Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy

The Palazzo Vecchio is one of my favorite places to visit in Florence. This is mostly due to the Inferno movie released in 2016 starring Tom Hanks. The Palazzo Vecchio played a pivotal role in that film. I have taken the Secret Passages tour of the Palazzo Vecchio twice and it was completely different both times. This makes me wonder how many secret passageways there really are in this mysterious palace! The first time we visited the Palazzo Vecchio was in 2018 and the Secret Passages Tour was called the Inferno tour back then and highlighted specific scenes from the film. When I visited again in 2025 there was no longer an Inferno tour offered, but the Secret Passages tour still took us on an amazing route through secret hallways and behind portraits. I very highly recommend taking this tour! You submit a request to go on the tour and they book you when there is availability. They actually changed my booking time before we arrived in Italy, and luckily the new time still worked with the other things we had planned. The tour costs 22 euro and you also pay for your entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio. Walking through the Palazzo Vecchio, and especially the Hall of 500 is very impressive. Even if you don't want to go on the tour, take a few minutes to tour the Palazzo Vecchio on your own.

This is the official website for this tour: Secret Passages

The Palazzo Vecchio was completed between 1314 and 1322. It is the historic town hall of Florence, Italy. Palazzo Vecchio means "old palace." The famous Hall of 500 within the Palazzo Vecchio is named for the 500 politicians that used to meet in this hall during the Renaissance. If you look closely at the fresco by Vasari entitled "The Battle of Marciano" you can find the words "Cerca Trova," which means "seek and ye shall find" written on a green flag near the top of the painting. "Cerca Trova" and this painting were featured in the Inferno movie and used to be part of the "Inferno" tour back when it was offered at the Palazzo Vecchio. Now you have to find it on your own.

Dante's death mask is also featured in the Palazzo Vecchio. There is some controversy about whether it is truly a "death mask," because some believe that the mask was created before Dante died. The preservation and display of the mask at the Palazzo Vecchio are representative of Dante's importance in Florence and elsewhere in Italy. Dante's death mask was also featured in the Inferno movie.

During the tour you are able to see secret rooms used by the Medici family, as well as passageways that the family used during the time they lived in the Palace. The tour also takes you to see the area above the Hall of 500, which is quite different than what is presented in the Inferno movie. For instance, in the movie one of the antagonists ends up falling through a painting in the ceiling of the Hall of 500. The ceiling is far stronger than that, and she simply would have landed on wood if she had really fallen in this attic area. It is also not nearly as deep as the movie portrays it. Still, it is quite fascinating to see this and many other areas of the Palazzo that a general visitor would not be able to see.

Our tour guide did bring us into the map room, but did not take us through Armenia, as they do in the movie, and as they did when we took the Inferno tour in 2018. We were able to see it, though. Looking at the countless portraits inside the Palazzo Vecchio, you can't help but wonder how many of them open up to a secret hallway or staircase behind them. It makes me wish I could do a major overhaul on my house and build in several secret passageways!

The Palazzo Vecchio google maps location is here: Palazzo Vecchio

This was our meeting place for the tour

This tiny door is where our tour began. When we took the Inferno tour in 2018, the tour ended through this door.

Our tour guide pointed out the differences in the structure of the building, showing where additions were made to the palace over the years.

my daughter entering the tiny door to begin the tour

A model of the Palazzo Vecchio during the various stages of construction

Most of the stairways on the secret passages tour were narrow like this

This room is Francesco's Studiolo. He kept hidden treasures behind these paintings

Some of these paintings are cupboards to store treasures, and some are doors that open to passageways

The paintings represented trades or religious or mythological people

portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici

portrait of Eleonora of Toledo (Cosimo's wife)

One of the paintings opening up to a secret staircase

another of the secret rooms

Our tour guide kept opening more paints to reveal hidden passages

The Hall of 500 - the floor matches the paintings on the ceiling

You can see Cerca Trova in the far left of this zoomed-in shot of Vasari's painting

In this shot Cerva Trova is near the right/top

A zoomed-in shot of another portion of the painting

chairs were set up in the Hall of 500

view of the Duomo out the window of the Hall of 500

looking down on the Hall of 500

The area above the Hall of 500

Dante's death mask

The Map Room

Armenia is the map that they went through in the Inferno movie, and that we went through on our Inferno Tour, but on our Secret Passages tour in 2025, we did not go through Armenia and our tour guide never mentioned that Armenia opens to a secret passageway.

My daughter and I went back in the Hall of 500 to get more photos and a video of the Cerca Trova on the painting

Some believe that Vasari painted Cerca Trova in this fresco as a clue to a hidden painting by Leonardo daVinci. It is still a mystery today.

Palazzo Gucci is right next to the Palazzo Vecchio. The 2 towers you can see peeking above the buildings belong to the Badia Fiorentina, an abbey that was also featured in the Inferno movie