Tag: Tours

The Garden that extends from the hill behind the Pitti Palace as far as Porta Romana, reached its current extension and appearance, becoming one of the largest and most elegant Italian style gardens, through several stages of enlargement and restructuring work carried out at diffrent times.

The first works initially affected the area that was closer to the palace, after the buildung had been purchased by Cosimo I de´ Medici and by his wife Eleonora di Toledo, who had chosen this place for new grand ducal palace.
The initial plan was drawn by Niccolò Tribolo, although the works were completed, after his death in 1550 by other architects including also Giorgio Vasari (from 1554 to 1561) along with Bartolomeo Ammannati and Bernardo Buontalenti under the reign of Francis I, who succeeded to his father Cosimo.

The Medici and the Lorraine families continued to enrich and enlarge the garden also in 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Besides adding lovely meadows, avenues, small groves and beautiful panoramic views, they made the garden more precious by including extraordinary decorative complexes, thus forming an outdoor museum that exhibited both Roman and 16th and 17th century statues.

The first phase led to the creation of an “Amphitheatre” adjoined to the hill behind the palace. The early amphitheatre, initially formed by “edges and evergreen meadows”, was later replaced by a stone one decorated with statues based on Roman myths such as the Fountain of the Ocean sculptured by Giambologna, then transferred to another location within the same garden, the small “Grotto of Madama”, and the “Large Grotto”, which has begun by Vasari and ended by Ammannati and Buontalenti between 1583 and 1593.
Despite the fact that it is currently undergoing complex restoration work (1998) due to the damages suffered over centuries these statues continue to be remarkable examples of Mannerism architecture and culture.
Decorated internally and externally with stalatites and originally equipped with water plays and a luxuriant vegetation, the fountain is divided into three main sections.
The first one was frescoed to create the illusion of a natural grotto, that is a natural refuge to allow shepherds to protect themselves from wild animals, and originally housed the Prisoners of Michelangelo, which were moved to this location after they had become part of the Medici collection (the original statues have now been replaced by copies).
The rooms that follow exhibit valuable sculptures like the “Bathing Venus” of Giambologna and the group of “Paris and Hellen” of Vincenzo de Rossi.

NOTE:
Due to their very nature, these historical garden require costant restoration and maintenance.
A schedule has therefore been established which provide for their seasonal, yearly and long-term care through periodic renovation and upkeep.
Clearly, the architectural component and plant life are involved more frequently than the inorganic structures of the garden and its decorations, and although the different types of work are not necessarily interdipendent, they have been planned for during the same period of time.
Moreover, the need to safeguard sculptural works from degradation by atmospherical agents and vandalism often requires housing the originals indoors and replacing them with copies for display. Thus, the gardens’ furnishings are necessarily in an incomplete and costantly changing state.

Web-site: www.firenzemusei.it/boboli

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

Basilica di San Miniato al Monte stands atop one of the highest points in Florence, its gleaming white-and-green facade visible from the valley below, has been described as the finest Romanesque structure in Tuscany and one of the most beautiful churches in Italy. San Miniato is one of the few ancient churches of Florence to survive the centuries virtually intact.

San Miniato was an eastern Christian who settled in Florence and was martyred during Emperor Decius’s persecutions in A.D. 250.
The legend goes that the decapitated saint picked up his head, walked across the river, climbed up the hillside, and didn’t lie down to die until he reached this spot. He and other Christians were buried here, and a shrine was raised on the site as early as the 4th century.
The current building began to take shape in 1013, under the auspices of the powerful Arte di Calimala guild, whose symbol, a bronze eagle clutching a bale of wool, perches atop the facade.
The Romanesque facade is a particularly gorgeous bit of white Carrara and green Prato marble inlay. Above the central window is a 13th-century mosaic of Christ between the Madonna and St. Miniato.
The interior has a few Renaissance additions, but they blend in well with the overall medieval aspect – an airy, stony space with a raised choir at one end, painted wooden trusses on the ceiling, and tombs interspersed with inlaid marble symbols of the zodiac paving the floor.

Below the choir is an 11th-century crypt with small frescoes by Taddeo Gaddi.
Off to the right of the raised choir is the sacristy, which Spinello Aretino covered in 1387 with cartoonish yet elegant frescoes depicting the Life of St. Benedict.
Off the left aisle of the nave is 15th-century Cappella del Cardinale del Portogallo, a brilliant collaborative effort by Renaissance artists built to honor young Portuguese humanist Cardinal Jacopo di Lusitania, who was sent to study in Perugia but died an untimely death at 25 in Florence. Brunelleschi’s student Antonio Manetti started the chapel in 1460 but soon died, and Antonio Rossellino finished the architecture and carving by 1466.
Luca della Robbia provided the glazed terra-cotta dome, a cubic landscape set with tondi of the four Virtues surrounding the Holy Spirit to symbolize the young scholar’s devotion to the church and to humanist philosophy.
It stands as one of della Robbia’s masterpieces of color and classical ideals. The unfinished bell tower seen from the outside was designed by Baccio d’Agnolo.
In 1530 the combined troops of Charles V and Medici Pope Clement VII, who had recently reconciled with each other, lay siege to the newly declared Republic of Florence in an attempt to reinstate the Medici dukes. San Miniato al Monte was one of the prime fortifications, and an artilleryman named Lapo was stationed up in the tower with two small cannons – he was basically bait, stuck there to draw the fire of the enemy where it would do little harm.

