Palazzo Pitti

Palazzo Pitti is an absolute monster of a building — its rough-hewn stone facade stretches over 200 metres across Piazza de' Pitti, and the sheer scale of it hits you the moment you walk into the square. Originally built for the banker Luca Pitti in 1458 (reportedly to outdo the Medici), the Medici themselves bought it a century later and turned it into their primary residence, expanding it enormously. It served as the seat of power for Tuscany's rulers right through to Italian unification. Inside, it's essentially five museums in one. The Palatine Gallery is the star — a lavish suite of rooms with paintings by Raphael, Titian, Rubens, and Caravaggio hung salon-style against frescoed walls and gilded stucco, exactly as they were arranged in the 17th and 18th centuries. There's also the Gallery of Modern Art (19th-20th century Italian painting), the Museum of Costume and Fashion (recently renovated with a stunning rotation of historical garments), the Treasury of the Grand Dukes (cameos, silverwork, semi-precious stones), and the Museum of Russian Icons. The palace opens directly onto the Boboli Gardens behind it, one of the earliest and most influential formal Italian gardens, climbing the hill behind the palace with grottos, fountains, and avenues of cypress trees. The combined ticket is worth it if you want both. Compared to the Uffizi, Pitti gets significantly fewer visitors, which makes for a much more relaxed experience.