The Royal Apartments in Palazzo Pitti
On the first floor of the south wing of Palazzo Pitti are the Royal Apartments, a sumptuous complex of imposing rooms fit to receive kings and queens. The apartments are richly decorated with frescoes by various famous artists and were furnished by the Medici, and later added to, and rearranged by the royal famiglie who succeded them; first the House of Lorraine and then the House of Savoy. The first successor to the Medici completely renovated the rooms in the neo-classic style and added new furniture and works of art.
All the ceilings were finished in gold and white stucco, and the walls were decorated with rich tapestries. In 1865-71, when Italy was unified, the House of savoy succeded the House of Lorraine and filled these rooms with paintings, tapestries and other works from other royal palaces, such as those of Parma and Lucca. The rooms of note are: the Red Throne Room with Lorraine and Savoyard furniture and large Chinese and Japanese vases, the Parrot Room so called for the birds depicted in the precious tapestries, but which are in fact pheasants, the Queen Margherita Apartments with the tapestry made by Gobelins of Paris, representing the HUnts of Louis XV, the Tapestry Apartment frescoed by Alessandro Allori, and the Rooms of Charity, Prudence, Hope and Temperance.
