Palazzo Nonfinito, Renaissance palace in Florence, Italy

Palazzo Nonfinito is a Mannerist palace on Via del Proconsolo, begun in 1593 to designs by Bernardo Buontalenti. Its ground floor has window cartouches and brackets, a side portal on Borgo degli Albizi, and a Strozzi heraldic shield on the corner. The tall main entrance and the first floor with giant Ionic pilasters were added by 1612 under Vincenzo Scamozzi and Giovanni Battista Caccini.

Alessandro Strozzi bought houses and towers from Camillo de' Pazzi in 1592, and work began in July 1593 with Bernardo Buontalenti and Matteo Nigetti. Buontalenti left in 1600 over the main staircase, built by Santi di Tito; Vincenzo Scamozzi and Giovanni Battista Caccini then took over the Proconsolo entrance and first floor. After Caccini died in 1612, Nigetti resumed direction, but the palace stayed unfinished.

The Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology has occupied the palazzo since 1919, displaying artifacts from cultures around the world and ancient civilizations. The rooms present these collections within settings that reflect their historical contexts.

The palazzo houses a museum with extensive anthropological and ethnological exhibits that are accessible at set times. Visitors should check current opening hours and can arrange guided tours in multiple languages to better explore the architecture and collections.

The name "Nonfinito" was not the builders' intention: both Buontalenti's and Scamozzi's designs foresaw two more storeys, and even the interiors and main facade were never completed. The label first appears in a Florence guidebook published in 1822 and corrected by Bartolomeo Follini. The historian Luigi Biadi blamed rivalry between noble families rather than money.