Palazzo Caccini

History and description

In the 15th century this was the home of the Ferrantini family, known for having been chosen – evidently because of the nobility and spaciousness of the rooms – to host the Patriarch of Constantinople and the twenty-three Orthodox bishops during the Council of Florence of 1439.

Passed down through hereditary lineage to the Caccini, it was progressively enlarged by them (during the years of prior Francesco Domenico), until a unitary renovation was carried out that literature places between 1561 and 1564 circa and refers to Giovanni Caccini, an intimate of the Medici family (but not to be confused with the architect Giovanni Battista Caccini of Montopoli in Val d'Arno), however assisted by Giorgio Vasari. All that remains of Caccini are the initials G. C. A. [rchitect or Alexandri (son of Alexander)] F.[iorentino or fecit]. carved on some architraves on the ground floor.

The portal (later transformed) is attributed to Bartolomeo Ammannati, but has no relation with the 18th-century relief by Ferdinando Ruggieri that refers to the Palazzo del Cavalier Vernaccia, at the time owner and united to the Caccini by marriage ties.

Restoration of the façade in 2022 revealed that the portal of house no. 31 is in the Ammannatesque style, and that the drawing of the portal of house no. 33 is attributable to Pasqui, when he redesigned the façade.

The façade, with its slightly broken lines, organised on three floors plus a mezzanine for no less than thirteen axes, is the result of restoration work carried out by the architect Leopoldo Pasqui around 1843, as attested by Federico Fantozzi. …