For the first time in history, the three panels of “The Battle of San Romano” will hang together at Palazzo Pitti, in an exhibition on Lorenzo the Magnificent opening on December 3 Three of the most famous battle paintings of the Italian Renaissance are about to be seen together for what the Uffizi says is the first time in history. Paolo Uccello’s Battle of San Romano, a cycle of three large panels that has been divided between Florence, London and Paris for more than a century and a half, will be shown as a trilogy at Palazzo Pitti in Florence. The occasion is Magnifico 1492, an exhibition by the Uffizi Galleries dedicated to Lorenzo de’ Medici and his collection. It runs from December 3, 2026 to March 1, 2027, in the Tesoro dei Granduchi (Grand Dukes’ Treasury) on the ground floor of the palace. The Paintings The cycle shows episodes from the Battle of San Romano, fought in 1432 between Florence and Siena, which ended in a Florentine victory. Uccello painted the panels around the late 1430s for the Bartolini Salimbeni family. According to the Uffizi, the three scenes are Niccolò da Tolentino leading the Florentine troops, now in the National Gallery in London; the unhorsing of Bernardino della Carda, in the Uffizi; and the intervention of Michelotto da Cotignola, in the Louvre in Paris. The heirs of the family sold the panels to Lorenzo the Magnificent, who had them installed in his palace on Via Larga, now Palazzo Medici-Riccardi on Via Cavour. A Medici inventory of 1492, the year Lorenzo died, lists them among the furnishings of his bedroom. The exhibition aims to show them “as in the Medici residence of the fifteenth century.” The panels were later separated. In the 19th century, they were judged too similar to one another, so the best-preserved one stayed in Florence and the other two were sold: one to the National Gallery in 1857 and one to the Louvre in 1863, as part of the Campana collection. What Else Is on Show More than 100 works will come from Italian and international museums, among them paintings, sculptures, vases, gems, cameos, coins, illuminated manuscripts and maps. The show reconstructs the Medici collection as it was inventoried in 1492 and how it was arranged in the rooms of the Via Larga palace. Among the loans are a gilded copper Spiritello (a winged child figure) attributed to a collaborator of Donatello, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which once decorated the fountain in the courtyard of Palazzo Medici, and a miniature manuscript of Petrarch’s Triumphs made for Lorenzo, kept at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Visitors will also see works such as Botticelli’s Adoration of the Magi and the portrait of Lorenzo. What the Uffizi Says The Uffizi director, Simone Verde, has described Lorenzo as a true watershed, whose life ended in the year 1492, when the modern world began with the discovery of the Americas. According to Revenews, he says the show is an occasion to reflect on the collecting habits of the early Medici up to Lorenzo, using new research and relating the works to the family’s strategies of self-representation and cultural diplomacy. Visiting Tickets can be booked from November 2 on the Uffizi Galleries’ official website. The exhibition is open during Palazzo Pitti’s hours, Tuesday to Sunday from 8:15 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., with the last entry at 5:30 p.m. For readers in Rome, Florence is about an hour and a half away by high-speed train, which makes a day trip to the exhibition realistic. Book in advance, since the panels are likely to be the main draw. Ph: Stefano cellai / Shutterstock.com

  Three of the most famous battle paintings of the Italian Renaissance are about to be seen together for what the Uffizi says is the first time in history. Paolo Uccello’s Battle of San Romano, a cycle of three large panels that has been divided between Florence, London and Paris for more than a century and a half, will be shown as a trilogy at Palazzo Pitti in Florence. The occasion is Magnifico 1492, an exhibition by the Uffizi Galleries dedicated to Lorenzo de’ Medici and his collection. It runs from December 3, 2026 to March 1, 2027, in the Tesoro dei Granduchi (Grand Dukes’ Treasury) on the ground floor of the palace. The cycle shows episodes from the Battle of San Romano, fought in 1432 between Florence and Siena, which ended in a Florentine victory. Uccello painted the panels around the late 1430s for the Bartolini Salimbeni family. According to the Uffizi, the three scenes are Niccolò da Tolentino leading the Florentine troops, now in the National Gallery in London; the unhorsing of Bernardino della Carda, in the Uffizi; and the intervention of Michelotto da Cotignola, in the Louvre in Paris. The heirs of the family sold the panels to Lorenzo the Magnificent, who had them installed in his palace on Via Larga, now Palazzo Medici-Riccardi on Via Cavour. A Medici inventory of 1492, the year Lorenzo died, lists them among the furnishings of his bedroom. The exhibition aims to show them “as in the Medici residence of the fifteenth century.” The panels were later separated. In the 19th century, they were judged too similar to one another, so the best-preserved one stayed in Florence and the other two were sold: one to the National Gallery in 1857 and one to the Louvre in 1863, as part of the Campana collection. More than 100 works will come from Italian and international museums, among them paintings, sculptures, vases, gems, cameos, coins, illuminated manuscripts and maps. The show reconstructs the Medici collection as it was inventoried in 1492 and how it was arranged in the rooms of the Via Larga palace. Among the loans are a gilded copper Spiritello (a winged child figure) attributed to a collaborator of Donatello, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which once decorated the fountain in the courtyard of Palazzo Medici, and a miniature manuscript of Petrarch’s Triumphs made for Lorenzo, kept at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Visitors will also see works such as Botticelli’s Adoration of the Magi and the portrait of Lorenzo. The Uffizi director, Simone Verde, has described Lorenzo as a true watershed, whose life ended in the year 1492, when the modern world began with the discovery of the Americas. According to Revenews, he says the show is an occasion to reflect on the collecting habits of the early Medici up to Lorenzo, using new research and relating the works to the family’s strategies of self-representation and cultural diplomacy. Tickets can be booked from November 2 on the Uffizi Galleries’ official website. The exhibition is open during Palazzo Pitti’s hours, Tuesday to Sunday from 8:15 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., with the last entry at 5:30 p.m. For readers in Rome, Florence is about an hour and a half away by high-speed train, which makes a day trip to the exhibition realistic. Book in advance, since the panels are likely to be the main draw. Ph: Stefano cellai / Shutterstock.com