Palazzo Vecchio: Leonardo Da Vinci & Michelangelo Buonarroti

Both Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti lived in Florence at the beginning of the 16th century, and between 1504 and 1505 they would have to work side by side in the Palazzo after life Gonfalonier, Pier Soderini had commissioned them to carry out two large paintings of the Battle of Anghiari and the Battle of Cascina in the Maggior Consiglio - now called the Salone dei Cinquecento.

However, Michelangelo never transferred his preparatory cartoon rich in ignudi of the Battle of Cascina onto the wall, and Leonardo had to abandon the group of horses and horsemen of the Battle of Anghiari that he had begun due to the deterioration of the colours. Nevertheless, numerous signs of the presence of these two great artists are still evident in the Palazzo.

One of the many copies of the melee of Leonardo-style horses and infantry can be admired in the Quarters Eleonora, while in the Salone dei Cinquecento there is the marble statue of The Genius of Victory by Michelangelo. In the arengario (the city government's tribune) of Palazzo Vecchio, the copy of Michelangelo's David reminds us that the biblical hero had been positioned in front of the fa?ade of the Palazzo as a symbol of the victorious Florentine republic; while Vasari portrays both artists among the illustrious personalities that Pope Leo X elevated to the level of cardinal in 1517.

Via the use of words, images and sounds, the narration traces the stories of the "parallel lives" of these two great artists, so different in character, ideals and sensitivity, and their connection with the Palazzo, cemented by the motivations and efforts of Gonfalonier Pier Soderini committed as he was to the never-ending and extenuating war against Pisa. He probably wished to draw vital lymph for Florence and its government from the paintings of the two battles:"if we have these two victories on the wall, then following the example of the fortune of others, we will already have won..".