Palazzo Strozzi
Filippo Strozzi built this to outshine the Medici — he died before it was finished, and they seized it that same year construction finally ended.
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A political statement in rusticated stone: Filippo Strozzi the Elder, a Medici rival, broke ground in 1489 and died in 1491 still waiting. The palace was completed in 1538 — and immediately confiscated by Duke Cosimo I de' Medici. Its free-standing position on four streets was a Renaissance novelty, resolved with a floor plan symmetrical on both axes and rooms at clearly differentiated scales.
What to look for
- The wrought-iron ferro fittings ringing the exterior: torch stands, flagpole stands, lanterns, and hitches — all original ironwork appointments
- The bifore (paired) windows: watch how the voussoir stones flanking each arch grow progressively longer as they rise to the keystone, a detail widely copied in Renaissance revival buildings
- The cortile — the interior courtyard arcade by Simone del Pollaiolo (il Cronaca), inspired by Michelozzo's earlier work
On Via Tornabuoni at Piazza Strozzi in Florence's historic centre; the building is visible from all four surrounding streets.
Palazzo Strozzi is one of 38 sights worth the detour in Florence, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Florence pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Florence
- Michelangelo's DavidCarved for a cathedral roofline, then conscripted into politics — a 5.17-metre marble figure that became a republic's defiant face.
- Uffizi GalleryGiorgio Vasari built this as government offices in 1560; the Medici moved their art collection upstairs, and the last heiress gave it all to Florence under a formal family pact when the dynasty died out.
- Florence Cathedral (Duomo di Firenze)Brunelleschi's dome has been the largest masonry dome ever built since 1436 — and nothing has beaten it.
- Palazzo PittiA banker's act of one-upmanship that the Medici, Napoleon, and Italian kings all ended up calling home.
- Ponte VecchioThe only bridge in Florence spared from destruction during World War II — and it has been lined with shops since the Middle Ages.
- Palazzo VecchioFlorence's 1299 town hall was built on a Ghibelline rival's rubble — and the battlements were engineered to drop boiling liquid on anyone who showed up uninvited.