Palazzo Pitti
Luca Fancelli (traditional attribution) · Florence, Italy · 1458
Palazzo Pitti is a massive Renaissance palace whose repeated rusticated bays create an unusually forceful urban façade. Built for the banker Luca Pitti and later acquired by the Medici, it was enlarged into a ducal residence with a deep courtyard by Bartolomeo Ammannati and gardens rising behind it. The palace's broad horizontal body contrasts with the dense streets across the Arno, while the Boboli landscape extends courtly space into the hillside. Today multiple museums occupy the complex. The original authorship is traditionally associated with Luca Fancelli but remains debated, and the date represents the first palace rather than the much larger ensemble visible today.