The Palatine Gallery

The main floor of the Pitti Palace is entirely occupied by the Palatine Gallery and Royal Apartments. The Palace was the residence of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, first the Medici and later the Lorraine, and then the King of Italy, 1860-1919. Located in the left wing of the Palazzo Pitti, the Palatine Gallery was created by the Lorraine between the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century by bringing together, in the representative rooms, masterpieces coming mainly the collections of the Medici, until then they were distributed in various environments.

The Palatine Gallery hosts an extraordinary collection that includes works by Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, Rubens, Pietro da Cortona and other Italian and European masters of the Renaissance and the seventeenth century. Like in the Uffizi, the collection is international and includes numerous Dutch and Flemish paintings. While unlike the Uffizi, the works do not follow a chronological order, but are exhibited according to artistic movement or the subject matter depicted.

The paintings, adorned with luxurious frames, cover all the walls of the rooms, following the tradition of the seventeenth-century collections. This arrangement, together with the lavish decorations and frescoes found in six outer rooms , gives a special charm to the Gallery. From the Statue Gallery, a balcony overlooks the courtyard and offers a splendid view of the  Boboli Gardens.