florence exhibitions museums foundations villas gardens libraries churches palaces restoration events publications conferences childrenʼs activities
10,00 €
a half-yearly magazine on the arts
n.7 spring-summer 2013
the ʻastronomicalʼ issue
Poste Italiane s.p.a. - Spedizione in Abbonamento Postale - D.L. 353/2003 (conv. in L. 27/02/2004 n° 46) art. 1, comma 2, DCB Firenze In caso di mancato recapito inviare a Firenze CMP per la restituzione al mittente previo pagamento resi
enclosed journalino with map of the city and calendar of exhibitions
This issue of VisitArt is devoted to astronomy and the relationship between art and science Unusual places 14 April 2013 special free opening from 10 to 12 of Palazzo Guadagni Strozzi Sacrati, of the Museo Casa Siviero and of the Museum of the History of Healthcare in Tuscany booking required luoghiinsoliti@regione.toscana.it 055 4385616
Archaeological nights July 2013 special openings with free entrance, guided visits, workshops, shows, lectures and further events all around Tuscany highlighting museums and archaelogical parks and sites www.regione.toscana.it
Museum night 18 May 2013 night-time opening of museums and institutions throughout Europe, with free admission for visitors www.lanottedeimusei.it
Maggio Musicale Fiorentino until 31 December 2013 concerts, operas, ballets and the 76° Festival (2 May-23 June) at the Comunale, the Mandela Forum, the Piccolo Teatro and other theatres in the city www.maggiofiorentino.it
European Heritage Days 28-29 September 2013 a national event with free entrance to cultural places and initiatives designed to value the Italian cultural heritage and to share our common continental roots with other European countries www.beniculturali.it
Festival of Europe 7-12 May 2013 Notte Blu 11-12 May 2013 27 hours dedicated to Europe and its culture through music, theatre, cinema, exhibitions, workshops, lectures, and sporting events www.notteblu.eu
guided visits, educational tours, conferences and round tables, sporting events, shows and concerts reflecting on European themes www.festivaldeuropa.eu on the occasion of this festival the Associazione Via Maggio is organising free events and meetings tied to art and culture, using public and private spaces www.viamaggio. blogspot.it photo Krisdog/123RF Photo Archive
contents
7• spring-summer 2013 The Uffizi The Uffizi Department of Prints and Drawings The Bargello Palazzo Pitti Casa Vasari Casa Buonarroti San Marco Museum Museo degli Innocenti The Accademia Orsanmichele Santa Croce Complex Opificio delle Pietre Dure and the Restoration Laboratories Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore Cenacoli Fresco cycles Palazzo Medici Riccardi Medici Chapels Libraries Archaeological Museums Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica Planetarium Galileo Museum Walks in the city. Sundials Civic Museums Palazzo Strozzi In the now Alinari National Museum of Photography Fashion Museums and Archives ECRF Exhibition Area Medici Villas Bardini Villa and Garden Natural History and Anthropology Museums Museum of Mathematics House Museums Case della Memoria Famous foreigners Stibbert Museum Horne Museum Foreigners in Florence Books about town Children In Tuscany
the on-line calendar of events, updated weekly, is available at www.visitartfirenze.com
2 4 5 6 8 8 9 9 10 10 11 12 14 14 15 16 16 17 18 19 19 20 22 24 26 28 30 31 32 32 33 34 34 36 37 38 38 39 40 41 42 46
the uffizi
he Uffizi Gallery was created within a building which Cosimo I de’ Medici commissioned to house the judiciary of the city’s guilds beside his residence in Palazzo Vecchio. His heir, Francesco I, initiated a collection of portraits of famous men, both historic and contemporary, on the top floor during the 1580s and created the first nucleus of today’s museum in the octagonal Tribune, entered from the first corridor. Francesco housed the most precious and fabulous works of art and rarities of nature in the Tribune. The collection of scientific instruments and the Medici armoury were later displayed in neighbouring rooms. In the centuries that followed, the Medici and then the Lorraine continued to add collections of art, and these now constitute one of the most important museums in the world.
