It was the last home of Joseph
Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon, the kind of Spain and
Naples, who took refuge there, and it was also the residence,
again in the 19th century, of the Demidoff family of Russian
nobles whose name is given to the square it looks onto.
But Florence's Palazzo Serristori, originally a Renaissance
villa on the banks of the Arno, not far from Ponte Vecchio, also
played host to Medici pontiff Pope Leo X - whose coat of arms
is in the main entrance - Puccini, Rossini, Lord Byron,
Shelley, Richard Strauss and Wagner.
Queen Elena of Italy stayed there often too: her lady in waiting
was Marques Hortense de la Gandara, who was married to Count
Umberto Serristori, whose family had the palace built and lived
there until the second half of the last century.
After a long spell without tenants, Palazzo Serristori is now
set to host extra-luxury homes.
Acquired in March by Taiwan's LDC residences - which was
previously engaged in Florence with the renovation of another
historic building, Palazzo Portinari Salviati - it will be
revamped with a major restoration that will start in the spring
and see high-class apartments created inside.
The prices of the future homes will go from two to seven million
euros and Lionard Luxury Real Estate will handle the sales
exclusively.
The renovation entails an investment of tens of million euros
and Italian companies and the local area will be involved in the
project for several years.
Palazzo Serristori spreads out over an area of 5,500 square
metres of interior space and it has a 3,000-square-metre garden.
It was built at the start of the 16th century by Lorenzo
Serristori to show how important the family of bankers, loyal
allies of the Medici, had become.
It was constructed on the site of a hunting lodge at the bottom
of the hill of the current Piazzale Michelangelo, looking out
onto the Arno in the area of the 'mulina' (the 'mill' and,
indeed, the remains of a million can still be seen in the
basement).
Experts say that, on the basis of the documents found in the
Serristori archive, it is presumable that the architects who
created the original core of the building were Giuliano and
Antonio da Sangallo together with Benedetto da Maiano.
According to some scholars, the beautiful spiral staircase that
still connects the basement to the top floor is attributable to
Michelangelo.
The residence can also lay claim to having the city's largest
'giardino all'italiana' (Italian garden).
It underwent a major transformation in the period in which
Florence was the capital of Italy: for the construction of a new
'Lungarno' river front taking the Serristori name, part of the
park and the palace were expropriated.
However, original elements survived the centuries and changes in
taste, starting from the magnificent frescoed ballroom, the
biggest in Florence at 250 metres in wide and 12.5 metres high
and over 150 metres of foyer (which is destined to be the
communal area for all of the future apartments) built in the
17th century when the building was extended under the
Buontalenti.
Still perfectly intact and in their place in the hall are two
splendid 18th-century Murano chandeliers, as is the original
wooden flooring.
Likewise the 'Sala degli Specchi' (hall of mirrors), the
residence's fireplaces made out of precious marble with the coat
of arms of the Serristori and the terracotta stove with glass
made by Ginori: there is only one other like it in the world.
Other fascinating features of the historic building include some
secret passageways, one of which, partially uncovered, connected
the palace to the other bank of the Arno.
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