Formed by joining two existing building complexes owned by the Guicciardini family already in the mid-fourteenth century, the palazzo owes much of its present aspect to the work of the architect Gherardo Silvani who, from 1620 to 1625, unified the facades and the courtyards, while contemporaneously adding new salons and drawing rooms. In the first half of the 19th century some of the building's distinctive sixteenth-seventeenth century elements were unfortunately lost, due to remodelling carried out subsequent to the rearrangement of Piazza Pitti. Noteworthy from the original decoration is an interesting fifteenth-century stucco representing Hercules and Cacus, probably derived from a lost work by Antonio del Pollaiolo.

Beyond the courtyard is a small parterre whose original layout "all’italiana", with boxwood hedges and a grove of citrus trees, was transformed in the 19th century by the addition of features typical of the English landscape garden, in which natural and artificial elements (hillocks, tall trees) were mingled to create a harmonious ensemble. The present layout, dating from 1922, with its flowerbeds and garden paths, creates a series of perspective views culminating in a hillock crowned by a statue of Venus. Among its curiosities are numerous inscriptions and stone tables on the boundary wall, as well as an ancient fountain, rebuilt here in 1845.