T
piazzale degli Uffizi open: Tuesday to Sunday 8,15-18,50 closed: Monday, 1 January, 1 May, 25 December We advise visitors to make a reservation
The gnomon in the Uffizi Around 1590, at the order of Ferdinand I, an anemometer and a sundial were installed on the octagonal cupola. No trace of the sundial remains, expect in the description given by Francesco Bocci in 1591: it was probably a “camera obscura” type, similar to the by-now famous example in the Duomo. Just as in the lantern of the Duomo, the Tribune would have had a hole at the base of the southern window of the lantern. However, during the recent restoration of the Tribune no trace has been found to indicate that there was a sundial.
www.polomuseale.firenze.it/uffizi
Vasari Corridor Collezione Contini Bonacossi For information on opening times and bookings see www.uffizi.firenze.it
openings Nuovi Uffizi The completion of the new arrangement of Roman, Emilian and Venetian Rooms is planned for June 2013. This opening completes the series of spaces devoted to 16th-century painting on the first floor at the south end of the west side.
Arianna addormentata. Florence, the Uffizi, Sala di Michelangelo photo Maria Brunori
exhibitions Norma e capriccio.
2
Il Gran Principe
Spagnoli in Italia agli esordi della ‘maniera moderna’
Ferdinando de’ Medici (1663-1713) collezionista e mecenate
curated by Tommaso Mozzati and Antonio Natali the Uffizi 5 March-26 May 2013
curated by Riccardo Spinelli the Uffizi 25 June-3 November 2013
The first exhibition on the Spanish artists who worked in Italy in the first third of the 16th century and who were part of the fervent cultural climate that enlivened Florence, Rome and Naples, among them Alonso Berruguete, Pedro Machuca, Pedro Fernández (the “Pseudo-Bramantino”), Bartolomé Ordóñez and Diego de Silóe. The first section, on Florence, reconstructs Berruguete’s activity, with an evaluation of his originality in relation to painters and sculptors like Andrea del Sarto, Rosso Fiorentino, Pontormo, Baccio Bandinelli and Jacopo Sansovino, and, thanks to original works by Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Filippino Lippi and Piero di Cosimo, the influence on his art of the city’s artistic tradition. The second section focuses on Machuca’s contribution to Raphael’s Roman workshop and, through the paintings of Fernández, on the influence of Raphael’s teachings in the South, while the third section features some remarkable statues executed by Ordóñez and De Silóe during their stay in Naples, true masterpieces of ‘mannerist’ sculpture. The final section illustrates the production of the Spanish artists on their return home, in Valladolid, Granada and Toledo, revealing the influence of the Italian period on their style and figurative expression.
The exhibition focuses on the diverse interests of the son of Cosimo III and Marguerite-Louise d’Orléans and his initiatives in bringing to Florence the best musicians, singers, designers, painters and sculptors of the time. The eight sections show the prince from the years at his favourite villa of Pratolino – transforming its interior, enriching it with works by his favourite painters, Livio Mehus, Pier Dandini, Domenico Tempesti, Crescenzio Onofri and Cristoforo Munari – through his marriage to Violante Beatrice of Bavaria, until the preparations for his funeral. Sacred and profane creations, ‘natura dipinta’, sumptuary objects, furniture and ornaments, portraits, documents, sketches and preparatory drawings trace the evolution of Ferdinando’s refined tastes in collecting and his relations with Tuscan and ‘foreign’ artists: from the collections of Pratolino to the renewal of Palazzo Pitti, the Teatro della Pergola and the Duomo on the occasion of his wedding, from the purchases of works like Andrea del Sarto’s Madonna of the Harpies and Parmigianino’s Madonna with the Long Neck to the original collection of small works gathered in the villa of Poggio a Caiano and to his later preference for large end-of-the-century Florentine sculpture and for the Venetian, Ligurian and Bolognese schools.
