Palazzo Medici Riccardi

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Rusticated stone walls of the Renaissance Palazzo

Inner courtyard of Palazzo Medici Riccardi

The Palazzo Medici, also called the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, is a Renaissance palace located in Florence, Italy.

The palace was designed by Michelozzo di Bartolomeo for Cosimo de' Medici, of the great Medici family, and was built between 1444 and 1460. It was well known for its stone masonry that includes rustication and ashlar. The tripartite elevation was used here as a revelation of the Renaissance spirit of rationality, order, and classicism of human scale. This tripartite division is made possible by placement of horizantal stringcourses that divide the building into stories of decreasing height. This makes the building seem lighter as the eye moves in an upward direction. However, the extremely heavy cornice reverses this trend, and clearly defines the buildings proportions.

Michelozzo di Bartolomeo was influenced in his builiding of this palace by both Roman priniples and Brunelleschian principles.

During the Renaissance, a revival of classical culture, roman elements were often replicated in the art of the period. In the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, the rusticated masonry and the cornice had precedents in Roman art.

Similarily, the great Renaissance architect Brunelleschi used Roman techniques and influenced Michelozzo. The open colonnaded court that is the center of the Palazzo plan has roots in the Roman central plan.

The Palazzo Medici Riccardi was one of the numerous palazzi built during the period of Florentine prosperity. The building reflects the accumulated wealth of the Medici family, yet it is somewhat reserved. This was due to the fact that the Medici family was thrown out of Florence because the Florentines prided themselves on their republic and saw the Medici family as a threat to that power. When the Medici family returned to Florence, they kept a low profile and executed their power behind the scenes. This "low profile" is reflected in this building, and is the probable reason why Cosimo de'Medici rejected Brunelleschi's earlier proposal.

A tour is available that includes the room where Benozzo Gozzoli painted a fresco in 1461 of members of the Medici family, along with the emperors John VIII Palaiologos and Sigismund of Luxemburg, parading through Tuscany in the guise of the Three Wise Men.