Originally, the magnificent Palazzo Corsini began as a casino (a small house surrounded by a large garden) that extended to the banks of the Arno River where Lungarno Corsini is located. The casino belonged to the Ardinghelli family, then to the Medici, and finally to the Corsini: in 1649 the wife of the Marchese Filippo Corsini, Maria Maddalena Macchiavelli, purchased the palace from the Grand Duke Ferdinando II de’ Medici. Today it is in the hands of the Corsini descendants: Miari Fulcis and Sanminiatelli.

The Palazzo today appears as a late Baroque building; one sees Baroque details throughout, from the roofs decorated with statues and terracotta vases – a novelty for Renaissance Florence – and the main, U-shaped courtyard that opens towards the riverbank. The two men responsible for the way the Palazzo Corsini looks today were Bartolomeo Corsini (1622-1685), the son of Filippo Corsini and Maria Maddalena Macchiavelli and, Filippo son of Bartolomeo’s son (1647-1705) who expanded the portion of the Palazzo that extends towards Ponte S. Trinita.

The construction continued non-stop for 50 years. The magnificent interior decorations, which were completed between 1692 and 1700, belong to one of the finest and most intense moments in Florentine painting.

The family commissioned several artists to decorate the noble apartment on the first floor, that includes Galleria Aurora, the Salone, the ballroom and other important rooms; the outstanding painters include Anton Domenico Gabbiani, Alessandro Gherardini and Pier Dandini.

Let’s start at the GROUND FLOOR: consisting of the Summer Apartments and Halls of the Nymph. The decorative scheme here reveals the most romantic and decadent side of the Palazzo with the impressive frescoes and of the evocative grotto built by architect Antonio Ferri.

One level up, the main floor: from the lower floor one reaches the “noble” floor through the imposing grand staircase. From the hallway open the doors to rooms and rooms filled with beautiful frescoes and stuccoes, perfectly preserved. The coup de gras is the majestic Throne Room (320 square meters) where you can feel the ambience of noble antiquity.

Una cornice sfarzosa che si affaccia direttamente sul Lungarni e una vista intrigante.  A magnificent setting overlooking the Lungarni and an intriguing sight.

Few among the private palaces of Florence are as gorgeous as the splendid Palazzo Corsini, also called “al Parione” and belonged to the famous Corsini family, in the 17th century the richest and most important of all Florence after the Medici. An ascent that culminated in 1740 with the election of Lorenzo Corsini to the papal throne with the name of Clemente XII.

With such prerequisites, it is not surprising that the building with its grandiose façade overlooking the Arno is an architectural masterpiece rich in precious jewels and a collection of paintings, the Galleria Corsini, which can be considered the most important private art collection in Florence. His style (the villla was built at the turn of two centuries, between 1656 and 1737, with at least fifty years of uninterrupted work) is that of a flourishing and decided baroque: each element is stunning scenery and decoration, with a grand façade to the front, from the terrace to the attics with balustrades, until reaching the perfect expression of the “marvelous” in the large helical staircase attributed to Gherardo Silvani.

The building is divided into three main bodies that surround a large courtyard, and among the first things that jump to the eyes there is the obvious asymmetry between the two side parts; according to the original project, in fact, the left wing had to be as big as the right one (ie about twice the current size). Also worthy of note is the crowning of the roof, with the terracotta crater vases and the balustrade decorated with stone statues, following suggestions similar to those that animated the classic “Italian gardens” destined to be famous throughout Europe.

The interiors of Palazzo Corsini at the Parione show once again the best and most fascinating insights of the baroque period, with a great work of stuccos and decorations; Particularly striking is the artificial grotto on the ground floor, designed by Antonio Maria Ferri, an artist who was also the architect in charge of permanently closing the villa’s works; to him the merit for today’s appearance of Palazzo Corsini. In addition to the Silvani helical staircase there is also a monumental staircase made by Ferri that culminates in the staircase of Pope Clement XII.

The rooms of the building are full of original decorations, with frescoes, stuccoes and decorations: especially the Salone del Trono and the Ballroom stand out, truly immense rooms (the Salone del Trono measures about 320 square meters) with rich frescoes on the ceilings, columns , eighteenth-century busts.

On the first floor, Galleria Corsini is a precious casket that holds masterpieces of timeless artists, especially relating to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Italian but not disdaining the Renaissance, with a prevalence of Roman, Neapolitan and Bolognese schools: among the exhibited painters, Rubens, Beato Angelico, Caravaggio, Van Dyck, Murillo, Filippo Lippi, Luca Signorelli, the Pontormo, Salvator Rosa, Luca Giordano, Gentileschi, and Giovanni Bellini. The Corsini Gallery also hosts bronzes and furniture from the eighteenth century.

Below is a history of the Palazzo Corsini from the 1905 book “Florentine Palaces, And Their Stories” by Janet Ross – some of the scholarship from that day may have changed since!  

PALAZZO CORSINI: MONUMENTAL STAIRCASES AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS

The Corsini become a wealthy Florentine family in 1500: Palazzo Corsini, also known as the Parione, located on Lungarno Corsini, is still a family home. The building is the result of the acquisition and merger of many historic houses built by different architects: Alfonso Parigi the Younger, Ferdinando Tacca, Pierfrancesco Silvani – author of the beautiful spiral staircase, and Antonio Maria Ferri – who finished the project by drawing the current frame. In addition to the spiral staircase made by Silvani and the monumental one by Ferri, the interior of several rooms of Palazzo Corsini and its halls are filled with frescoes, decorations and period furnishings. The Corsini Gallery, inside the building, is the most important private art collection of Florence, with works dating back to the 1600s and1700s, both by Italian and European Renaissance artists.