Palazzo Del Bembo

History and description

It was built for the Bezzole family of Forte Bezzole (later Bezzoli or Bezzuoli) in the early 14th century, with the intervention traditionally referred to as Arnolfo di Cambio, master builder of the nearby Duomo di Firenze; Arnolfo himself is said to have established his workshop on the ground floor and possibly also lived there (news, however, not supported by any direct documentation).

The palace, walled in on four main vaults, responded to the new typology of private patrician residence, with a body larger than the tower-house, but still characterised by a purely vertical development; on the ground floor, typical of families with important mercantile activities, large rooms with arched doorways were opened to house workshops and fondaci, which are still used for commercial activities today. On the cantonment, on the second floor, are two shields with the Bezzoli arms (the griffin branch on the band) eroded and without enamel but still legible.

«One of the buildings that preserves almost intact the severe and grandiose character of the Florentine palaces of the Middle Ages […]. The façade is entirely of strong stone, the arched bar windows are lined by robust recurring cornices, while the ground part consists of a series of large arches supported by piers, each supported by rusticated ashlar stone. In the 15th century it was perhaps thought to give it a less severe and more elegant appearance, but the work begun with the beautiful decorations of a window, was interrupted, and the palace, less minor disfigurements, has come down to us with its original 13th-century forms».

Also according to tradition, that ornately framed window on Piazza dell’Olio, reported by Guido Carocci, would have been designed by Filippo Brunelleschi. There is, however, no documentary evidence that can give any foundation to these popular rumours, which, in a nutshell, would unite the names of the two most famous Florentine architects in the same building.

Mazzino Fossi specifies: 'The main body is at nos. 11r-21r and on the Piazza dell’Olio. There where n. 1 is, the building, with medieval traces on the ground floor, has a 19th-century makeover'. …