Casa alla Rovescia

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Upside-down balcony
Casa alla Rovescia
Borgo Ognissanti
Florence, October 2015

“A little further towards the center at Borgo Ognissanti 12 we find the ‘upside-down balcony’. This impressive balcony, far too large for this narrow street, hangs on the facade of a patrician house from the 16th century. It seems to be the wrong way around because all architectural elements are mounted upside-down. In order to discover the reason behind this we must go back in time to the year 1530, when Alessandro de ‘Medici promulgated the regulation against large architectural elements because the streets were simply too narrow. The owner of the house at number 12, Messer Baldovinetti, however, wanted to build an impressive balcony to the frontage of his home and asked for permission for the construction several times. Alessandro de’ Medici denied the requests time and time again, but when Baldovinetti started to send in requests on a daily basis de’ Medici had enough and granted him permission to build the balcony upside-down. It was obviously meant to free himself of Baldovinetti and his endless requests, but the latter built his balcony any way… upside-down.” (Upside-down in Borgo Ognissanti, intoFlorence)