Palazzo Neroni

History

The palace, after having long been identified with the «casa per mio abitare» denounced to the cadastre by Diotisalvi Neroni in 1451 (which is instead to be indicated in the Palazzo Barbolani di Montauto, at number 9) has recently been traced back to a building promoted between 1461 and 1469 by the latter’s brother, Nigi.

Nigi Neroni, who already lived in a house in this location and purchased from the Da Sommaia family in 1447, had expanded the family’s property by adding to the initial nucleus further buildings purchased from the Della Stufa (1461), the Di Fruosino and finally the Sansalvi (1463), so that, by now in exile in Prato due to the misfortunes suffered by the family, he declared in 1469 that «of all the above-mentioned chases I have made the expenses of my dwelling that those numbers adding up I will have spent all my substance». The generation after Nero however, in particular by Diotisalvi Neroni, plotted against Piero de' Medici and suffered exile for this. The entire Neroni family was accused of complicity, including the archbishop Giovanni Neroni, and suffered the confiscation of property, including the adjoining building now known as Palazzo Barbolani di Montauto. Due to his marginal role, Nigi was nevertheless spared confiscation. For this reason, the palace remained to his descendants.

Prima di queste precisazioni, più di uno studioso aveva proposto una contemporaneità del cantiere con quello dell’antistante palazzo Medici, in virtù delle analogie tra il possente bugnato dei due edifici, e una conseguente attribuzione a Michelozzo, che tuttavia in questo edificio avrebbe offerto «un’architettura dignitosa ma per nulla originale, quasi fosse il replay di una lunga serie di forme architettoniche già sperimentate».

Passed to the Bracci family in 1564, the palace was enlarged in the 17th century towards Via della Stufa, with the construction of some rooms used as stables and sheds. At the end of the 18th century, the palace passed to the Roffia Morelli who, however, after a short time, sold it to the Albizzi (1816). The house thus became the home of Amerigo degli Albizzi, after interior embellishment work, both decorative and reconfiguration of some rooms, dating from 1819. …

Description

The palace stands out among the others on the street for the thick rusticated ashlar that protrudes over the façade on the ground floor, giving it a particularly solid and imposing appearance. The front is organised on three floors by four axes, with the portal, framed by oriented ashlars, at the second axis. The windows are rectangular on the ground floor, of various sizes; on the upper floors they are centred, emphasised by string-course cornices on plaster. In the centre of the façade is the coat of arms of the Neroni family (here without enamels, on the vaio staircase), also present in the house on the left. At the bottom is a street bench.

Inside, with the exception of the courtyard loggia on one side, with two arches supported by a column and two half-columns with 15th-century capitals, the appearance is predominantly 19th-20th century, with some Art Nouveau-style decorations dating from the early decades of the 20th century.