Michelozzo di Bartolomeo designed the palace for Cosimo de' Medici, head of the Medici banking family. The article gives construction as 1444 to 1484, though Cosimo had moved in by 1458 and a 1459 visitor called it almost complete. It is called the prototype of the Tuscan Renaissance palazzo, with a rusticated ground floor, an ashlar top story and a cornice.
In the 16th century the open corner loggia was walled in, and Michelangelo added the kneeling windows and main doorway. The Riccardi family bought the palace in 1659 and commissioned Luca Giordano's gallery frescoes. The Tuscan state bought it in 1814.
Since 1874 it has housed the provincial government, now the Metropolitan City of Florence, and it is also a museum. The article gives no visiting details or heritage status.
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