the uffizi
focus
Uffizi pages edited by Valentina Conticelli with Monica Alderotti
Scientific instruments at the Uffizi Scientific instruments have always formed part of the Uffizi’s collections, from the time when, after the death of Francesco I de’ Medici, his brother Ferdinando flanked the Tribune – originally the real heart of the Gallery – with various rooms specifically devoted to them. The first room, the Sala della Cosmografia, set up between 1589 and 1593, was originally a terrace which the new grand duke closed with windows, and had frescoed with the plants of Tuscany and Elba, on designs by the court cosmographer Stefano Bonsignori. On the ceiling he had some canvases by Francesco Zucchi transferred here from Rome, depicting Diana, goddess of the moon and custodian of the cosmos, with her retinue. The room was to house two celebrated large globes, one terrestrial, from the Room of Geographical Maps in Palazzo Vecchio, and the other celestial, in the form of a sumptuous armillary sphere in gilded wood. The sphere was specially commissioned by Ferdinando I to Antonio Santucci delle Pomarance and was completed in 1593. Another room, the Stanza or Stanzino delle Matematiche (recently rearranged when the adjacent Tribune was reopened in the summer of 2012), was devoted to the preservation of various scientific instruments. The original project anticipated that the room be dedicated to military architecture, or to those disciplines necessary for the carrying out of the art of war. It was decorated with a cycle of frescoes executed between 1559 and 1600 by the court architect and designer, Giulio Parigi. Represented in the middle of the ceiling is probably Astronomy with a set square, compass and armillary sphere, while on the long sides is another armillary sphere, an irregular polyhedron and various scientific instruments. The frieze running along the walls illustrates episodes from the life of Ptolomy, Euclid, and the inventions of Archimedes, like the lever, the burning glass and the catapult. On the little wooden stands, made specially to accommodate them, are mathematical, astronomical and optical instruments, scales, books and numerous geographical maps.
Scipione Pulzone, Ferdinando I de’ Medici. Florence, the Uffizi
exhibitions “La città degli Uffizi 10”
Francesco Granacci e Giovanni Larciani all’Oratorio di Santa Caterina all’Antella
upcoming
curated by Lucia Aquino and Simone Giordani Bagno a Ripoli, Oratorio di Santa Caterina 7 September 2013-12 January 2014
Mostra di artisti ungheresi per Miklós Boskovits
Following the success of the exhibition ‘L’Oratorio di Santa Caterina all’Antella e i suoi pittori’ curated by Angelo Tartuferi in 2009, the Comune di Bagno a Ripoli, in association with the Galleria degli Uffizi, offers a new exhibition as part of the “La città degli Uffizi” series. The selection of works gathered together in the Oratorio di Santa Caterina, some of which have never before been shown to the public, aims to contribute to an understanding of the person and art of Francesco Granacci, friend of Michelangelo and artist of fundamental importance in the development of the ‘maniera moderna’. The exhibition also spotlights the relationship that must have linked Granacci to Giovanni Larciani, the painter who until recently was mysteriously labelled as the “Master of the Kress Landscapes”.
curated by Giovanna Giusti San Pier Scheraggio 10 October-8 December 2013
“La città degli Uffizi 11”
Arte a Figline Valdarno da Paolo Uccello a Vasari curated by Nicoletta Pons Figline Valdarno, Palazzo Pretorio 19 October 2013-19 January 2014
3
the uffizi department of prints and drawings (gabinetto disegni e stampe)
focus
he prestigious collection of drawings and prints of the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi (GDSU) began with the Medici family collections and in particular with the works assembled by Leopoldo de’ Medici, who became cardinal in 1667. Leopoldo made use of numerous agents to purchase folios by the greatest Renaissance and Mannerist artists. In 1737 following the extinction of the Medici dynasty, the Lorraine enriched the collection, which was added to in the period following the constitution of the Kingdom of Italy thanks to a great many donations. Today, the collection contains over 150,000 works by Tuscan artists, artists of other Italian schools, and Flemish and Dutch, French, Spanish, and German artists.
