Palazzo dell’Antella / Palazzo degli Antellesi

Walking through Piazza Santa Croce, you will notice the unusual and beautiful façade of Palazzo dell’Antella, also called Palazzo degli Antellesi, on the right-hand side of the square. Built over a row of earlier houses, the palace dates from the sixteenth century. Its interior is not open to visitors, but the façade offers much to look at. Large brackets support its projecting upper section, giving it an unusual elegance. The gaps between the windows narrow towards Santa Croce, creating a distinctive perspective effect. Most unusual are the frescoes decorating the façade, painted in just twenty days between 1619 and 1620 by twelve leading artists of the period, including Giovanni da San Giovanni, Domenico Passignano, Cosimo Milanesi and Matteo Rosselli. Its name comes from Costanza del Barbigia, who brought the property as her dowry to her husband Niccolò dell’Antella. Antella is a hillside locality near Bagno a Ripoli; Niccolò was lieutenant of the Accademia del Disegno. A bust of Cosimo II de’ Medici presides over the façade, the symbolic centre of its iconographic scheme. Finally, a marble disc dated 1565 marks the point dividing the playing field for Calcio Storico into two halves.