Palazzo Medici in Pisa

Palazzo Medici, now the prefecture’s headquarters, is located in Pisa on the homonymous Lungarno. The historic building has seen a succession of different owners who have, over time, changed its appearance up until its current form.

Initially the structure was a tower-house built in the 11th century and belonging to the noble Albitone family. It was in the 13th century that it took the form of a real palace. It was owned by the Casapieri and D’Appiani families, but was most extensively used by the Medici family, and was therefore named after them. The lords of Florence lived there starting in 1446 with Piero di Cosimo de’ Medici, and later Lorenzo the Magnificent, who also settled there for some periods.

The construction, which is the first of the Medici to be known in Pisa, has a façade made with Verrucana stone from Pisa’s Monte Verruca. During the 1550s, they created the windows in precious Carrara marble, as well as a garden designed at the instruction of Eleonor of Toledo. The most consistent changes, however, date back to the second half of the 19th century: the building was transformed according to the neo-Gothic style, which can be observed today in the two-and-three-mullioned windows of the upper floors and the embattled tower.