24 Palazzo Davanzati

ONCE UPON A TIME, in fourteenth-century Florence, rich folks lived in tower houses. Entering Palazzo Davanzati is stepping back into that fairy tale time. Four floors have been restored into a Museum of the Old Florentine House, a family home complete with intriguing details—including kitchen gadgets, an ingenious plumbing system, and bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms and toilets. Then there are the trap doors where hot oil was poured to defend against attackers, along with displays of delicate lace. It’s fascinating to see the backstage of the characters you see in the paintings in Florence’s galleries.

The Davanzati family—wealthy, intellectual merchants—acquired the building in 1538. The original owners from medieval times had combined a few tower homes to create this wide one, and when the Davanzatis came in they added the top-floor open-air loggia where you can have a marvelous view of Florence. Over the years the palazzo was remodeled and damaged, until thankfully, in 1904, Elia Volpi, one of the greatest Italian antique collectors of the twentieth century, restored it to its medieval gothic style.

Volpi had aspired to be a painter, and when that didn’t work out, he took the opportunities that came his way to acquire treasures from the many aristocratic families in the city who had fallen on hard economic times. Thus in 1910, with much fanfare, he transformed the palazzo into a Museo dell’Antica Casa Fiorentina—a showroom and store that introduced foreigners to the Florentine style. Among Volpi’s customers was the American Art Academy, and many of the pieces he sold are now displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Frick Collection in New York.

The palazzo has been a state museum since 1956, and underwent an excellent restoration recently, turning it into one of Florence’s most entertaining museum experiences, with guided tours by enthusiastic docents who bring bygone days to life.

There are impressive furnishings from various collections, along with antique ceramics, and the room’s walls are painted in a fashion that resembles colorful tapestries—from medieval crests and geometric patterns, to more flamboyant versions such as the Pappagalli (parrots) and Pavoni (peacocks) rooms.

A favorite for the romantic in me is the Camera della Castellana di Vergi, a large bedroom painted to celebrate the marriage of Paolo Davanzati to Lisa degli Alberti in 1350. It features a frieze that tells the story of The Lady of Vergy—a popular epic poem of the day.

The plot is the stuff of juicy soap operas: A handsome knight and a married noble woman fall madly in love and begin a routine of secret trysts that involves the Lady sending her dog out to her garden as a sign that the coast is clear and the knight can safely enter her chamber. The course of romance does not run smoothly, when the Duchess of Burgundy makes a play for the handsome knight, and he rebuffs her, loyal to his lady love. The Duchess’s revenge causes a tragic finale—the Lady dying of heartbreak when her secret affair is revealed, the knight stabbing himself over the Lady’s dead body, the Duke beheading the Duchess for causing it all.

The most important collection in the palazzo is the Lace and Embroidery exhibit on the first floor. Beautiful pieces from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, made in Italy, Belgium, Britain, and America are exquisitely displayed in frames and glass sliding cases, inspiring hushed oohs and ahhs.

Palazzo Davanzati: Via di Porta Rossa 13, open daily 8:15-1:50, closed second and fourth Sundays, and first, third, and fifth Mondays of the month. Reservations needed in advance to tour upper floors at 10 A.M., 11 A.M., and noon, though I’ve had luck showing up a half hour before and signing up. (www.polomuseale.firenze.it)

Golden Day: Follow your visit to the palazzo with lunch at the nearby La Bussola, a restaurant/wine bar/pizzeria, that offers excellent Tuscan specialties as well as fish. It’s a perfect spot for the solo traveler, with seats at the bar where you can watch pizzas being made in the wood-burning oven. (Via Porta Rossa 58/r, 055 293 376, www.labussolafirenze.it)

TIP: This is a great museum for families, fun for kids to roam about and imagine living in such a place!