The Palazzo Pucci is a palace located at Via dei Pucci #4 in central

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 ...

in the region of Tuscany,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. The façade of the palace spans from Via dei Servi to Via Ricasoli.

History

The site was owned by a member of the aristocratic

Pucci family The Pucci family has been a prominent noble family in Florence over the course of many centuries. A recent notable member of this family was Emilio Pucci, an Italian fashion designer who founded a clothing company after World War II. History ...

since around 1480. The present palace was designed around 1748 by the architect

Paolo Falconieri Paolo Falconieri (1638–1704) was an Italian architect, painter and mathematician, from a noble family of Florence, whose intellectual interests were wide-ranging, one of the '' virtuosi'' of the first scientific century. He was a member of the co ...

, and the adjacent site was built by

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 ...

. The central and oldest part of the palace was commissioned in the 16th century by cardinal Lorenzo Pucci. The façade still displays his coat of arms under the balcony. Much of the palace has remained in the possession of the Pucci family since this time. One part of the palace was owned by the Baciocchi family, who rented part to the American sculptor

Horatio Greenough Horatio Greenough (September 6, 1805 – December 18, 1852) was an American sculptor best known for his United States government commissions '' The Rescue'' (1837–50), ''George Washington'' (1840), and ''The Discovery of America'' (1840–4 ...

. This palace is now occupied by the Archdiocese of Florence. The corner has a coat of arms of

Pope Leo X Pope Leo X ( it, Leone X; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521. Born into the prominent political an ...

sculpted by

Baccio da Montelupo Baccio da Montelupo (1469–1523(?)), born Bartolomeo di Giovanni d'Astore dei Sinibaldi, was a sculptor of the Italian Renaissance. He is the father of another Italian sculptor, Raffaello da Montelupo. Both father and son are profiled in ...

.Palazzo Spinelli
notes on Palazzo Pucci. On the arch of the

piano nobile The ''piano nobile'' (Italian for "noble floor" or "noble level", also sometimes referred to by the corresponding French term, ''bel étage'') is the principal floor of a palazzo. This floor contains the main reception and bedrooms of the hou ...

(first floor) above the entrance portal is the coat of arms of the Pucci family. The coat of arms depicts a ''Moor with a head-band''. It is unclear why they used this profile of a black man for an emblem; some theories claim that an ancestor was a ''Saracini'' (or

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...

). Some claim the three hammers or crosses on the headband symbolize membership in the Carpenters’ Guild, or three letter “T”s, an acronym of the family motto: ''Tempore tempora tempera'' (“Alleviate troubles with time”).

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pucci Florence Palaces in Florence Neoclassical architecture in Florence