PALAZZO DAVANZATI

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PALAZZO DAVANZATI

• An interesting example of 14th century home
  showing the transition stage from the medieval
  tower house to the Renaissance building.

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PALAZZO DAVANZATI

• The Palace, built by the Davizzi family around
  mid-14th century, was purchased in 1578 by the
  Davanzati family (their coat of arms is still
  visible on the façade) and remained in their
  possession until 1838, when it was divided into
  flats and suffered serious damages.
• In 1904 it was purchased and restored by the
  antique dealer Elia Volpi, who entirely furnished
  it and opened it to the public in 1910 as Museum
  of the Old Florentine House. After alternate
  events, which comprehended also the dispersion of
  the original furniture pieces, the palace was
  purchased in 1951 by the State that reorganised
  it and opened it once more to the public in 1956.
• Its most important feature is the architectural
  structure that represents an interesting example
  of 14th century home showing the transition stage
  from the medieval tower house to the Renaissance
  buildings. The original façade was decorated with
  a three-arch loggia, now closed that was once
  open and used as a shop. A 16th century loggia
  replaces the usual medieval battlements on the
  top of the building.

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PALAZZO DAVANZATI THE COURTYARD

• The interior, which also has an underground
  gallery, has a suggestive courtyard on the ground
  floor that gives access to the stone and wood
  staircase with rampant arches leading up to the
  four upper floors.

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PALAZZO DAVANZATI

• The arrangement of the building shows that the
  rooms of the first floor have the same layout of
  those on the third floor. Rooms are articulated
  in a "madornale", that is a large audience hall,
  dining rooms, bedrooms and "agiamenti" (toilets),
  a rarity in theelegant houses of the period.

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Master Room

Audience room
Bedroom

Toilets
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PALAZZO DAVANZATI THE PARROT ROOM

• All the rooms have floors in cotto and ceilings
  in wood, some of which decorated with paintings.
  The walls of some of the rooms are decorated with
  frescoes and decorations that were quite popular
  in Florentine 13th century homes, representing
  curtains and coat of arms. The most beautiful
  rooms are the Sala dei Pappagalli (The Parrots
  Room) and the Bridal Chamber with scenes of the
  life of the Lady of Vergi.

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PALAZZO DAVANZATI THE PRESENT ARRANGEMENT The
present arrangement of the Museum aims at
reconstructing the setting of an old Florentine
home, with furniture and household tools from the
14th to the 19th century. Bedrooms display for
instance chests full of linen and cots, while the
audience hall on the first floor exhibits a rare
painted cabinet, created by a Sienese artist of
the 16th century, and the wooden painting shows
The Game of Civettino by Giovanni di Ser
Giovanni nicknamed "Scheggia" dating back to the
15th century and the marble bust of a Child by
Antonio Rossellino, also dating back to the 15th
century.The museum also preserves a very fine
collection of old ceramics and the 17th century
hand warmers in the shape of shoes.A very
important document in the story of the family and
palace is the Genealogical tree of the Davanzati
Family, a work by an anonymous Tuscan painter of
the 17th century. The State has recently
purchased a rare wooden chest or throne-bed" with
inlaid front and headboard, rnanufactured in the
Tuscan-Umbran area during the last quarter of the
15th century.The kitchen on third floor exhibits
furniture and ordinary daily households, together
with working tools, like looms, warping machines
and spinning wheels that document some of the
activities carried out in the house.The Museum
also displays a very fine collection of laceworks
ranging from the 16th to the 20th centuries and
samplers.
The kitchen on the third floor
TrunkUp to 17th century there were no armoires,
clothes were stowed in trunks
Needle Lace
Pharmacy jar
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PALAZZO DAVANZATI THE PRESENT ARRANGEMENT
BedroomVirgin and Child, XVth Century
in Florence until the 18th century there was
still in every house a small image of Our Lady
Safe, deposit
Chair called in Florence"Savonarola"
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PALAZZO DAVANZATI LADY BED CHAMBERThe whole
legend of "The Castellana di Vergi"Fresco -
Detail

• Medieval Soap Opera the story of the
  Chatelaine de Virgy
• The adventures of the Burgundy Chatelaine and of
  William Cavalier (the Knight), their thwarted
  love, the jaleous and cruel love of the "Duchess
  of Burgundy" quickly enters all foreign
  literatures. The story of the Dame de Virgy was
  translated in English, German, Dutch but it was
  in Italy that became incredibly famous.
• The story
• The duke of Burgundy went hunting and his wife
  the Duchess invited to the castle William
  Cavalier to paly chess. She tried to seduce him,
  but invain, because he was secretly in love with
  the Chatelaine de Virgy (look at the first scenes
  of the fresco).The duchess, refused by the young
  knight, was very offended and when her husband
  came back she accused the knight of having tried
  to seduce her. The Duke convenes William who, to
  prove his innocence, invited him to observe them
  when alone with the Duchess and pretends to be in
  love with her.The very angry Duke would like to
  punish his wife but she, not only managed to calm
  him down, going to bed with him (you actually see
  the topless Duchess in bed with him!) but she
  even managed to be told whom William was in love
  with!The wicked woman organised a big party for
  all the very important people of the region and
  during it she told everyone that the Chatelaine
  and William Cavalier were lovers.For shame the
  Chatelaine killed herself with a sword. William
  did the same, seeing his beloved dead and the
  Duke punished the Duchess slashing her throat

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The palace Davanzati and an example of
residencial architecture in Florence in
300. Entering the building is a corridor leading
of the building.Crossing the threshold of the
door you enter a room that was once the private
patio of the family, on the open road. The
ahrming coutyard is the center of the building,
where you see the upper storeys spectacularity
in a maze of ladders, steps and walkways. On the
first floor are a living egregious, which
corresponds to the ground floor loggia, dining
room, a closet and a bedroom, which corresponds
to the portico of the courtyard. On the second
floor, the bedroom is the only environment that
preserves the decoration of frescoes. Figured in
a band is a series of love stories, adventure and
death, taken from medieval legend of the Virgin
of Castellana, living room, dining room, study.
The third floor is covered with cloth of the
House, with walls painted with a frieze of an
orchard with potted. The top floor is the
kitchen, at the top to avoid ipregnating the
house of fumes and vapors and also to allow quick
escape in case of fire. The exterior of the
building we see arms of Davanzati. Anghel
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Dear friends, I want to talk you about Palazzo
Davanzati. On March 10, 2010, our class from the
technical institute for accountants and surveyor
ITCG Enrico Fermi of Pontedera visited this
palace. It is an example of the Florentine
architecture. I liked this palace because it has
a beautiful structure. It was build for Davizzi
family and, after, passed to Davanzati, a very
rich and powerful Florentine merchants family. It
was built on four floors and the structure of the
floors is the same. On ground floor there are the
merchants shops. The rooms of the palace are
very large and wide and the furnishings are in
ancient style, but they are not the original
ones, because they were sold to different
clients, above all to the Americans. In
particular, I appreciated the bridal bedroom. I
liked so much the frescoes on the wall. They tell
us the Castellana di Vergis history, according
to the legend. I also liked the Pavonis room.
It is interesting for its frescoes on the walls,
with geometrical wallpapers. For all this reasons
I think that it is a beautiful museum, pleasant
to visit. I hope to meet you soon! Ylenia Pieracci