Via degli Strozzi 4 - 50123 Firenze - Tel. 0039 92 91437635
history
Palazzo Vecchietti is located in via de' Vecchietti in Florence. Here, in the past, the Vecchietti family owned buildings and towers. In front of the Palace there were a small square and a church, San Donato dei Vecchietti, which disappeared when the center of Florence was reorganized. The corner on via Strozzi is called Canto dei Diavoli (Devils’ Corner). According to a legend, in 1243, while Saint Peter Martyr was preaching at this corner, a black horse appeared and furiously rushed into the crowd. The horse was the devil and the Saint chased the horse away with the sign of the Cross. The episode was represented in a fresco by Rossello di J.Franchi on the external wall of the loggia of Bigallo. In 1584 Bernardo Vecchietti, owner of the Palace, asked Giambologna (1529-1608) to renovate it. According to the legend, at the end of the 16th century Giambologna himself designed the devil-shaped flagholder, copy of which is set on the Palace facade corner and whose original is on the Palazzo Vecchio’s Terrazza di Saturno. It actualy portrays a satyr, and it is part of a couple . The other piece went lost when the Palace was partly destroyed after the city renovation that took place when Florence was the Capital of Italy (1865-1871). Giambologna created the flagholders as a gift to thank the Vecchietti family that hosted and protected him upon his arrival in Florence.