T
via della Ninna, 5 open: Exhibition Room follows the Uffizi opening hours; Sala di Studio Monday, Wednesday, Friday 8.30-13.30, Tuesday and Thursday 8.30-17 (access is reserved to scholars, upon letter of presentation).
www.polomuseale.firenze.it/musei/disegni Technical specifications Until now, the only sources of artificial light for the lighting of the room were 50W halogen lamps, inserted in groups of four in integrated compartments in the wooden ceiling. The new project has seen the installation of ten 347W panels with LED technology, one for each ceiling compartment. It is an innovative Philips product (Core View panel), in a thin format, providing a uniform light surface together with long duration and low energy consumption. The system of accent lighting, illuminating the wall surfaces used for display purposes, is instead completely new, and consists of an electric track running along the four sides of the room, complete with 30 Cantax LED Washers and adaptors made by ERCO. These are LED technology 13W spotlights, each with individual lighting control, guaranteeing compliance with exposure standards. All this in the context of energy saving, the reduction of maintenance work, not to mention improved enjoyment of the works on display. Claudia Gerola Technical Assistant and Architect
New light for the GDSU In 1956, describing the renovated rooms of the Uffizi on designs by Michelucci, Scarpa and Gardella in his ‘Cronache di Architettura’, Bruno Zevi made explicit reference to the work of Edoardo Detti (the centenary of whose birth is celebrated in 2013) as contemporary architecture’s significant contribution to the modernisation of a still “dusty and haphazard” museum. I believe that in the years to follow the rooms redesigned by Detti, with their division of spaces, their choice of materials, and the meticulous care over every detail, actually increased in value and beauty. Here Scarpa’s influence – the friendship and collaboration between Detti and Scarpa is well-known – is somehow assimilated and purged of any superfluousness; stripped of any mannerism and sophistication, it is expressed in a clear, logical, functional, typically Florentine way. In light of this, installing a new functional structure in the large area of the exhibition room involved a profound reflection on exactly how to intervene. There was clearly a need to increase, but above all correct, the level of artificial lighting, both for the works on display and the room’s lighting in general. The large window overlooking the pretty hanging garden is an excessively direct light source, with full exposure to the east, while the only sources of diffused artificial light – fluorescent, in line with the most advanced lighting technology of the 1950s – were inserted in fixtures that were neatly incorporated into the design of the modern wooden ceiling, adopting a method, with opal and sand-blasted glass, also used by Detti in the consultation room. Therefore, with the aim of not disturbing the atmosphere and harmony of the spaces, which since then had remained intact and functioning thanks to the sensitive awareness and determination of all the institute’s directors, Giulia Sinibaldi, Anna Forlani Tempesti, Annamaria Petrioli Tofani and Marzia Faietti, nothing was done other than restore the original ceiling fixtures and install in mid-air a modern lighting system that was independent and detached from the walls, emulating other illustrious examples, such as that recently adopted in the rooms of London’s National Gallery. The new fixtures, emitting direct LED light with differentiated solid angle optics, highlight the areas of the walls used for display, with regulation of the level of light in line with standards for the preservation of works on paper. This work, entirely state-funded, was conceived and designed by the present writer with the participation and technical and administrative supervision of Claudia Gerola and Antonio Russo. It can be seen as a continuation of Detti’s project, even to the point that it could equally well be referred to with the words used in her own time by Giulia Sinibaldi on the day of the inauguration of Detti’s work, and later remembered by Anna Forlani Tempesti: “Inserting new parts into old spaces, [Detti] created clear, pleasing modern proportions, demonstrating that every new thing, as long as it is alive and straightforward, can harmonise with things of a former time and taste, and respect them... For a long time to come many people will enjoy the peaceful atmosphere that now pervades these rooms, the appropriateness of each thing in relation to its purpose, and their simple, Tuscan beauty”. Antonio Godoli Director of the Architecture Department and of the museum displays of the Uffizi
Euploos Project Computerised cataloguing and digitisation of the GDSU works on paper www.polomuseale.firenze.it/ gdsu/euploos
New arrangement of the GDSU rooms photo Roberto Palermo
Percorsi di meraviglia
Opere restaurate del Bargello curated by Beatrice Paolozzi Strozzi and Ilaria Ciseri 23 March-18 August 2013 An exhibition of some recently completed important restoration. This includes the imposing Franco-Flemish tapestry of the Carrand collection, a work spectacular for its colour and narrative vivacity. Made around 1480 by the Tournai workshops, and based on a cartoon attributed to the Master of Coetivy, it represents the final assault on Jerusalem by Vespasian and Titus in 70 AD. The tapestry is exhibited together with four ivory mirror cases, of 14thcentury French workmanship, which show remarkable compositional similarities to the tapestry scenes. A video and didactic material illustrate the most interesting phases of the restoration, the working techniques and various other aspects of the tapestry. The room also houses a selection of both gold and enamel objects, evidence of the museum’s extraordinary collections of applied arts. The second room of the exhibition is dedicated to the large highrelief in polychrome terracotta by Dello Delli, representing the Madonna Enthroned with Child and Angels (c. 1420), accompanied by a video and explanatory panels illustrating the history of the work and the phases of the restoration.
