The Palazzo Vecchio Grotesques: A Guide Book

Palazzo Vecchio, which towers over piazza della Signoria, at the center of Florence, is an iconic building and from the Middle Ages to the Medici family to present day it has been the seat of civic power.

Among its most admired features are the marvelous grotesque decorations which animate the walls and vaults of the courtyard and several rooms. Grotesques are a type of wall decoration, in stucco or fresco, often with the addition of gold, that developed in the Renaissance when the vaults o...