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Palazzo Vecchio

Seven hundred years of Florentine power: the Salone dei Cinquecento, secret passages, and the tower above the Signoria.

Hall of 500 • Tower Climb • Secret Passages

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📍

Piazza della Signoria

Florence's town hall, still in use

🎫

Museum + Tower

Separate or combined tickets

⏱️

1.5–2 Hours

Add 30 minutes for the tower

🗝️

Secret Tours

Hidden staircases bookable in advance

🧭 Why Visit

Florence's fortress town hall. The Salone dei Cinquecento's acre of Vasari battle frescoes, Francesco's jewel-box study, and a tower climb with the city's best Duomo sightline. Seven centuries of power, still in office.

🏛️ A Little History

Built from 1299 as the priors' palace, renamed 'old' when the dukes moved to Pitti. The great hall was built for Savonarola's 500-man republican council; Leonardo and Michelangelo were both hired to fresco it, the lost duel of the giants.

💡 Did You Know?

Searchers probing for Leonardo's lost Battle of Anghiari found a cavity behind Vasari's fresco, near the painted words 'CERCA TROVA' (seek and you shall find). Investigation was halted to protect the Vasari; the mystery is intact, and Florentines prefer it that way.

THE FORTRESS PALACE

Government Built Like a Keep

Begun in 1299 as the priors' palace, all rough stone and battlements, and still the city's town hall.

The rusticated stone facade of the Palazzo Vecchio under its crenellated gallery
Rough stone frontRusticated stone under a projecting gallery of battlements.
The upper gallery and crenellations of the Palazzo Vecchio in close view
The crenellationsThe overhanging gallery and its crenellations, defense worn as decoration.
The Palazzo Vecchio with the Torre di Arnolfo rising off-center above the facade
Palace and towerThe tower rises off-center above the front, a survival of older walls beneath.
The Palazzo Vecchio seen steeply from the square below
Looking upFrom the square the palace reads as what it is, a fortress that governs.
THE TORRE DI ARNOLFO

The Tower Over the City

The tower sits off-center on the front, a quirk of building on older foundations, and climbs to a view most visitors miss.

The Torre di Arnolfo rising from the Palazzo Vecchio against a blue sky
Torre di ArnolfoThe tower climbs 94 meters over the square.
The clock face and belfry of the Torre di Arnolfo on the Palazzo Vecchio
The clock faceThe clock and belfry near the top of the tower.
The tower of the Palazzo Vecchio standing over Piazza della Signoria
Above the piazzaThe tower stands over Piazza della Signoria and half of Florence.
The Torre di Arnolfo set off-center on the Palazzo Vecchio front
Off-center by designSet to one side of the front rather than the middle.
THE SALONE DEI CINQUECENTO

The Hall of the Five Hundred

Built for the republic's Grand Council, then swallowed by Vasari's ceiling and his wall-sized battles. It is the largest room of its kind in Italy.

The Salone dei Cinquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio, the vast council hall under Vasari's coffered and painted ceiling
The Hall of the Five HundredFifty-four meters of council chamber under a painted and gilded ceiling.
The gilded coffered ceiling of the Salone dei Cinquecento, painted with the deeds of Florence by Vasari and his workshop
Vasari's ceilingThirty-nine panels of Florentine history, gilded and coffered overhead.
The battle frescoes and gilded ceiling running the length of the Salone dei Cinquecento
Wall to wallBattle frescoes run the length of the hall beneath the gold.
A wall-sized Vasari battle fresco in the Salone dei Cinquecento celebrating a Florentine victory
A Florentine victoryVasari's battles fill entire walls. A lost Leonardo may sit behind one of them.
THE SALA DEI GIGLI

The Hall of Lilies

Walls of gold lilies, a Ghirlandaio fresco of Saint Zenobius, and Donatello's bronze Judith, brought inside off the square for safekeeping.

Donatello's bronze Judith and Holofernes standing against the blue and gold lilies of the Sala dei Gigli
Donatello's JudithThe bronze Judith and Holofernes, moved indoors from the square, against the gold lilies.
The Sala dei Gigli in the Palazzo Vecchio, its walls patterned with gold lilies under a gilded ceiling
The Hall of LiliesGold fleurs-de-lys cover the walls, the emblem of Florence's French alliance.
Ghirlandaio's fresco of Saint Zenobius and Roman heroes on the wall of the Sala dei Gigli
Ghirlandaio's saintsGhirlandaio painted Saint Zenobius and a row of Roman heroes across one wall.
THE HALL OF MAPS

The World in 1560

Fifty-three painted map panels made for Cosimo I, wrapped around a great globe. The world as Florence understood it.

The great globe in the Hall of Geographical Maps at the Palazzo Vecchio, ringed by painted map panels
The great globeThe Mappa Mundi stands at the center of the room, the largest globe of its day.
The Hall of Geographical Maps, its walls lined with sixteenth-century painted maps around a standing globe
The world in cabinetsPainted map panels line the walls, each one a cupboard door.
THE MEDICI APARTMENTS

Rooms Behind the Hall

Frescoed chambers, a private chapel, and cabinets inlaid with pietra dura, the Medici craft of pictures cut in stone.

An ebony cabinet inlaid with pietra dura birds, flowers and fruit in the Palazzo Vecchio apartments
Pictures cut in stoneAn ebony cabinet inlaid with birds and flowers in colored stone.
A pietra dura panel of flowers and fruit inlaid in colored stone on a Palazzo Vecchio cabinet
Stone flowersPietra dura close up, the same craft that lines the Medici Chapels.
A frescoed triumphal procession in the Medici apartments of the Palazzo Vecchio
A painted triumphFrescoed processions run through the private rooms.
A blue and gold coffered ceiling in the Medici apartments of the Palazzo Vecchio
Blue and goldCoffered ceilings in blue and gold above the apartments.
A painted tondo in a gilded frame in the chapel of the Palazzo Vecchio
The chapelA painted tondo in the palace chapel.
FROM THE TOWER

The View Most Visitors Miss

The tower climb ends on an open gallery. Brunelleschi's dome is in this view, which the dome's own climb cannot give you.

The rooftops of Florence and the dome of the cathedral seen from the gallery of the Palazzo Vecchio tower
The dome from the towerThe cathedral dome across the rooftops. This is the view the dome climb cannot give you.
Terracotta rooftops and the Tuscan hills from the top of the Palazzo Vecchio
Over the tilesTerracotta roofs running out to the hills.
AFTER DARK

Stone Lit Warm

Floodlights bring the stone up gold against the night.

The Palazzo Vecchio floodlit warm against the night sky
Stone lit warmThe palace goes gold under floodlight.
The tower of the Palazzo Vecchio lit above the dark square
The tower after darkThe tower lit above the emptying square.
The lit facade of the Palazzo Vecchio above the square at night
Arches and lampsThe lit front of the palace above the square at night.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What's the Salone dei Cinquecento?
A 54-meter hall built for the republic's Grand Council, later swallowed by Vasari's ceiling and battle frescoes. A possible lost Leonardo waits beneath, a mystery still debated.
Is the tower climb worth it?
Yes. The Torre di Arnolfo gives you the Duomo across the rooftops, arguably a better photo than the cathedral's own dome since Brunelleschi's cupola is IN it.
What are the secret passages?
Small-group tours open Francesco I's studiolo, hidden stairways and the roof trusses above the great hall. Book ahead; they cap numbers.

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