In October 2018, an agreement was signed between the European University Institute (EUI) and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to annex the historic Palazzo Buontalenti to the EUI campus.
EUI has identified Palazzo Buontalenti as the prestigious new home for the School of Transnational Governance (STG), a high-level political education school that offers executive apprenticeship programs, hosts a scholarship program, and conducts policy dialogue on international administration topics. STG, currently located in the premises of Badia Fiesolana, also intends to launch a master’s program that will take place precisely in Palazzo Buontalenti, a large building complex of approximately 20,000 sq m, owned by the Italian state and managed by Agenzia del Demanio, located in the center of Florence. This operation is of great urban planning importance, as Palazzo Buontalenti is a complex that has always played a strategic role for the center of Florence, having housed the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Court of Appeal, but has been unused since 2012. The hope is that, following this new functional redesign, it can regain a key role in the urban and social fabric of Florence, happily contrasting with the long-standing trend of relocating strategic functions, uprooting them from a historic center increasingly devoid of the functional content that, for centuries, defined the fabric of its urban relationships.
The Interventions
The contracted services are divided into functional lots, named “Lot 1” and “Lot 2”.
– Lot 1
The set of activities planned for this first lot will make the school fully operational for all its components and restore the transversal ‘urban’ path for public use by removing incongruous elements that, in the twentieth century, compromised the facade of the Buontalenti body and separated the two courtyards.
A necessary prerequisite will be the execution of the “safety measures” for the stone and frescoed surfaces of the entire complex, in order to carry out subsequent interventions without further damage.
The restoration of the approximately 440 sq m courtroom will allow for the creation of a large conference hall, while the canteen, sized for two shifts of 150 people, will be structured on three levels: in the basement, the kitchen, ancillary services, and restrooms; on the ground floor, the dining area with distribution and tables covering approximately 250 sq m, and the possibility of further expansion through the creation of a mezzanine floor. Two different types of accommodation are planned for students and faculty: for students, studios ranging from 18 to 27 sq m, equipped with 1 or 2 beds with restrooms and an equipped kitchenette; for faculty, two-room apartments varying in size from 27 to 60 sq m.
– Lot 2
Lot 2 includes the most important building of the entire complex, the Casino Mediceo, which will be divided into various functional areas: distribution system and floor services, complementary services such as catering, IT and various facilities, teaching and research rooms, a multi-room library, and offices.
The restoration approach, based on historical research and the interpretation of transformations that have occurred over the centuries, will be particularly careful and accurate in order to free the structure from all insignificant additions and to restore, as far as possible, an original and coherent layout that also takes into account the enlargements to safeguard a stratification that today represents an essential value of historical architecture.
The restoration must not only consider the frescoes still visible in many parts but also prepare a thorough campaign of investigations to rediscover decorations and paintings hidden by ill-advised subsequent coverings, as well as recover non-secondary elements such as floors, wall coverings, moldings, fixtures, and significant furnishings.
The Service was awarded to an RTP (Temporary Grouping of Professionals) composed of leading Italian Architecture and Engineering Firms (Politecnica, Archea, Consilium, Abacus, Studio Mattioli, Ingegneri Riuniti, DBA PRO, Prof. Arch. Loris Macci, Dott.ssa Monica Endrizzi and Dott. Stefano Landi).