The man in charge of the defenses was Michelangelo, who, the authorities figured, was so good at everything else, why not military fortifications? After throwing up dirt ramparts and cobbling together defensible walls out of oak timbers, Michelangelo helped poor Lapo out by devising an ingenious way to protect the tower: He hung mattresses down the sides to absorb the shock of the cannonballs fired at it and left the tower (and, more important, Lapo) still standing.
The siege was eventually successful, however, and the Florentine Republic fell, but while it lasted, Michelangelo spent his day up here and referred to the church of San Salvatore al Monte just below as “my pretty country maid.” It’s a simple 1400 church built by Cronaca, with a Giovanni della Robbia Deposition and a Neri di Bicci Pietà inside.

La Specola
The construction of La Specola, of which there are still numerous plans, was begun by the architect, Lorenzo Nottolini, in 1819 at the request of Maria Luisa of Bourbon who wished to make the park of Villa di Marlia, below into an astronomy observatory dedicated to Urania, but the work was never completed.
The hillside chosen for its construction was and ideal point for observing the sky, and its splendid panoramic position above the plain was free from surrounding buildings and gave 360° view of the horizon.

VOLTERRA
Volterra is an Etruscan city of great architectural interest.  Built on a high plateau, 1770 feet above sea level between the Rivers of Bra and Cecina, there are spectacular views of the surrounding hills. Enclosed by yellowy-gray volcanic hills, it has a bleak and isolated appearance.  In the Etruscan period, Volterra, called Felathri by the Etruscans and Voltarrae by the Romans was one of the most important cities in the Etruscan Confederation.  From the period of the kings, it was at war with Rome.  Remains of the ancient surrounding walls, including the Etruscan Porta dell’ Arco, may still be seen today.  Also surviving are ruins of the baths, an aqueduct, an amphitheatre, and Etruscan burial places.  The city is famous for its craftsmen who carve statues out of the locally mined alabaster.

Palazzo dei Priori, the medieval seat of the government on the Piazza dei Priori, is the oldest of its kind in Tuscany probably inspired the design for the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence It is in the heart of Volterra, enclosed by an almost totally medieval group of buildings.  Built between 1208 and 1257, it is still used for town council meetings.  It is situated on the medieval rectangular Piazza dei Priori.  It was a market place as early as 851.

Baptistry was erected on an octagonal base that has been dated as 13th century.  The façade is adorned with stripes of white and green marble and the main entrance is surmounted by an architrave decorated with the sculptured heads of Christ, the Virgin and the apostles, a work of an artist close to Nicola Pisano. It is said that Brunelleschi offered advice for the construction of the dome in the 15th century.

Duomo has a Romanesque façade and is interposed by the geometric intarsia marble framework of the main entrance added in the 13th century and attributed by Vasari to Nicola Pisano.  The entrance is through the baptistry, as you couldn’t enter until you were baptized.  One of the most spectacular sights is the 1580 ceiling that is carved and embossed in gold and azure and is filled with portraits of Volterran saints.

Guarnacci Museo is one of Italy’s major archeological museums and one of the earliest public museums in Europe. It consists entirely of local finds, including some 600 Etruscan funerary urns. Carved in alabaster, terracotta or local sandstone or limestone, they date from the fourth to first centuries BC.

Alabaster Workshops in the historical center today are few, but those which remain have been entrusted with the preservation of this ancient tradition and the creative evolution of the craft.  Volterra’s alabaster is of the chalky variety ( hydrated calcium sulphate) and was formed during the Miocene period as the sediments of calcium sulphate contained in the sea water underwent a process of concentration. A soft white stone, alabaster is more easily carved than marble. Once the stone of the gods, the Etruscans were the first to carve alabaster for their cinerary urns. The Etruscans chose the highest quality pure alabaster which they painted with minerals and sometimes decorated with a very thin layer of gold. Very few artifacts from the Medieval and Renaissance periods have been found which suggests that alabaster was seldom carved during that era.  The alabaster craft was reestablished in the 17th century and flourished at the beginning of the 18th century as skilled artisans and sculptors launched the reproduction of classical art and high quality artifacts renowned throughout the world.
In 1780 the Grand Duchy of Tuscany registered 8 or 9 artisan workshops in Volterra. By 1830 the number had risen to more than 60 thanks to the innovative spirit of the “traveling craftsmen” who traveled the world selling their wares, opening shops, taking part in fairs and auctions.  Until 1870 the alabaster craft flourished and harvested an excellent repute in Italy and abroad. In spite of long intervals of regression, the alabaster industry has continued to conserve the age-old tradition of the craft.

Teatro Romano is situated just outside the city walls.  It is an ancient Roman theatre dating from 5 to 20 AD.  The monument was built at the end of the first century BC

www.volterratur.it