Room of the Niches
Sala Dei Nicchie
The grandiose stairway created by Bartolomeo Ammannati leads the visitor to the Gallery of Statues, from which one passes to the Niches Room, the vast drawing room in the center of the palace's longitudinal axis that divides the Palatine Gallery from the Royal Apartments. The Niches Room is part of the oldest core of the 15th century building. It was redecorated by Cosimo I. He wanted the six (originally ten) niches to be an antiquarium containing the most prestigious of the ancient statues in his collection. This was also the room in which Cosimo I lay in state after his death in 1574. The decoration of the ceiling and walls with architectonic and plant motifs and panoplies of weapons, realized as a monochrome with gold highlights by Giuseppe Maria Terreni and Guiseppe Castagnoli at the end of the 18th century reflect the neo-classical taste of the time. The room's furnishings were also extremely refined. During the Medici period the Niches Room was used as an antechamber for receiving guests, while the first Lorraines used it for receptions and performances. It was only in the later Lorraine period in the nineteenth century that this room began to be reserved for meals, becoming a dining room. This was a function that up until that time was not filled by any particular room. Meals were previously served wherever they were required. The concept of a room reserved for dining began with the growing English middle class and spread throughout Europe during the 19th century. The Savoys used the room for this purpose as well. In 1938 a banquet was held there in honor of Adolf Hitler.
Navarro, Fausta, "The Royal Apartments", Pitti Palace: all the museums, all the works, Sillabe, 2001, Livorno, pp.63-64.
Navarro, Fausta, "The Royal Apartments", Pitti Palace: all the museums, all the works, Sillabe, 2001, Livorno, pp.63-64.