The Top Ten Towns of Tuscany – #8 Fiesole

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Fiesole Archaeological Site

The Archaeological area of Fiesole, near Florence, includes Etruscan and Roman remains.

There are three main Etruscan features still visible:

– The Etruscan Temple. It is situated on the northern side of the site and it dates back to the fourth century AD.
The Etruscan temple was built on earth foundations overlaid with stone. From its surviving outer walls, archaeologists have been able to reconstruct its original layout. It was a rectangular building with a single central cella and two side chambers separated from the cella by columns. The cella was reached by a series of steps which led down to the altar. Both the altar and position of steps were altered in the Roman period.

– The City Walls. The walls date back to the fourth century AD and were built to strengthen Fiesole’s defences against the Gallic incursions. They are 2.5 kms long and were also partially rebuilt by the Romans.

– The Etruscan Tombs. Also known as the Via Bargellino tombs, these tombs are situated outside the ancient city walls. Six tombs were discovered dating to the third century BC. Each tomb was built from large, uncemented blocks of stone. Each of them was rectangular with interior space maximised by the construction of platforms for cremated remains.
Parallel piped cremation urns with flat lids, a second century stone urn with a small illustrated box and an egg shaped urn of terracotta with a conical lid dating to the first century BC were found in the tombs. Grave goods have included terracotta unguent containers and bronze personal instruments.

The Etruscan settlement in Fiesole was conquered by the Romans in 90BC. The town was taken by Marcus Portius Cato’s troops after a lengthy siege using a nearby campsite as a base that later on became the city of Florence.
The conquest of Fiesole was destructive and many of the Etruscan buildings burnt to the ground. Archaeologists have discovered that after a period of abandonment, the Etruscan walls and one of the temples were rebuilt along Roman lines. The site was then completely occupied and became aRoman town.

Nowadays you can find both Roman Baths and a very well preserved Roman Theatre.

– The Roman Baths
The Roman baths have been diffusely restored. Little decorative material has been recovered, apart from some bronze sheets of epigrams and the marble base of a statue of Hercules recovered from the tiepidarium.
The baths were divided into an internal and external area. The interior bathhouse followed the typical Roman pattern:a caldarium with an opus signimum floor and with 3 small pools; the tepidarium, heated by one furnace; the oldest room, the frigidarium, divided into three areas, with a semi circular plunge pool to the left.

– The Roman Theatre
Built into the natural rocks of one of the town’s hills, the Roman theatre has been extensively restored and still remains one of the best preserved buildings in Fiesole. It was built shortly after the reoccupation of the site in the first century BC and was situated along the Cardo, one of the Roman town’s main streets that led to the forum.

The best seats in the house, situated near the orchestra and tribunalia arcades were reached by a series of vaulted passages that ran under the cavea or rows of seats. Several flights of stairs that ran up through the cavea could be used for seating elsewhere. Each stairway consisted of three flights of ten steps. The original rightside staircase of the theatre are still visible today.

Only the foundations of the frons scenae or stage area remained. These are sufficient to show thethree doors, actors used to access the stage. The most interesting area of the backstage is a semi circular room that would have been used to operate the mechanism that opened the theatre’s curtain.
The theatre was redecorated in the third century AD. Only a few fragments of the ornamentation of the multicoloured orchestra mosaics remains as well as marble reliefs of mythical scenes and deities, preserved in the site’s museum.

Leslie Halloran
Villa Rentals – planningatour@gmail.com

Museo Galileo in Florence

Museo GalileoFlorence’s science museum, reopened in June 2010 after renovation and renamed Museo Galileo, within six months was awarded one of three prestigious “best mu- seum” prizes by ICOM Italia, the national committee for museums. The prize, for best management was awarded due to “the high-quality
scientific staff, experienced management personnel, its historic non-profit status, and the participation of many agencies and institutions which make it an effective model of museum organization and sustainable management”.
I decided to road test the museum, and after scoping out its website, realised it would be a great place to take my kids. They have a program called “Florence for Family” each weekend until the end of June which has a series of 90 minute guided visits specifically catering for “children over the age of six”. However we didn’t take the tour option, but just vis- ited the museum.
Museo Galileo is home to the only surviving instru- ments designed and built by Galileo himself. It is also the repository for the priceless scientific collections of the two dynasties that once ruled Florence: the Medici and the House of Lorraine. On display are more than 1,000 instruments and devices of major scientific importance and exceptional beauty.
While the focus of the entire exhibition is Galileo, the lay- out of the museum on two levels divides the collection by period, with The Medici collections on the first level. These bear witness to the
scientific culture of Galileo (and his contemporaries) and the tools he designed and made, including two of his telescopes. The second level houses the instruments and ex- perimental apparatuses acquired by the Lorraines in the 18th and 19th centuries, demonstrating the powerful stimulus provided by Gali- leo’s discoveries to the develop- ment of the physical and mathemat- ical sciences in the modern age.
The museum has a brilliant interactive website in English and Italian, which is well worth view-
ing before your visit, as it describes the gallery layout and the 18 themed rooms. Also highly recommended at the museum itself is the €5 audio-visual guide which explains every item in the collection as well as its inventor/builder. The guide automatically senses which room of the museum you are in, and when you enter the exhibit number, the information is displayed on the screen. Some of the more complicated models and experimental devices have a short video explanation as well. All of the information on the guide can also be seen on the website. Unless you are a serious science expert, most of the exhibits just look like funny gadgets that probably have some obscure function. This is why the audio-visual guide is indispensible – providing information on the period of the discovery / invention as well as its creator. Even with the guide, my two youngest children (aged 6 and 9), were quickly and soundly bored after just a couple of minutes. There were several exhibits that did interest my nine year old, but there wasn’t a great deal in if for him. However my two older children (aged 12 and 14) were absolutely enthralled and loved the visit. Many of the items, once explained on the guide,
brought relevance to material they had al- ready studied at school. While my visit was shorter that I would have liked ow- ing to the need to remove my disinter- ested and distracting younger children, I thought the museum was exceptional. It successfully demonstrates how astro- nomical, scientific and mathematical concepts evolved, and the power of
man’s imagination. What is notable, apart from the creativity and evolved thinking is the extraordinary craftsmanship of
the instruments, especially given their age. The museum is sleek, stylish, and thoughtfully laid out allowing excellent viewing of
each exhibit. Not to be missed is the room sized Ptolemaic armillary from 1588 (a model of the solar system showing planet Earth as the central orb), Galileo’s original telescopes as
well as one of Galileo’s fingers. The museum is a fitting tribute to the man who was clearly one of the world’s greatest original thinkers, who challenged the ac- cepted thinking of his time, took on the Catholic Church and was excommunicated and lived out his final years under house arrest.
Museo Galileo, Piazza dei Giudici 1, 50122 Florence, tel. +39 055 265 311; web: www.museogalileo.it Opening hours: Daily: 9.30-18.00, except Tuesdays 9.30-13.00. Entrance fees Full fee € 8,00; 7-18 years old, or over 65 years old € 5,00. 0-6 years old free access. Family ticket (2 adults + max 2 children under 18) € 20,00. Also Group Rates.

