Noble coat of arms of the Medici and Toledo families

Description

Documents transcribed by Baldini Giusti recall that the "portal" of pietra forte was in process, or just finished on April 30, 1554, executed by Francesco di Iacopo Petruzzi, at the request of Davide Fortini. The latter, who was engineer to Cosimo I, is to be held responsible for the realization of the design of the grotto, variously attributed to Bandinelli, Buontalenti (certainly to be excluded) and Tribolo; while the possible intervention of Vasari, who was working in Palazzo Vecchio during these very years, and in 1556 drew the first structure of the other Boboli Grotto, has never been considered. Moreover, the simplicity of this facade does not favor attributions of any kind. Instead, one observes, to my mind, decisive Ammannati elements in the clarity and essential features of the marble door executed by Cancelli together with the heraldic shield, by August 28, 1554, the latter paid three gold scudi. Ammannati, who had been working for Pope Julius II on his splendid villa in Rome since 1550, returned permanently to Florence in 1555 and joined Vasari in the Palazzo Vecchio, dealing precisely with the interior decoration, doors, fireplaces, stuccoes, recognizable by their sober and structural elegance (Fossi). Rinaldi, on the other hand, thought of Tribolo in the recent conference 'Boboli 90'. From March 1555, according to Baldini Giusti's reports, accounts for rustic decoration wings began, to be believed to include the facade as well: the documents have not in fact been transcribed