the bargello
exhibition
he Bargello National Museum is found in the former Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo, built in 1255 and in 1287 embellished with a verone, the loggia that opens onto the courtyard where the Podestà assembled the representatives of the guilds. In 1502, the palace became the seat of the Consiglio di Giustizia, headed by the Bargello or chief of police, and was then used as a prison. In 1865 the palazzo was transformed into a museum of sculpture and examples of the “minor arts”. Some of the greatest sculptures of the Renaissance have found their home here: masterpieces by Donatello, Verrocchio, Michelangelo, Cellini and Giambologna. Prestigious collections of small bronzes, majolica-ware, wax pieces, enamel work, medals, ivories, seals, and fabrics, from both the Medici collections and private donations, have enriched the museum’s holdings.
T
via del Proconsolo, 4 open: every day 8.15-13.50 closed: 1st, 3rd, 5th Sunday, 2nd and 4th Monday of the month, 1 January, 1 May, 25 December
events Music at the Bargello 11-29 July 2013 Series of concerts in the courtyard of the Bargello organised in collaboration with the Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina
www.polomuseale.firenze.it/bargello
11 July 2013 Music by Francia, Mendelsshon Bartoldy, Bruckner and Shostakovich 17 July 2013 Music by Bach 23 July 2013 Music by Vivaldi, Bach and Respighi 25 July 2013 Music by Vivaldi 29 July 2013 Homage to Astor Piazzolla Information 055 783374 info@orcafi.it
www.orcafi.it
open: every day 8.15-17 closed: 2nd and 4th Monday of the month
Scientific instruments in the Carrand collection
The collection of Jean Baptiste Carrand (1792-1871), donated to the city of Florence in 1888 and linked to the Bargello, is composed of ivories, fabrics, weapons, coins, clocks and medieval and Renaissance instruments. Among the rich variety of objects gathered together by the collector are some genuine scientific gems, which, although not numerous, do have historical and scientific value. In addition to the portable and table clocks, in the Sala Carrand is an armillary sphere and measuring instruments such as an astrolabe, a quadrant, a plumb-line, a sundial, and a rare example of a cosmometer. The cosmometer combines the characteristics of a clock mechanism with those of a celestial model, embellished with decorative elements like the personifications of Astrology, Music, Arithmetic and Geometry; made of wood, paper and brass, it was executed in Paris by Jacques Chauvet in 1585. Both faces bear numerous indications – meridians and parallels, the Poles, the fixed stars, the meridian line, the signs of the zodiac or the days of the year and of the Moon – that were used for making measurements, for example of latitude and longitude, the nocturnal hour, the angle of the Sun and the height of the stars.
16th-century French manufacture, Cosmometer. Florence, Museo del Bargello, Sala Carrand
5
palazzo pitti
leonora di Toledo, wife of Cosimo I, bought and greatly extended Palazzo Pitti to create a light and airy residence for the ducal family and surrounded it with superb gardens. The palace was linked by the Vasari Corridor to the Uffizi and Palazzo Vecchio, which remained the official seat of government. In the course of its history the building has been home not only to the grand dukes, but also to Italy’s royal family. Today it houses several impressive collections of paintings, sculptures and artefacts, in perfectly preserved surroundings. This prestigious structure now houses seven museums.
