Tuscany things to do | PlanningaTour.com

Pitti Palace

The palace, which houses several important museums, was built in the second half of the 15th century probably on a project of Filippo Brunelleschi for Luca Pitti, but was unfinished at his death in 1472. The original building, formed by two floors and the ground floors, with only five windows on each tloor, was purchased in 1550 by Eleonora da Toledo, the wife of the Grand Duke Cosimo I de’Medici, thus becoming the official residence of the family. For this reason it was widened and changed, in 1560 by Bartolomeo Ammannati and at the beginning of the 17th century by Giulio and Alfonso Parigi.
The lather two architects gave the facade its present day aspect, with the only exception of the two lateral projecting pavilions that were built in the age of the Lorraine family and completed during the first half of the 19th century by Paoletti and Poccianti, who also built the Palazzina della Meridiana, added on to the rear section of the palace Downlooking the garden.

Most of the internal decoration was also executed during the 17th century by Giovanni da San Giovanni, Pietro da Cortona, il Volterrano, Antonio Domenico Gabbiani and Sebastiano Ricci.

As regards the domestic life inside the palace, we know that it was the home of several components of the family who were distributed in different private apartments.
The rooms on the left wing belonged to the Grand Duke, while those on the right side were used by the heir. The lateral wings housed the apartments of their wives. The rooms on the second floor contained the large library, while the side rooms were used for the children.
The left side on the ground floor housed the apartment that the Grand Duke used in summer.

Official web-site: www.polomuseale.firenze.it

Leslie Halloran
Please check out my website at: www.lihdesigns.net

“A frog in the well does not know the sea”. – Japanese Proverb

Best tours of Italy

Umbria tours
Deruta is a hill town and commune in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region of central Italy, near Tuscany.
Long known as a center of refined majolica manufacture, Deruta remains known for its ceramics, which are exported worldwide.

The historic town center features the Gothic Church of San Francesco built in 1388, and the Palazzetto Municipale (Town Hall), which dates from about 1300, located on the Piazza dei Consoli (the “Square of the Consuls”). In addition to the usual governmental offices, the municipal hall houses a Museum of Ceramics, an art gallery (the Pinacoteca), and a capacious atrium in which one can view a variety of archaeological finds, some of which date to Neolithic times.

The art gallery’s holdings consist of a fresco by Perugino, depicting San Romano and San Rocco (1476), and the collection donated by a local patron, Lione Pascoli, which includes works by Niccolò di Liberatore, called Alunno, Giovan Battista Gaulli, Sebastiano Conca, Francesco Trevisani, Antonio Amorosi, Francesco Graziani and Pieter Van Bloemen. The gallery also houses works received from various Deruta churches including San Francesco, Sant’ Antonio, the Defunti di Ripabianca and the Ospedale San Giacomo.

The Church of Sant’Antonio, with frescoes by Bartolommeo and Giovanni Battista Caporali, rises at the end of a narrow street, Via Mastro Giorgio. Another church worth seeing is the Madonna del Divino Amore on Piazza Cavour.
Along the Tiberina road, at the foot of the old town, yet another church, the Madonna delle Piagge, is clad in a colorful array of ceramic tiles.
Deruta was the birthplace of Girolamo Diruta, an organist, music theorist, and composer.

Villa tour

Villa Oliva - Lucca

Villa Oliva San Pancrazio – Lucca
The villa features an imposing portico with five arches and it is said to have been built in the 16th century by the celebrated architect,, Matteo Civitali. It was ordered by Ludovico Buonvisi, a leading member of one of the most important Lucca families, but the first definite information there is of its existence is found in a 17th century land map.
The front, more sober facade is characterised by the uniform position of the windows. The farm building, the stables, the building next to the villa and the side gate in the west part of the enclosure, date back to the end of the 1600s and the beginning of the 1700s. On the opposite east side there is an oratory and more farm buildings.
The late Renaissance style of the park is interesting because of the way the area is organised, the presence of numerous architectural and furnishing elements and the composition of the garden areas. It also features and interesting system of fountains which includes a fountain with a winged Siren.
A Nymphaeum, also called “the grotta” is situated in front of a high, semicircle of evergreen hedges and marks the end of the garden behind the villa; it faces a large lawn which can be admired from the portico.
The park to the south of the villa is on three levels; the middle level corresponds to the central path and here there is a fountain, known as the waterfall, complete with terracotta bas-reliefs and statues. The gates in the enclosure wall are interesting because of their elaborate construction and decoration.

More informations on: www.villaoliva.it

Places to visit in Tuscany

The “Quercione”
This fine example of Quercus pubescens, the Downy Oak or Pubescent Oak, is said to be approximately five centuries old, and it is recordered in the catalogue of the Alberi Monumentali d’Italia. Its trunk is about four metres in circumference and over fourteen metres tall, its open network of branches spreads out to about thirty metres to give it an extremely interesting and aesthetically beautiful shape.
A legend explains why its branches spread horizontally: it is said that the witches of the area used to gather here, and it was their weight that made the branches spread.

Strozzi Palace, exhibition in Florence

magritte — Renè Magritte - The human condition

“A look into the invisible”
A major exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi tells the story of Giorgio De Chirico’s extraordinary artistic career and the dual impact that this painting had on modern art and painters such as Carrà and Morandi, or Max Ernst, Magritte and Balthus.
One hundred works from exclusive private collections and some of the most important museums in the world allow the visitor to explore the “Copernican Revolution” that De Chirico brought to 20th century art.
This revolution paved the way for very interesting and lively developments in European art. Between the two world wars, from Dadaism to Surrealism and Realism to Neo-Romanticism, a final blow was dealt to Cubism and the formal Avant-garde.
The choice of Florence as the venue for the exhibition is especially significant. It was here, while visiting the city in October 1909, that the 21 year old De Chirico had the intuition that was to prompt him to create his first metaphysical works.
The exhibition includes some of De Chirico most famous works from 1911 on, paintings by Carrà and Morandi, and masterpieces by Renè Magritte, Max Ernst and Balthus, which the visitors can compare and contrast with several important works by such artists as Niklaus Stoecklin, Arturo Nathan, Pierre Roy and Alberto Savinio, all of whom travelled the path first marked put by De Chirico.
A journey in pictures into unknonw territory, a “look into the invisible” allow us to explore in depth the art of De Chirico and the 20th century.

Opening hours
Tuesday-sunday 10.00 am – 8.00 pm
Monday closed

Phone: +39 055 2469600
Fax +39 055 244145

Tickets
Full price euro 10.00
Reduced euro 8.50; 8,00; 7,50; 7,00; 4,00