Spartan Gold: Palazzo Magnani Feroni and more

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From there they'd returned to Florence, checked into the Palazzo Magnani Feroni, and called Selma

The Palazzo Magnani Feroni is a building in Florence, central Italy, one of the oldest buildings in the San Frediano neighbourhood of the city. It is currently serving as a hotel.

History
Typical of Renaissance palaces of the time, it is decorated and adorned with statues, paintings and frescoes dating from the 16th century.

During the French occupation of Italy in the Napoleonic Wars the Feroni marquises held formal parties and grand balls to celebrate official visits of a sovereign or during an annual event, such as the Grand-Duchess's birthday.

The entrance-way dates from the 17th century and leads to the iron gate decorated with the coat-of-arms of the Feroni family: an armour-clad arm, holding a sword and a golden lily.

At the mouth of the port, rising from the north and south shorelines, were the forts of Saint Jean and Saint Nicholas.

Fort Saint-Jean is a fortification in Marseille, built in 1660 by Louis XIV at the entrance to the Old Port.

Fort Saint-Nicolas was constructed at the same time on the opposite side of the harbour. Commenting on their construction, Louis XIV said, "We noticed that the inhabitants of Marseille were extremely fond of nice fortresses. We wanted to have our own at the entrance to this great port." In fact, the two new forts were built in response to a local uprising against the governor, rather than for the defence of the city: their cannons pointed inwards towards the town, not outwards towards the sea.

Two earlier buildings were incorporated into the structure of the fort: the twelfth century Commandry of the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem, which served as a monastic hospice during the crusades; and the fifteenth century tower of René I, King of Provence.

In April 1790 Fort Saint-Jean was seized by a revolutionary mob who decapitated the commander of the royal garrison. During the subsequent French Revolution the fort was used as a prison, holding Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, and two of his sons, Louis-Charles, Count of Beaujolais, and Antoine Philippe, Duke of Montpensier. Following the overthrow of Robespierre in 1794 about a hundred Jacobin prisoners held in the fort were massacred.

Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries Fort Saint-Jean was in the possession of the French Army, who utilised it as a barracks and clearing station for the Army of Africa. During the years when the French Foreign Legion served almost entirely in Africa (C19th to mid-1960s), the fort was a final stop-off point for recruits for the legion destined for basic training in Algeria.

During World War II Fort Saint-Jean was occupied by the German military in November 1942. In August 1944 during the liberation of Marseilles, the explosion of a munitions depot within the fort destroyed much of its historic battlements and buildings. Although returned to the French Army, Fort Saint-Jean remained in a neglected and disused state until it was passed to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs in 1960. Classified as a historical monument in 1964, the damaged portions of the fort were reconstructed between 1967 and 1971.

It now houses the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations.