Palazzo Dell’Antella in piazza Santa Croce, Florence. History, families and building phases from the 15th century to the present day

Palazzo Dell’Antella, also known as Palazzo degli Sporti, occupies much of the south side of Piazza Santa Croce. The structure of the front might suggest a building constructed according to a single design, but behind the frescoed facade are several houses joined together from the Middle Ages onwards.
Although few traces of the ancient dwellings remain today, the main wall structures are clearly visible and it is evident that what appears from the outside to be one large building is, in actual fact, a fragmented building on the inside resulting from ongoing transformations and multiple additions.
The analysis of the current layouts and the study of documents attesting to the succession of properties over the centuries revealed that the building was made up of five courtyard houses. Each one originally had its own staircase, but only two of them are still present today: one pertaining to the westernmost house, which features the connecting point of an ancient stairwell parallel to the facade, now screened by a glass hatch; the other, positioned orthogonally to the main front, with access from the entrance hall, which is the oldest staircase in the entire building.

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