The Palazzo del Circolo dell'Unione, also once known across the centuries as the Palazzo Corsi, Montauto, or della Commenda da Castiglione, is a late-Renaissance-style palace located on Via Tornabuoni #7 in central Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy. In 2015, it still houses the Circolo society, and houses among other enterprises, a boutique hotel. [1]
The property changed hands frequently between the 15th and mid-16th centuries. In 1559, the property, now one palace, was bought for 720 florins by the banker and merchant Simone di Jacopo Corsi, who commissioned a design to which Giorgio Vasari, Giambologna, and Ammannati contributed.
The Corsi owned the palace until 1780, when it became the property of a corporation of Commenda of the Order of St Stephen of Castiglione. In 1790, it passed to Gherardi Uguccioni, who commissioned some refurbishment by Giulio Mannaioni. The building was passed on to two brothers, Marquis of the Barbolani family of Montauto, married to Uguccioni women.
In 1853, the palace became the home of a high-class fraternity/club called the Circolo dell'Unione. The club purchased the building in 1920 and still has offices at the site.
In the 16th century, the palace was known for it facade fresco decoration by Domenico di Francesco Schiena and Giovanni Fiammingo. The portal is surmounted by a bust of Francesco I de' Medici (1577), attributed to Giambologna. On the vault of the hallway are allegories with the four continents and grotteschi painted by followers of Vasari.
At the end of the 18th century, the salons overlooking the street were decorated by Tommaso Gherardini, Fortini Agostino, Luigi Lorenzi, Pietro della Nave, Giuseppe Nobili and Domenico Fabbroni, but these murals were moved to other properties.
Further interior refurbishments, in an exotic, likely oriental, style, in the Club space occurred in the late 19th century under the guidance of prince Ferdinando Strozzi. Some monochrome frescoes were uncovered in mid-twentieth-century renovations. A chapel in the palace was erected to honor associates fallen in war. [2]
Arezzo is a city and comune in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about 80 kilometres southeast of Florence at an elevation of 296 metres (971 ft) above sea level. As of 2022, the population was about 97,000.
Domenico di Tommaso Curradi di Doffo Bigordi, professionally known as Domenico Ghirlandaio, was an Italian Renaissance painter born in Florence. Ghirlandaio was part of the so-called "third generation" of the Florentine Renaissance, along with Verrocchio, the Pollaiolo brothers and Sandro Botticelli.
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The Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence, Italy. It overlooks the Piazza della Signoria, which holds a copy of Michelangelo's David statue, and the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi.
The Palazzo Pitti, in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present palazzo dates from 1458 and was originally the town residence of Luca Pitti, an ambitious Florentine banker.
Piazza della Signoria is a w-shaped square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. It was named after the Palazzo della Signoria, also called Palazzo Vecchio. It is the main point of the origin and history of the Florentine Republic and still maintains its reputation as the political focus of the city. It is the meeting place of Florentines as well as the numerous tourists, located near Palazzo Vecchio and Piazza del Duomo, and gateway to the Uffizi Gallery.
Palazzo Mozzi or Palazzo de' Mozzi is an early Renaissance palace, located at the end of the Piazza de' Mozzi that emerges from Ponte alle Grazie and leads straight to the palace where via San Niccolò becomes via de' Bardi in the Quartiere of Santo Spirito in the Oltrarno section of Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy. The 13th-century palace housed the gallery of the highly successful antiquarian Stefano Bardini, of which the remnants were left to the commune, where they assembled the Museo Bardini or Mozzi Bardini, displaying Florentine art and artifacts up to the early Renaissance. The gardens elaborated against the hillside behind the palace were added mainly by Bardini.
Sant'Anna dei Lombardi,, and also known as Santa Maria di Monte Oliveto, is an ancient church and convent located in piazza Monteoliveto in central Naples, Italy. Across Monteoliveto street from the Fountain in the square is the Renaissance palace of Orsini di Gravina.
San Marco is a Catholic religious complex in Florence, Italy. It comprises a church and a convent. The convent, which is now the Museo Nazionale di San Marco, has three claims to fame. During the 15th century it was home to two famous Dominicans, the painter Fra Angelico and the preacher Girolamo Savonarola. The church houses the relics of St Antoninus of Florence and the tomb of Pico Della Mirandola, a Renaissance philosopher known as the "Father of Humanism."
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Via de' Tornabuoni, or Via Tornabuoni, is a street at the center of Florence, Italy, that goes from Antinori square to Ponte Santa Trinita, across Santa Trinita square, distinguished by the presence of fashion boutiques.
San Domenico is a Roman Catholic basilica church, located on Piazza Giordano Bruno and via del Castellano in the city of Perugia, region of Umbria, central Italy.
Palazzo Uguccioni is a Renaissance palace on the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, central Italy.
The Casino Mediceo di San Marco is a late-Renaissance or Mannerist style palace located on Via Cavour number 57 and via San Gallo in Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy.
The Palazzo Nasi, also known as the Palazzo Torrigiani or Palazzo Scarlatti, is a palace located at Piazza de' Mozzi 4, down the street where the Ponte alle Grazie enters the Oltrarno, in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. Another Palazzo Torrigiani Del Nero, with a Mannerist or late-Renaissance-style facade stands closer to the river. Both palaces also once belonged to the Nasi. The palace is a few steps from the Palazzo Mozzi.
The Galleria Giorgio Franchetti alla Ca' d'Oro is an art museum located in the Ca' d'Oro on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy.
The Palazzo Zagnoni, also known as Palazzo Spada, is a Neoclassic-style palace located on Via Castiglione 25–27, in Bologna, region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy.
The Palazzo Spinola di Pellicceria, also known as Palazzo Francesco Grimaldi, is a palace located in piazza di Pellicceria in the historical center of Genoa, Northwestern Italy. The palace was one of the 163 Palazzi dei Rolli of Genoa, the selected private residences where the notable guests of the Republic of Genoa were hosted during State visits. On 13 luglio del 2006 it was added to the list of 42 palaces which now form the UNESCO World Heritage Site Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli. It is currently owned by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism and houses the National Gallery of Art in Palazzo Spinola.