E
piazza Pitti www.uffizi.firenze.it
The Palatine Gallery and Royal Apartments The Palatine Gallery was created in the late 18th and early 19th century by the Lorraine family to exhibit masterpieces mainly from the Medici collections, and houses works by Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, Rubens, Pietro da Cortona and other Italian and European masters of the Renaissance and the 17th century. The Royal Apartments, formerly the private residence of the sovereigns, are decorated with furnishings, fittings and works of art dating from the 16th to the 19th century. open: Tuesday to Sunday 8.15-18.50 closed: 1 January, 1 May, 25 December
Gallery of Modern Art The Gallery shows paintings and sculptures mainly by Italian artists, dating from the late 18th century to the First World War. The works range from the neo-classical period to Romanticism and include a fine collection of the Macchiaioli artists. open: Tuesday to Sunday 8.15-18.50 closed: 1 January, 1 May, 25 December
Carriage Museum The museum houses fine examples of carriages used by the Lorraine and Savoy courts as well as antique harnesses for horses. The oldest carriage is an 18th-century rocaille coupé. open: only upon request
Costume Gallery The Gallery was founded in 1983 in the Palazzina della Meridiana. Dedicated to the history of fashion from the 18th century to the present day, it houses clothes, accessories and jewels as well as stage costumes. There is also an important collection of papers, including archive documents, sketches and drawings.
Porcelain Museum Located in the 18th-century Palazzina del Cavaliere, the museum houses the finest European porcelain collected by Pietro Leopoldo and Ferdinando III of Lorraine, alongside porcelain removed from the historic residences in Parma, Piacenza and Sala Baganza.
Silver Museum The museum takes its name from the silver collections of the bishops of Salzburg, brought to Florence in 1815 by Ferdinando III of Lorraine. Nevertheless the most important collection in the museum is the famous Medici Treasury, collected by the Medici from the 15th century onwards and once housed in the Tribune of the Uffizi. The museum also includes elegant Chinese and Japanese porcelain.
Boboli Gardens Behind the Pitti Palace lie the magnificent Boboli Gardens, a veritable open-air museum, filled with antique and Renaissance statues, and enhanced with grottoes and grand fountains. The grounds were first laid out at the time of the Medici, creating the formal garden that would become a model for European courts. Palazzo Pitti and Villa Bardini are connected via the Boboli Gardens. open: every day 8.15-16.30 from November to February, 8.15-17.30 March and October after official summer time sets in, 8.15-18.30 April, May, September and October, 8.15-18.50 from June to August closed: 1st and last Monday of the month, 1 January, 1 May, 25 December
Da Boldini a De Pisis Firenze accoglie i capolavori di Ferrara
curated by Simonella Condemi and Alessandra Griffo Gallery of Modern Art, Sale del Fiorino e della Musica and Saloncino delle Statue until 19 May 2013
6
Florence has received masterpieces from the Gallerie d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea of Ferrara, which were moved to safety following the earthquake of 2012. 35 paintings and sculptures are exhibited at Pitti, while the exhibition continues at Villa Bardini (see p. 33) with the section on the 19th century. Three paintings by Giovanni Boldini are displayed together with 20th-century symbolist and avantgarde works – Muzzioli, Previati, Mentessi, Pisa, Conti, Minerbi, Bonzagni, Zucchini, Funi, Carrà, Pozzati, Sironi, Melli – and a series of paintings by Filippo De Pisis. The works from Ferrara are flanked by a selection of little-known paintings by Boldini, Minerbi, De Pisis, Carrà and Sironi from the deposits of the Florentine Gallery. www.daboldiniadepisis.it
Il sogno nel Rinascimento. Rêver à la Renaissance curated by Chiara Rabbi Bernard, Alessandro Cecchi and Yves Hersant Palatine Gallery 21 May-15 September 2013 The exhibition illustrates the fascinating subject of dreams, particularly important in classical mythology and in Renaissance culture (from October at the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris) through sculptural, pictorial and literary works recalling the night and sleep; paintings and engravings of mythological and allegorical subjects, like Raphael’s Vision of a Knight from London, the prophetic dreams of biblical figures, the ecstasies of saints, fantastic visions, and works alluding to life as a dream. The exhibition ends with a section on Francesco de’ Medici and his interest in dreams – revealed by the presence of Naldini’s Allegory of Dreams in his Studiolo – and a section on the themes of Dawn and Awakening, represented in works by Battista and Dosso Dossi.
