Il mappamondo di Palazzo Vecchio - The world map of Palazzo Vecchio
The spectacular globe in the center of the Hall of Geographical Maps, with its approximately 220 cm in diameter, is the oldest large globe to survive today. The first documentary information on the globe dates back to the beginning of 1564, when from a letter sent by Giorgio Vasari to Giovanni Caccini on 29 January we learn that the latter had sent him the "appamondo" from Pisa by river. The globe was created by monk Egnazio Danti who had already worked on 30 geographical tables and, once finished, it is very likely that it was not placed in the Wardrobe Room, as it was not mentioned in the palace inventories of 1570 and 1574. Immediately placed in Palazzo Pitti where it appears present in an inventory of 1587, it passed together with the other scientific artefacts of the Uffizi Gallery, in 1775 it passed into the Museum of Ancient Instruments annexed to the Specola of Florence and only in 1958, after other vicissitudes, did it reach its original location in the Hall of Geographical Maps of Palazzo Vecchio.
Il mappamondo di Palazzo Vecchio - The world map of Palazzo Vecchio
The spectacular globe in the center of the Hall of Geographical Maps, with its approximately 220 cm in diameter, is the oldest large globe to survive today. The first documentary information on the globe dates back to the beginning of 1564, when from a letter sent by Giorgio Vasari to Giovanni Caccini on 29 January we learn that the latter had sent him the "appamondo" from Pisa by river. The globe was created by monk Egnazio Danti who had already worked on 30 geographical tables and, once finished, it is very likely that it was not placed in the Wardrobe Room, as it was not mentioned in the palace inventories of 1570 and 1574. Immediately placed in Palazzo Pitti where it appears present in an inventory of 1587, it passed together with the other scientific artefacts of the Uffizi Gallery, in 1775 it passed into the Museum of Ancient Instruments annexed to the Specola of Florence and only in 1958, after other vicissitudes, did it reach its original location in the Hall of Geographical Maps of Palazzo Vecchio.