Why go
The courtyard explains how the palace opens toward its gardens rather than merely presenting a long street façade. Between 1558 and 1570, Bartolomeo Ammannati made the garden-facing court and monumental stair, then later architects enlarged the complex. The building subsequently passed from the Lorraine rulers to the House of Savoy and became a national property in 1919, helping explain its mix of historic rooms and museum collections.
The full story
With the garden project under way, Bartolomeo Ammannati created a broad courtyard behind Palazzo Pitti to connect the main façade with Boboli. He extended the garden-facing wings around a court cut into the slope, and a central arch made the relation to the piazza visible. Above, a fountain on the palace axis was later replaced by the Fontana del Carciofo, completed in 1641. The palace continued to grow. Giulio Parigi won the 1616 competition to extend the street façade, while Alfonso Parigi began the southern work in 1631. In the 18th century Giuseppe Ruggeri added perpendicular wings. After Tuscany joined the Kingdom of Italy, Victor Emmanuel II lived here while Florence was capital; Victor Emmanuel III gave the palace to the nation in 1919. Its public rooms and galleries are the result of those successive uses.