Recent restoration work at Palazzo Pitti has led to the discovery of the existence of the famous “secret letterbox” or “memorial letterbox”, built at the request of Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Asburgo Lorena in the “residence palace”. To everyone’s surprise, the letterbox, which had been hidden for years under a layer of plaster, was found on the facade of the Palace.

The letterbox, carved into a rectangular slab of white marble, corresponds to a box set into the wall and protected by a “secret” door located inside a ground floor room of the palace.

This letterbox, whose existence was only vaguely known, was sometimes confused with the one located in the Uffizi, next to the Post Office door. In fact, it was a previous Grand Duke, Cosimo I de’ Medici, who first established a sort of direct channel with anyone who had something to communicate to him. The “supplication pit”, a precursor to letterboxes in which, through a slot, Florentines could insert their letter.

Its function was to collect secret letters, petitions and memorials addressed directly to the Grand Duke, who wanted to receive these communications without intermediaries from his secretaries.

It is known that Pietro Leopoldo, son of Empress Maria Theresa of Asburgo, was very careful to gather information, both regarding the management of public affairs and the private lives of his subjects. For this reason, often criticized by his detractors, the Grand Duke had established a day a week, Friday, to publicly receive anyone who wanted to present him with requests or petitions.

The Grand Duke had a series of informants at his disposal, including the Auditor Domenico Brichieri Colombi and the police inspector Giuseppe Chelotti, who provided him with details on the behavior of citizens. This information, he said, was useful to him in making decisions regarding promotions or removals from office. These secret documents were kept in the Secretariat of the Cabinet, where his three secretaries worked.

The construction of the hole dates back to 1768, when Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni, director of the Uffizi Gallery, noted this particular creation on the facade in his diary. In a private room of the palace, the Grand Duke kept the letters inserted in the memorials’ hole, which he examined personally.

Although it was mentioned in anecdotal stories as early as the beginning of the last century, the exact position of the hole had never been clearly documented. Today we know that it is located between the second and third windows of the main facade of the palace, about 1.80 meters from the ground, set between two ashlars in a small slab of white marble.