Palazzo della Signoria

The Palazzo della Signoria (English: Palace of your lordship), also known as the Palazzo Vecchio (English: Old Palace) was a building in central Florence, and the center of governmental power during the Italian Renaissance. Atop the building stood a noticeably off-center clocktower, which also served as a holding cell. The square in front of the building served as a marketplace and a site for executions.

History

Renaissance

The building was designed by the Tuscan architect Arnolfo di Cambio for the Lords of Florence in 1299. The Signoria was made up of nine members (or Priori) selected by the city's guilds, two from each district, and a Gonfalonier of Justice. Members were supposed to be chosen by lot, but once the Medici family took power, it was only their friends who were favored.

Giovanni Auditore and his sons being executed via hanging

In 1476, the execution of the Italian Assassin Giovanni Auditore and his sons Federico and Petruccio was held at the Palazzo della Signoria, after they had been imprisoned in the tower the night before. Although Giovanni's third son Ezio tried to attack Gonfaloniere Uberto Alberti, the man who had betrayed his family and ordered their execution, he was disarmed by a brute and forced to flee.

Two years later, Ezio pursued Francesco de' Pazzi on the palazzo's roof and assassinated him for his role in the Pazzi conspiracy against Lorenzo de' Medici, before allowing those loyal to the ruling Medici family to hang the corpse from the battlements. Jacopo de' Pazzi attempted to rally the Florentine citizens in the square below but fled the city after seeing Francesco's body.

In 1498, the palazzo served as the execution site of the infamous priest Girolamo Savonarola by an angry mob of Florentines. However, to spare the monk the feeling of being burned at the stake, Ezio intervened and killed him with his Hidden Blade.

Around 1506, Demetrio, a weaponsmith who served Cesare Borgia, failed to murder his former master and was sentenced to death by hanging in front of the Palazzo della Signoria. Niccolò Machiavelli sent Lo Sparviero to rescue the man. The Assassin bribed some corrupt Medici guards to leave the area, then killed the soldier who held Demetrio and took him to safety.

Later, in 1524, Ezio took the Chinese Assassin Shao Jun to see the palazzo during a trip into the city. By then, the gallows had been removed and the square was now a place of lively celebration and dancing.

Modern times

In 2016, the Palazzo was used to as a simulated location by Abstergo Entertainment for their Identity Project. Like most of the simulated locations in the Project, the Palazzo had two aesthetic variations, and as such, could be utilized during daytime and nighttime.

Behind the scenes

• Historically, many of the people involved in the Pazzi Conspiracy were hanged from the Palazzo. In-game, only Francesco de' Pazzi was shown to be hanged.
• Benvenuto Cellini's Perseus with the Head of Medusa is anachronistically depicted on display in front of the palazzo despite it historically being unveiled in 1554.

Gallery

• 
  Concept art of the House of Auditore's execution
• 
  Database image in Assassin's Creed: Identity
• 
  Concept art in Identity
• 
  Concept art in Identity
• 
  Giovanni in prison
• 
  A crowd watching Savonarola's execution

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed II (first appearance)
  • Bonfire of the Vanities
• Assassin's Creed: Embers
• Assassin's Creed: Identity