Peccioli Museums

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“F. Bigazzi” Russian Icon Collection The Bigazzi Collection is characterized by the presence of mainly Russian icons, dating back to 18th – beginning of 20th c. and typical of a domestic worship. They can be either tempera painted, according to traditional techniques, or oil painted, according to an “academic” method. Most of these “domestic” icons were typical of folk devotion: they were transmitted from generation to generation.

In the house their privileged place was the so-called “Beautiful Corner”.

The Bigazzi Collection has formed the first nucleus

Belvedere S.p.A. Icon Collection

The Belvedere Collection, a unique one in its genre, puts on display wooden icons with a singular, unusual feature: dating back to 18th – 20th c. and coming from many countries and regions (Russia, Armenia, the Balkans, Constantinople, Estonia, Jerusalem, Greece, Ionian Islands, Latvia, Mount Athos, Romania, Transylvania and Ukraine), they are dated, signed or with a dedication. In addition, a whole exhibition section is dedicated to crosses, icons and bronze polyptychs, most of which typical of the Old Believers’ production. Among them a very rare example of baptismal cross, dating back to 15th c., stands out.

of artworks of the F. Bigazzi Russian Icon Museum, which was opened in 2000 as a consequence of the encounter between Peccioli Municipality and Francesco Bigazzi, a collector, for long years a journalist and a news correspondent from Moscow, then Culture and Press Attaché at the Italian General Consulate of St.Petersburg, now the President of the Association Friends of the Ermitage Museum – Italy.

Belvedere S.p.A., a company that believes in the development and promotion of the territory, accomplishing projects that combine business outcome to investments in culture, has become the witness of the current historical and cultural changes. So it gave its own contribution to enrich the collections of an icon museum that, in a multiethnic society, has become an encounter and integration place for the cultures of both East and West Europe.

Engravings and Lithographs Collection - Vito Merlini Donation The Engravings and Lithographs Collection – Vito Merlini Donation Museum was born in 2006 thanks to the act of philanthropy by Vito Merlini and also thanks to both Peccioli Town Council and Belvedere S.p.A. The collection consists of 279 paper sheets among engravings, lithographs, woodcuts and silk-screen printings: a collection of artworks that present in a complete way and summarize the Italian artistic panorama of the 20th c.

Many are the pure engravers whose works belong to the

donation: Viviani, Piacesi, Bartolini, Zancanaro, Gulino, Mongatti, Greco, Morena, Parigi, etc. In addition, there are painters and sculptors that devoted themselves to the practise of engraving and lithographic technique with a stunning outcome: Baj, Breddo, Carrà, Guerricchio, Guttuso, Possenti, Morlotti, Maffi, Manzù, etc. But there are many other prominent names: Accardi, Annigoni, Cantatore, Dorazio, Fattori, Goya, Marini, Miró, De Chirico, Dalí, Saetti, Sassu, Scialoja, Soffici, Vangi, Vittorini.

Vito Merlini, a general practitioner from Peccioli, was a man with a poliedric personality that pervaded many aspects of the community life.

5, Popolo Sq. - Peccioli (PI) - Tel. +39 0587 672877 Opening Times: Autumn-Winter (November 1st-March 31st) Wednesdays 3 p.m.-7 p.m., Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays 10 a.m.-1 p.m., 3 p.m.-7 p.m.

Spring-Summer (April 1st-October 31st) Wednesdays 4 p.m.-8 p.m.,

Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays 10 a.m.-1 p.m., 4 p.m.-8 p.m.

Days Off: January 1st, May 1st, August 15th, December 25th, and during the afternoons of December 24th and December 31st if coinciding with opening days.

Praetorian Palace Museum

Ticket Office: € 5.50 full price ticket € 3.50 reduced price ticket (students, European Youth Card holders, over 65 y.o. people, groups of at least 10 persons) € 4.00 reduced price ticket for ACI (Italian Automobile Club) Card holders

Free Entry for: boys and girls that are under the age of 16 and are accompanied by adults, ICOM (International Council of Museums) Card holders.

