Gallery

The long gallery on the garden side, located directly over the loggia erected by Bartolomeo Ammannati on the ground floor, was originally used by the Budini Gattai family for the display of its collection of sculpture. In contrast to the other rooms on the piano nobile, its ceiling is not frescoed. Instead it has a coffered wooden ceiling forming a complex geometric pattern of hexagons, octagons, circles, triangles and squares. Its central panels were painted by Augusto Burchi and show the putti-supported coat of arms of the Gattai family. This room in the neoclassical style is now used by the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz as a lecture and conference room. The existing layout of the garden, which can be admired from the Gallery’s windows, also goes back to the Budini Gattai family. The garden is famous for its botanical treasures (azaleas, camellias, bananas). Rising above it on the far side is the building housing the Gallerie dell’Accademia with the tribune with Michelangelo’s David.