On March 3, 1563, Giorgio Vasari wrote to Duke Cosimo de’ Medici thanking him for allowing him to work on the “Great Hall” of the Palazzo Vecchio Museum, known throughout the world as the Salone dei Cinquecento, renovated at the behest of Cosimo in the 1560s to host the celebrations for the wedding of Prince Francesco, his firstborn, with Giovanna d’Asburgo, scheduled for December 1565.

The exhibition allows us to retrace the artistic process that led to the execution of such an important work. In addition to the designs for the ceiling, are on display the preparatory drawings of some scenes of the ceiling and the walls, in particular the drawings of the Capture of Porta Camollia and the Battle of Marciano, referring to the frescoes for the war of Siena; those for the ceiling depicting the episode in which Pope Clement IV hands over his insignia to the Captains of the Guelph party; the one in which Cosimo studies the conquest of Siena, where the duke, instead of being surrounded by his advisors, asked to be surrounded by his virtues. 

The exhibition is enriched by a series of letters "useful" to understand the genesis and the process of the enterprise.