The Palatine Gallery is one of the world's most important treasure houses, home to works by Van Dyck, Botticelli, Rubens, Caravaggio, Titian, Raphael, and other great masters. It is located on the first floor of Palazzo Pitti – the grandest of all Florentine palaces.
The gallery has 26 halls in total, each decorated in the Baroque style, with beautiful frescoes on the ceilings. This refined decor provides a superb setting for the masterpieces displayed there. The mythological halls are especially striking, and their decoration was created by Pietro da Cortona – one of the most brilliant masters of the Baroque era. His frescoes are distinguished by a high level of craftsmanship and inspiration.
The gallery is rightfully proud of Raphael's magnificent paintings - «Madonna della Seggiola», «Madonna under the Baldachin», «Portrait of Cardinal Bibbiena», «Vision of Ezekiel», and other works by this outstanding artist. By the way, all of the works still hang in the same places that were prepared for them when the palace was built. The public was able to see them for the first time only in 1828, when the gallery halls were opened to visitors; before that, it was the private collection of the Medici dynasty.
Today, anyone can visit Pitti Palace. Exploring the Palatine Gallery alone takes more than an hour – it contains more than 500 paintings. And besides that, there is much more of interest in Palazzo Pitti. Be sure to stop by!
