Palazzo dell'Antella (or degli Antellesi)

While walking on piazza Santa Croce one's attention is captured by the facade of this palace, very unusual and very beautiful. It is the Palazzo dell'Antella or degli Antellesi, located on the right side of the square.

The palace was built over a row of small pre-existing houses and dates back to the 16th century. It cannot be visited it but observing the facade provides many ideas. First of all its unique feature is the presence of corbels that support the overhang, giving a highly unusual and elegant touch. Another distinguishing feature is the distance between one window and the next, that gets shorter when moving closer to Santa Croce in order to create a particular perspective effect.
But the most unusual thing are the frescos that decorate the facade, painted in just twenty days between 1619 and 1620, by some of the most important artists of the time such as Giovanni da San Giovanni, Domenico Passignano, Cosimo Milanesi, Matteo Rosselli and more, for a total of twelve artists.

The name comes from the fact of having been brought as a dowry by Costanza del Barbigia to her husband Niccolò dell'Antella (Antella is a hilly area near Bagno a Ripoli): Niccolò was lieutenant of the Accademia del Disegno.
On the facade also stands the bust of Cosimo II dei Medici, ideal centre of the whole iconography.

As a last note, on the facade a marble disk dated 1565 marks the spot that divides in two parts the field where Calcio Storico is played.