Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Reale

Pisa's National Museum of Palazzo Reale presents paintings, tapestries, furnishings, armour and ceramics within a former grand-ducal residence on the Arno. The building preserves traces of the Medici, Lorraine and Savoy periods of Tuscan rule.

Why it matters

Bernardo Buontalenti designed the palace for Grand Duke Francesco I de' Medici in 1583, incorporating earlier structures including the Gaetani tower. The collections span from the Renaissance to the twentieth century and include objects associated with the palace and with other Tuscan court collections.

What to notice

The palace's rooms retain the proportions of a court residence, while the collections reveal successive layers of ownership. Medici portraits, Lorraine-era furnishings, tapestries, armour and ceramics document the material culture of the grand duchy. The medieval tower, known as the Torre della Vergine d'Oro, remains integrated into the building.

Context and history

The palace served as a winter residence of the Medici court and later passed to the Lorraine rulers and the Savoy. Its name dates from the Savoy period; the Italian state took ownership in 1919. After restoration, the national museum opened in 1989. Galileo Galilei visited the Medici court here, and the scholar Francesco Redi died in the palace in 1697.