The Archaeological Museum puts on display the numerous objects that were found in the Etruscan site of Ortaglia, a few kilometres east from Peccioli. It is housed in the basement premises of an old palace; this basement, as we hypothesize, in the past contained Etruscan subterranean tombs.

Most of the objects were found in a well 10 m deep and 4 m large: they are votive objects and parts of a building that, for their dimensions ad kind of decoration, call to mind something similar to a sanctuary. Many objects, typical of female work, have suggested that the sanctuary was dedicated to a female divinity. Of remarkable importance are these artworks: a precious red-figure Attic kylix, ascribable to the famous Greek painter Makron, working in Athens around 490 – 480 BC; a big loutérion and a number of materials, related to nocturnal cults, connected to a divinity similar to

the Greek Demeter. Among these materials there is on display a kernos for votive offering to the divinity.

The presence on the territory of settlements of the Etruscan and Roman epochs is also proved by the grave goods coming from an Etruscan tomb found in Legoli, and by some findings, dated 8th c. AD, coming from a site excavated by the Archaeological Group Tectiana in an area called Colle Mustarola.

Very evocative is a large plastic model that reproduces the Tuscanic temple, reconstructed according to the rules of Vitruvius and explained in a 3D video.

In addition, a cartoon on the history of Ortaglia Sanctuary was made for young generations.

33, Carmine Sq. - Peccioli (PI) Opening Times: Autumn-Winter (November 1st-March 31st) Wednesdays 3 p.m.-7 p.m., Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays 10 a.m.-1 p.m., 3 p.m.-7 p.m.

Spring-Summer (April 1st-October 31st) Wednesdays 4 p.m.-8 p.m.,

Archaeological Museum

The Sacred Art Museum of Peccioli was opened in 2009 thanks to Peccioli Town Council and St. Veranus Parish Church, and also thanks to the cooperation with B.A.P.S.A.E. Superintendency for Fine Arts (Pisa and Livorno).

The museum is housed in the Romanesque St. Veranus Church, inside the Assumption Chapel that was built in 1580. Before the opening of the museum, this chapel underwent an important restoration. Inside it there are now the most significant religious artworks from the whole Peccioli jurisdiction, among which two examples of well preserved Tuscan painting of 13th c.: a Madonna with Child (first half of 13th c.), which is ascribed to Enrico di Tedice and is named “Our Lady of Graces”, since from centuries the image is believed to have the faculties to work miracles, and St. Nicholas with stories of his life (third fourth of 13th c.), which is ascribed to

Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays 10 a.m.-1 p.m., 4 p.m.-8 p.m.

December 31st if coinciding with opening days.

Days Off: January 1st, May 1st, August 15th, December 25th, and during the afternoons of December 24th and

Free Entry

Michele di Baldovino. In addition, in the museum there is a wooden crucifix datable to the fourth decade of 14th c., that can be related to the Sienese sculpture, influenced by Giovanni Pisano; a Sacred Conversation

by Neri di Bicci (1463); an Assumption of the Virgin with Angels and Saints by Giovanni Bilivert (1628). In the museums there are many liturgical paraments and works of sacred goldsmithry, among which we would like to mention a chalice of the second half of 15th c., that, for its style in reproducing half-length figures, calls to mind the art of Sano di Pietro.

St. Veranus Parish Church, Fra’ Domenico Sq. - Peccioli (PI) Opening Times: Saturdays 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

Sundays and Holidays 3 p.m.- 6 p.m.

Sacred Art Museum

Days Off: January 1st, May 1st, August 15th, December 25th, and during the afternoons of December 24th and December 31st if coinciding with opening days.

Free Entry

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Graphics Project Fondazione Peccioliper

Organization Office Fondazione Peccioliper - 10, Popolo Sq. - 56037 Peccioli (PI) Tel. +39 0587 672158, 0587 672877 - Fax+39 0587 670831 info@fondarte.peccioli.net - www.fondarte.peccioli.net