Particolari palazzo Quaratesi (M. Pileri)The building is part of the program of the 'law of convenience', issued by Cosimo I de’ Medici in 1551, which authorised the expropriation of buildings and land for the benefit of those wishing to build or renovate existing houses. The façade, designed by Pietro Francavilla (1593-1597), a student of Giambologna, which alternates the showy vertical bands, created by the large gabled windows, to the hard horizontal lines given by the string courses, highlights the depth of the staircase leading to the door, enriched by the bust of Ferdinando de’ Medici. The concave aspect, given by the union of pre-existing buildings (11th-12th century), accentuates the size of the large curved tympanum of the central French door, which seems to emerge from the balcony. The building fully expresses the will of the Grand Duke, who refused whimsical ornamental solutions by virtue of a fifteenth-century rigour. Proof of this purity is the almost cubic volume of the entire building, which served as the seat of the Pisan charity called Pia Casa della Misericordia. The interior of the building is decorated with frescoes by Gian Domenico Ferretti (17th century) and Tommaso Tommasi (18th century). Property of the Quaratesi marquises, today the building houses the Academy of Fine Arts, specialised in the multimedia creation sector.
