It's Good to Be the Duke, Part 3

In our next to last look at some interiors and the Medici arms they contain, I believe that all of the following come from the Palazzo Vecchio (literally, Old Palace), the town hall of Florence. It is now a museum, and well worth the visit, even if you aren't looking for Medici coats of arms!

Did you find any armorial decorating ideas in any of the above pictures? I know I did! (If only I could afford them now.)

It's Good to Be the Duke, Part 2

Another obvious place to look for the arms of the Medici in Florence besides their home (seen in our last post), is in and on the Cappelle Medicee, or Medici Chapel.

(Immediately above the de' Medici arms above the door you will see the arms of the Casa Savoia (House of Savoy) (Gules a cross argent), which led Italian unification in 1860 and ruled the Kingdom of Italy until 1946.)

Here's a better close-up of both arms:

This next one isn't the full coat of arms of the Medici family, but only the augmentation granted by King Louis XI of France in 1465, where one of the torteaux or red balls was changed to the arms of France, Azure three fleurs-de-lys or.

(What's the old line? "If you got it, flaunt it.")

There were, of course, more renditions of the family arms in (and on the doors of) the Chapel:

Not to mention, of course, the arms of Florence (Argent a fleur-de-lys florency gules) with the crown used by the Medicis:

Like I said, "If you got it, flaunt it."

Along with that other old saw, "Extremism in the pursuit of moderation is no vice."

Next time, where else will be see this coat of arms around the city of Florence?

It's Good to Be the Duke, Part 1

No, really! It's really good to be the Duke. Especially if you are a member of the dei Medici family of Florence.

We saw in the last two posts how the City of Florence has its coat of arms scattered about hither and yon throughout the city.

Today, we're going to begin with the first (of three, I think, but we'll have to see; there are a lot of examples to be seen!) post about another coat of arms that seems to be even more ubiquitous in the city, those of the Medici family.

And, of course, if you're going to start marking your territory with your arms, you should probably begin at home, in this case, the Loggia dei Medici (lodge, or house, of the dei Medici).

Beginning, of course, with the exterior,

where the Medici coat of arms can be seen over each window:

Then you walk in the main entrance, to be greeted with this,

with the Medici coat of arms on its pedestal:

Then, of course, on the walls surrounding the courtyard:

And on the walkways (and in color):

Not to mention the depictions that can be found in the interior of the house:

As I said in the title, "It's good to be the Duke!"

But do these give you any ideas at all for decorating your own place of abode? I know that I'm starting to look at my home in a new light! How about you?

What One City Has Done With Their Coat of Arms, Part 2 of 2

Continuing our look at the many ways that the City of Florence, Italy, displays it's coat of arms (Argent a fleur-de-lis florency gules), today we're going to look at examples that you may have to go to, or even inside of, a particular building to see.

As before, see how many different mediums, styles, etc. you can find:

First, two examples from the Basilica of Santa Croce:

And one from the exterior of the Church of Santa Maria Novella:

And, of course, we cannot leave out the Duomo, the City's cathedral:

Hmm, I don't have an attribution for where this next one came from. Sorry about that! In my defense, I did take well over 1,000 pictures of heraldry that week we spent in Florence.

The Palazzo Vecchio, the City Hall, is always worth stopping by:

As is the Palazzo Pitti on the other side of the Arno River:

Finally, a painted example from another building interior:

I hope that you have enjoyed seeing some of the many ways that the City of Florence, Italy, uses its coat of arms!

How many ways can you find to use yours? How many ways do you use yours?

What One City Has Done With Their Coat of Arms, Part 1 of 2

It's always interesting, and often fun, to see what someone does with their coat of arms. This is even more true in the case of a municipality, as they tend to have greater opportunities to "show off" their heraldry, on buildings and in public spaces.

One city that has embraced the opportunity to splash their coat of arms all over the place is Florence, Italy. Indeed, it is well nigh impossible to spend any time at all in Florence without seeing multiple examples of the city's coat of arms: Argent a fleur-de-lis florency gules. (The only heraldry which might be more ubiquitous in the city is the arms of the de' Medici family, which produced two Dukes of Florence, seven Grand Dukes of Tuscany, and four Popes!)

There are, in fact, so many examples of the arms of Florence in and around the city that I am having to forgo my original intent of doing a single blog post, and will split them into two posts.

In both posts, see how many variations of medium (carved in stone, painted, metal, etc.), style (Renaissance, modern, and so on), and how many different ways that you can see that they use the City's arms!

Today, just what can be seen while walking the streets:

(The older arms of the City were a white fleur-de-lis on a red shield; when an opposing party came into power, they reversed the colors to the present red on white.)

Next time, we'll look at some of the examples of the arms of the City that you may have to go to or even inside a building to see.