exhibitions
Daniele Lombardi PolicroNia Installation and concerts Gallery of Modern Art, Sale del Fiorino e della Musica 1-30 June 2013
upcoming Opere impressioniste dal Museo d’Orsay Gallery of Modern Art, Sale del Fiorino e della Musica 23 September 2013 6 January 2014
Lusso ed eleganza.
La porcellana francese a corte e la manifattura Ginori (1800-1830) curated by Andreina d’Agliano Silver Museum 19 March-23 June 2013 The exhibition spotlights the production of the Doccia manufactory between Napoleonic rule and the Lorraine Restoration, when it was involved in important technical and stylistic innovations, thanks to intense exchanges with French manufactures, particularly Sèvres, and through the contribution of artists like Jean David, Joseph de Germain and Abraham Constantin, who were skilled in copying onto porcelain wellknown paintings from the Florentine Galleries. The 120 works from Pitti’s Porcelain Museum, the Richard-Ginori Museum, Italian and French museums and private collections, and the documents of the Lorraine Court, the Doccia Museum and the Ginori Lisci archive illustrate this thirtyyear period, shedding new light on patrons and artists, particularly the Genevan artist, Constantin.
palazzo pitti
exhibitions
Diafane passioni. Avori barocchi dalle corti europee
curated by Eike D. Schmidt and Maria Sframeli Silver Museum 16 July-3 November 2013 Ivory sculpture in the baroque period was in demand all over Europe, a sophisticated art form combining the craftsman’s skill with the preciousness of the raw material. In Florence Ferdinando de’ Medici started an extraordinary collection, later enriched with hundreds of vases, reliefs, portraits and ‘torri tornite’. Over 150 ivories from the Museo degli Argenti, foreign museums and private collections enable us to review the history of this art from the 15th century up to the achievements of artists like Leonhard Kern, François Duquesnoy and Georg Petel. Two sections are dedicated to the production of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies and turned ivories, little marvels of technical virtuosity in which the German turners combined a flair for the whimsical with the rigour of mathematical calculation, interweaving symbolism, numerology, geometry and philosophy. Sèvres manufacture, Napoleone Bonaparte, 1811. Florence, Porcelain Museum.
7
casa buonarroti
his fine 17th-century palazzo, built by Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger to celebrate his family’s fame, is now a house museum with a dual function: to bear witness to the efforts of the Buonarroti through the centuries to expand and embellish their home, to protect the precious cultural legacies it contains (including the valuable Archives and the Library), and to preserve rare art collections; and at the same time, to celebrate the genius of Michelangelo, by exhibiting many of his works, such as the Madonna of the Stairs and the Battle of the Centaurs, and alongside them the extensive collection of drawings. The museum holds annual exhibitions addressing themes that relate to the Casa’s cultural and artistic heritage and its legacy, as well as to Michelangelo and his times.
T
Beato Angelico close up until the end of April 2013 In the Sala del Lavabo an unmissable opportunity to see close at hand two frescoed lunettes, detached at an early date from the Chiostro di Sant’Antonino: Saint Peter Martyr enjoining silence, from the wall between the cloister and the church, and the Pilgrim Christ being met by two Dominicans, originally above the door of the Ospizio dei Pellegrini. Restored in 2012 during work on the whole cloister and later to be put back on the wall, the lunettes are accompanied by a video illustrating the restoration project.
