Museo di Palazzo Vecchio

Palazzo Vecchio, built in the late 13th century, serves as Florence’s town hall and museum, showcasing Renaissance art and medieval history.

Planning your visit

Palazzo Vecchio has been Florence's seat of government since 1299 and still is — the mayor works there, which makes it a functioning town hall that visitors walk through.

The Salone dei Cinquecento is the reason to go: a vast hall built for the republican assembly, later remodelled by Vasari for the Medici and covered in battle frescoes celebrating Florentine victories. Beneath them, on one wall, Leonardo's unfinished Battle of Anghiari is thought by some scholars to survive behind Vasari's plaster — an unresolved question that has produced decades of investigation.

Michelangelo's Genius of Victory stands in the hall. The Medici private apartments, the Map Room with its sixteenth-century world charts, and Eleonora's chapel fill the upper floors.

The tower can be climbed for a view over the Duomo and the city.

Roman theatre remains sit beneath the building and are included in some tickets. Allow two hours. Bookable options include private museum and tower tours. Current availability is shown below.