – 17 November 1494) was an Italian Renaissance nobleman and philosopher. He is famed for the events of 1486, when, at the age of 23, he proposed to defend 900 theses on religion, philosophy, ...

, Lorenzo de Credi,

Francesco Granacci Francesco Granacci (1469 – 30 November 1543) was an Italian Renaissance painter active primarily in his native Florence. Though little-known today, he was regarded in his time and is featured in Giorgio Vasari's ''Lives of the Artists''. ...

, and

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

frequented. When Piero de Medici was exiled in 1494, the villa was sacked. In 1568-1574, the

Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany Francesco I (25 March 1541 – 19 October 1587) was the second Grand Duke of Tuscany, ruling from 1574 until his death in 1587. He was a member of the House of Medici. Biography Born in Florence, Francesco was the son of Cosimo I de' Medic ...

and his potential half-brother Don Antonio de Medici commissioned

Bernardo Buontalenti Bernardo Buontalenti (), byname of Bernardo Delle Girandole ( 1531 – June 1608), was an Italian stage designer, architect, theatrical designer, military engineer and artist and inventor of italian ice cream. Biography Buontalenti was born in ...

, to reconstruct the palace as a casino, a city ''villa'', as it was sited at the Gardens of San Marco.

Gherardo Silvani Gherardo Silvani (1579–1675) was an Italian architect and sculptor, active mainly in Florence and other sites in Tuscany during the Baroque period. Biography His son Pierfrancesco Silvani, Pierfrancesco also became an architect. He worked on ...

may also have played a role in the design. The palace was planned as a laboratory for scientific experimentation, in 1588 it became the seat of the

Opificio delle Pietre Dure The Opificio delle pietre dure, literally meaning ''Workshop of semi-precious stones'', is a public institute of the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage based in Florence. It is a global leader in the field of art restoration and provides teachi ...

. On the death of Francesco I, in 1587 the palazzo was inherited by Antonio who took up residence here in 1597, commissioning numerous works for the rooms and garden which hosted sculptural groups by

Giambologna Giambologna (1529 – 13 August 1608), also known as Jean de Boulogne (French), Jehan Boulongne (Flemish) and Giovanni da Bologna (Italian), was the last significant Italian Renaissance sculptor, with a large workshop producing large and small ...

. The palace has been frescoed (1621–1623) by teams of artists including

Anastasio Fontebuoni Anastasio Fontebuoni (also spelt Anastazio Fontebuoni, or Anastagio Fontebuoni) (1571–1626) was an Italian painter of the Baroque, native of Florence. Fontebuoni proved to be one of the Florentine painters are more open to the influence of Cara ...

Michelangelo Cinganelli Michelangelo Cinganelli, also known as Michele Cinganelli (Florence, circa 1558 - Florence, September 26, 1635) was an Italian painter. Biography He was a pupil or strongly influenced by Bernardino Poccetti of Florence. Along with Orazio Rimin ...

Fabrizio Boschi Fabrizio Boschi (1572–1642) was an Italian painter of the early-Baroque period, active in Florence. He is said to have been a pupil of Domenico Passignano. In 1615, Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger asked Boschi to paint ''Michelangelo pres ...

Matteo Rosselli Matteo Rosselli (10 August 1578 – 18 January 1650) was an Italian painter of the late Florentine Counter- Mannerism and early Baroque. He is best known however for his highly populated grand-manner historical paintings. Biography He first app ...

Ottavio Vannini Ottavio Vannini (September 15, 1585 – c. 1643) was an Italian artist of the Baroque period, active mainly in Florence. Biography Born in Florence to Michele Vannini. He initially apprenticed for four years with a mediocre painter by t ...

, Bartolomeo Salvestrini,

Giovanni Battista Vanni Biography Giovanni Battista Vanni was born in either Pisa or Florence around 1599; he studied successively under Jacopo da Empoli, Aurelio Lomi, and Matteo Rosselli, and then became a disciple of Cristofano Allori. He is better known as an engr ...

, Jacopo Confortini, Domenico Pugliani and

Jacopo Vignali Jacopo Vignali (September 5, 1592 – August 3, 1664) was an Italian painter of the early Baroque period. Biography Vignali was born in Pratovecchio, near Arezzo, and initially trained under Matteo Rosselli. He painted the ceiling fresco of the ' ...

. Filippo Tarchiani, in 1623, decorated the chapel with paintings depicting the ''Life of San Giuseppe'' (restored in 1967). Inside the palazzo, don Antonio created a research laboratory, known as the Fonderia, and assembled various scholars interested in chemical and alchemy. The library is now hosted by the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze (BNCF). After the Medici, the building played various roles, barracks, customs house, ministry of finances, finally court of appeals until 2012.Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza
, Florence itinerary. The exterior walls, windows, and portals are decorated with a whimsical array of eccentricities, a defining feature of

architecture.

References

{{Authority control Houses completed in 1574 Renaissance architecture in Florence Mannerist architecture in Italy Palaces in Florence Medici residences