3-003-809 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Old Bargello, Florence, 1861. '...the grand old castle...was not always a Bargello. It was the work of Arnolfo, the celebrated architect...and was built to be the "Palazzo della Signoria," the residence of the chief magistrate, and the chief seat of the Republican Government, ages before the more celebrated and still more magnificent edifice now known as the Palazzo Vecchio...[Later] it was degraded into a prison'. The Palazzo del Bargello or Palazzo del Popolo (Palace of the People), is a former barracks which, since 1865, has housed the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, a national art museum. From "Illustrated London News", 1861.