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Casino Mediceo

Palace Available

Casino Mediceo

Opposite the Convento di San Marco, at Via Cavour 57, the huge Corte di Appello building started off in 1574 as the Casino Mediceo di San Marco, built in 1574 by Bernardo Buontalenti for Francesco I, who kept his alchemical labratories and collections of curiosities here. Before then, a much smaller 'casino' on the site served as Lorenzo de’ Medici’s informal school of sculpture, where he kept many of the family masterpieces and paid young artists, most famously Michelangelo, to attend.

Buontalanti's door with a monkey

Doorway with a monkey, by Buontalenti

Right now the courts are moving out to a new, rather hideous Palazzo della Giustizia at Novoli in the west suburbs, and Florence is trying to figure out what to do with the Casino. The next time we see it, it may well house another museum.

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Text © Dana Facaros & Michael Pauls

Images by sailko, Sailko, Creative Commons License