Palazzo della Carovana

This guide to the Palazzo della Carovana in Pisa follows Giorgio Vasari in 1562, cutting a horoscope into wet plaster for Duke Cosimo the First de' Medici, who had just founded a brotherhood of knights to guard Tuscan shores from raiders. You'll hear how the zodiac roundels on the facade were read as either the duke's own birth chart or a record of his triumphs, and about the fourteen-year-old boys who arrived for a grueling novitiate split between fencing lessons and an oar-deck at sea. It traces the busts of later Medici grand dukes added to the gallery above, and the moment the building's purpose quietly changed. Stand back in the square to take in the full facade before you look for the individual signs.