The Always Open Window

Turning your gaze to the second floor of the Budini-Gattai building, on the right side at a small marble coat of arms, you will see a window ajar.Florentines have dubbed it "the always open window": in fact, it seems that, for many centuries now, its shutters have always been left ajar. According to an ancient legend, a scion of the Grifoni family left for war in the late 16th century. From the palace window, his wife looked out to bid him a final farewell. The woman, desperate but hopeful that she would see him again, began to spend entire days looking out that window: the man, however, never returned, and the young woman died a widow.From here on, tradition divides, reporting two different endings to the story: the first claims that the neighborhood, moved by the sad love affair, decided to keep the window always open in memory of the woman who had spent so much time there. Others say that as soon as the shutter was closed following the widow's death, strange phenomena began to occur inside the room: lights went out, paintings came off the walls, and furniture began to move. As soon as the window was reopened, everything returned to normal.According to another version, the gaze of the equestrian statue of Ferdinand I de' Medici, placed in the square not far from the building, would be directed precisely toward the window that was always open. In fact, it is said that that window coincided with the room of a woman of the Grifoni family, who was clandestinely loved by the Grand Duke of Tuscany and who, because of her husband's jealousy, was forced to keep the shutters always closed.Revolving around the affairs of the Grifoni family, the half-closed window of the Budini-Gattai Palace continues to be a curiosity for visitors to Florence, still arousing many legends and folk tales today.