From the street, the Palazzo Medici Riccardi is an austere stone building. We had never heard of it and would probably never have visited it if it hadn’t been only a few doors from our hotel. The palazzo has magnificent furnishings and courtyards. It was the home of Cosimo de’ Medici, the first Grand Duke of Florence, until he moved to the Palazzo Vecchio to be closer to the seat of power. Built between 1445 and 1460, it was owned by the Medici family
Its most famous room is the Chapel of the Magi, which, ironically, was the only place I couldn’t photograph. So I’ll have to show you a picture from Wikipedia instead:
The surprisingly small chapel is decorated with magnificent frescoes by Gozzoli (painted in 1459-1461), which depict prominent Florentines in the procession of the magi. The marble floor has circles and lattice-work in red, green, gold, and white veined stone. On the ground floor there was a computer recreation of the entire mural. You could stand in front of the life-size screen (only one person at a time, unfortunately), point different sections, and zoom in on a section for a close-up and audio commentary (in English and other languages), and scroll to the next screen, by pointing your finger at the screen. I have no idea how it was done but it was really cool. I played with it until my feet got tired from standing in one place for so long. The system is called the PointAt system. You can see it in action on the museum’s Experiments site.
Courtyard of the Columns, built by Michelozzi:
The walled garden of the palazzo, designed in the early 20th century and modeled after a 16th century garden:
Courtyard of the Mules (not sure how it got its name):
Filippo Lippi, Madonna and Child (c. 1460):
Galleria of the Riccardi:
