The Genius of Victory was sculpted by Michelangelo for one of his many projects for the tomb of Pope Julius II, who was Pope from 1503 until his death in 1513.
The famous Prisoners statues also belonged to that project.
The Loggia dei Lanzi is a beautiful arched gallery that was built in the 14th century at the Piazza della Signoria right in front of the Palazzo Vecchio.
The Battle of Marciano (La battaglia di Marciano) is a huge, impressive fresco painted by the Italian architect, historian, painter, and writer Giorgio Vasari in 1565 for Cosimo I de’ Medici in the Hall of the Five Hundred in Palazzo Vecchio.
The exact name of the painting, which plays a key role in Dan Brown’s 2013 novel Inferno, is The victory of Cosimo I at Marciano in Val di Chiana (La vittoria di Cosimo I a Marciano in Val di Chiana).
Here you find information and history about the Medici family, the world famous Italian noble family that had a great power in Florence from the 15th to the 18th century.
The ‘’Madonna of the UFO’’ or ‘’Madonna of the flying saucer’’ is a painting located in Palazzo Vecchio in Florence in the Hall of Hercules. Also called “Madonna and Child with the Infant St John”, the painting has been the topic of much debate between art experts and ufologists. While the painting depicts the Nativity with the…
“I pass behind the palazzo with its crenellated tower and one-handed clock”
(Dan Brown, Inferno)
Robert Langdon passed through Piazza della Signoria, circumnavigated Palazzo Vecchio, and arrived in Piazza San Firenze. The palace containing within its walls the embattled tower and one-handed clock is clearly Palazzo Vecchio, today Florence’s town hall.
Have you ever stood in the Hall of the Five Hundred and looked up? If this is the case, you would have witnessed the room’s magnificent ceiling. However, you might not have been aware that what is above the ceiling is even more fascinating.
The Piazza della Signoria has always been the focal point of the history of the Florentine Republic. It serves a public function, particularly by housing the Loggia dei Lanzi (lodge for public gatherings).
Along the walls of the Hall of the Five Hundred in the Palazzo Vecchio lie six groups of statues representing the Labours of Hercules.
They were sculpted by Vincenzo de’ Rossi (Fiesole, 1525 – Florence, 1587), a contemporary of Giambologna, between 1562 and 1584.
Palazzo Vecchio, as is the case with all medieval and Renaissance palaces, has several secret passages.
In 1504, one of the most important artistic disputes in history took place in the Hall of the Five Hundred: Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti were summoned to fresco this important Palazzo Vecchio hall with scenes of two key battles in the history of the Florentine Republic—the Battle of Anghiari (la Battaglia di Anghiari) and the Battle of Cascina (la Battaglia di Cascina).
Robert Langdon and Sienna wander in the Palazzo Vecchio in search of new clues, and a very special statue catches their attention.
We are talking about the statue of Hercules and Diomedes in the Hall of the Five Hundred.