The legend of Monte Forato

Monte ForatoOne of the many legends heard in Garfagnana regards the origin of the hole in the mountain. Legend has it that it was caused during a tremendous clash between San Pellegrino and the Devil himself.

The Devil, tired of seeing the saint prey and sing all day, sought to tempt him while he was making a beech wood cross, all in vain. Irritated, the Devil slapped the saint so hard he was knocked down. San Pellegrino slowly got back up and also tired of the continuous torments he was made to endure, instead of turning the other cheek slapped the Devil right back so hard he was hurled against the crest of the mountain. The Devil hit the mountain with his head, the terrible impact created the hole that we can see today.

Stibbert Museum

Stibbert MuseumThe Stibbert Museum is located on the hill of Montughi in Florence, Italy. The museum contains over 36,000 artifacts, including a vast collection of armor from Eastern and Western civilizations. The museum was founded by Frederick Stibbert (1836 – 1906), who inherited a vast fortune from his grandfather and did not work for the rest of his life. Frederick Stibbert dedicated his life to collecting various objects, antiques, and artifacts and turned his villa into a museum. When the size of the collections outgrew the villa, Stibbert commissioned various additions created by the likes of architect Giuseppe Poggi, the painter Gaetano Bianchi, and the sculptor Passaglia, who contributed to the present day appearance of one of the most precious examples of l9th century museums. 
The vast park surrounding the villa is recognized as one of the most beautiful gardens in Florence.
Today, the museum comprises 10 rooms to exhibit the wide-ranging collections of Stibbert. The rooms are crowded with very sumptuous objects reflecting the taste of a collector. The museum includes a very lavish group of portraits belonging to different ages and most of the wall drawings are in leather. The furniture itself includes very valuable pieces dating back to the 15th century. There are important porcelains and majolica that were produced by the most important Italian and foreign manufacturers.
The museum, however, owes its reputation to its collection of arms and suits of armors that comprise an incredible number of varying and rare pieces ranging from the 15th to the 17th centuries. The vast majority of arms are European, although there are also Oriental, Persian, Indian and Islamic examples. A particularly suggestive view is offered by the parade of horses and riders fully equipped to represent the Italian, German and Islamic arms and suits of armors belonging to the 16th and 17th centuries. The museum also displays a very important group of Japanese arms, with dozens of suits of arms and hundreds of swords, which constitutes the largest collection of this kind outside of Japan.

Charterhouse of Calci

Charterhouse of CalciCharterhouse of Calci (Certosa di Pisa) is in the village of Calci which stands on the slopes of Mt. Pisano in the center of the so-called Val Graziosa . The monastery was founded in 1366 and Carthusian monks lived here until 1972. The building was clearly based on the typical model of the Carthusian monastery; the architects were often the monks themselves, best able to interpret the organizational and religious aspects of life in the Charterhouse. The contrast between hermitism and coenobitic life was represented by two symbolic elements: the cell and the church. The monastery is completely secluded from the outer world and from inside only the silhouette of Monti Pisani can be seen.

One can understand the life of a Monk by viewing large Cloister, a Cell, the Refectory, the Grand-Ducal Apartment, and the apothecary. The Courtyard is flanked by buildings formerly housing the stables, an oil mill, a distillery, a laundry, and a carpenter’s shop.

Since 1981 the Carthusian monastery has housed the Museo di Storia Naturale e del Territorio dell’Università di Pisa. The museums exhibits very ancient mineralogical, paleontological and zoological collections, including some pieces dating back to the 16th century. The museum features also an interesting scientific library.