The Palazzo Pitti, a massive palace in Florence which was the seat of the Medici family when they attained the status of Grand Dukes, now holds several museums. I don’t even feel cheat-y b treating them in separate entries, because the complex is so large that it’s a long commute from one to the other. I do hang my head in shame because I didn’t even make it several of the Pitti museums, including the Costume Gallery, the Carriage Museum, and the Pottery Museum… wait, actually, no regrets about the Pottery Museum. I’m just not made to suffer that much.
Anyway… the Silver Museum is one of my favorite places in Florence. It shows, in rotating special exhibitions, the precious furnishings and objects d’arte of the Grand Dukes, and it’s hard to realize just how A) rich and B) bored these aristocrats were without seeing things like a 8-foot high cabinet filled with tiny landscape scenes made of exotic woods and semi-precious stones. Now, that had to take your mind off worrying about when you were going to produce a son and heir! Also, you’ll learn that the answer to “what household objects can I have in solid gold?” is “everything, your Highnesss!” Definitely worth a visit, if only to see just how far the Medicis out-blinged any MTV Cribs episode ever.
