Palazzo Roffia

The Palazzo Roffia in Florence is a historic building at Borgo Pinti 13, distinguished by its location directly opposite the end of the Via di Mezzo. The Roffia family acquired the property in 1646 after moving to the city from San Miniato, having previously purchased an old house belonging to the Monaldi-Bandinelli families. Over the following decades, the building was gradually expanded and remodeled, and in 1696 a new, unified façade was created under the direction of the architect Michele Magni. Magni was a student of Giovanni Battista Foggini, and the project was overseen in part by Antonio Roffia, a devotee of architecture. The façade has three stories and seven bays, combining traditional 16th-century forms with an unusual wrought-iron balcony. Despite the elegance of the window openings and the central axis with its portal, balcony, and large window, contemporary critics regarded the building as an example of the artistic decline of the late 17th century.

Inside the palace, visitors today will find frescoed halls, mainly on the second floor (the first floor above ground level), which are now used as temples of the Grand Lodge of Italy for Freemasonry. These rooms were decorated in several campaigns between the early 18th and the late 18th century by renowned artists such as Alessandro Gherardini, Rinaldo Botti, Anton Domenico Bamberini, and Gian Domenico Ferretti. Especially noteworthy is the gallery, whose ceiling was painted by Ferretti with scenes from the Twelve Labors of Hercules, while the walls show later, plainer depictions. Other rooms contain complex allegorical representations of virtues, vices, and the arts, which also allow for alchemical or philosophical interpretations, as well as an Apotheosis Hall with an allegory of Virtue framed by magnificent stucco work. The ground floor is now used for administrative purposes, while smaller side rooms are decorated with mythological paintings and stucco work.