The Bargello: A new history of the first communal palace of Florence, 1255--1346

The Bargello is one of Italy's most prominent landmarks and the oldest surviving town hall in Florence. Central to the city's political and cultural life for over seven centuries, it was founded in 1255 by the Primo Popolo regime, representing the non-aristocratic classes for the first time. Besides the Capitano del Popolo who occupied the palace initially, other principal residents were the Podesta, 1260-1502, Council of Justice, 1502-1574, and Medici police captain, 1574-1857, whose nickname of "Bargello" has stayed with the building. In the nineteenth century, the palace was restored as the present Museo Nazionale del Bargello, which opened in 1865.;This dissertation completely revises the architectural history of the Bargello from 1255 to 1346, when the communal palace developed and attained its current form (apart from nineteenth-century revisions). Previously overlooked nineteenth-century documents clarify the physical condition of the radically restored monument, while a first-time reconstruction of the intricate building site plan of 1255 refutes many widely accepted beliefs. This study demonstrates that the original palace was much smaller than the surviving Via del Proconsolo front wing, which has been dated to the 1250s but was actually built in 1291-1308. Rethinking the early architecture explains the otherwise incomprehensible progression of work mentioned in the documents. Furthermore, since the monumental Via del Proconsolo block was not a mid-dugento work, the Bargello's growth can be understood as part of a city-wide program of major civic architecture in Florence in the 1290s. The rear Via dell'Acqua wing and arcaded courtyard, 1316-1322, were influenced by Florence's alliance with the Angevins. The huge, unprecedented cortile was essentially built not for communal needs but to serve as a royal residence. Lastly, a post-1332 fire rebuilding by Neri di Fioravanti (active 1340-1384) and Benci di Cione (d. 1388) shaped the landmark today (although it is shown that the present Michelangelo Hall on the ground floor is entirely a nineteenth-century concoction, along with certain other important spaces). The newly found intermediate building stages also give a more accurate view of the Bargello, elucidating the relationship of architecture, politics, and urbanism in early modern Florence.