works on loan The museum contributes with loans to exhibitions at home and abroad. Paintings by Beato Angelico and Fra Bartolomeo are on show at the Thien’ an Men Museum in Beijing for the exhibition Il Rinascimento a Firenze (until 30 April 2013), at the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo for the exhibition Raffaello (until 2 June 2013) and at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil in São Paulo for the exhibition Capolavori del Rinascimento (20 July-25 September 2013); The Execution of Girolamo Savonarola attributed to Filippo Dolciati is displayed at the Medici Chapels in Florence (Nello splendore mediceo. Papa Leone X e Firenze, until 6 October 2013); 14th-century tablets and sculptures are at the Galleria dell’Accademia (Dal giglio al David, 14 May-8 December 2013); the detached fresco, Paolo Uccello’s Madonna and Child is on show at the Museo Civico in Prato for the exhibition Officina pratese. Da Donatello a Filippo Lippi (14 September 2013-13 January 2014).
via Ghibellina, 70 open: Monday and Wednesday to Sunday 9.30-16 closed: 1 January, Easter, 1 May, 15 August, 25 December
restoration works from the Cloister of Sant’Antonino • Columns, capitols and stone benches • Marble from the Fabroni Monument • Medallions with Portraits of Wellknown Dominicans, 17th century • Bernardino Poccetti, Sant’Antonino prays before the Crucifix of Orsanmichele and Sant’Antonino rescues two young people from drowning
www.casabuonarroti.it works on loan
casa vasari
The museum contributes with a loan of drawings to the exhibition Michelangelo: Sacred and Profane, Masterpiece Drawings from the Casa Buonarroti, at the Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg until 14 April 2013 and at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston from 21 April to 30 June 2013.
Michelangelo Buonarroti, Cleopatra. Florence, Casa Buonarroti
n 1561 Cosimo I donated a house in borgo Santa Croce to Giorgio Vasari, in recognition of his services. Enriched by a noteworthy collection of paintings, the house remained the property of the family until the death of its last member in 1687; the works of art were dispersed and some of the rooms were modified. The artist decorated some of the rooms with the help of Jacopo Zucchi and others; among them the Sala Grande, fortunately unchanged over the centuries, decorated with frescoes inspired by the Arts and the supremacy of painting, in the form of scenes taken from Pliny, of allegorical images and of the portraits of thirteen artists chosen by Vasari. Following a period of neglect, on the occasion of the fifth centenary of the birth of the Aretine artist in 2011, a long and complex restoration made available to visitors a building of extraordinary interest.
I
borgo Santa Croce open: by appointment with guided tour every Saturday at 10, 11 and 12. Information: Horne Museum 055 244661 info@museohorne.it
www.museohorne.it
8
other works • Beato Angelico, Pala di San Marco • Maintenance work on the roof of the loggia at the north end of the Chiostro della Spesa • Repair of the wooden trusses in the corridors of the living quarters
A new Mudi The transformation of the Museo degli Innocenti The extension and reorganisation work, due to be completed by the end of 2014, will give the city a new museum, an open, shared venue recounting the history of childhood and the institution that is synonymous with the tutelage of children’s rights. For the entire duration of the work a limited area of the architectural part may be visited: Brunelleschi’s arcade, the Cortile degli Uomini and the Cortile delle Donne, where Simone Talenti’s Saint John the Baptist has been temporarily installed. A section with archive documents will also give visitors the opportunity to immerse themselves in the hospital’s more than four centuries of history. Visits will be guided by the app My Firenze, which incorporates the visit of the Innocenti into other city tours, and may be used either on the museum’s smartphone, or downloaded from the summer of 2013.
san marco museum
Beato Angelico, Allegory of Ezekiel’s Vision of the Mystic Wheel. Florence, San Marco Museum
he museum building, designed in 1436 by Michelozzo, occupies a vast area of the Dominican Convent of San Marco, which played an important role in the cultural and religious life of Florence, especially at the time of Savonarola, prior of San Marco. The museum owes its renown especially to the paintings of Fra Angelico, one of the great artists of the Renaissance, who made frescoes in many of the convent’s spaces. Other works by Fra Angelico were assembled here in the 20th century. There is also an important collection of 16thcentury paintings including works by Fra Bartolomeo. The museum has a section devoted to artefacts from buildings of the city centre that were demolished in the 19th century.
T
piazza San Marco, 3 open: Monday to Friday 8.15-13.50, Saturday, Sunday and holidays 8.15-16.50 closed: 1st, 2nd and 5th Sunday, 2nd and 4th Monday of the month, 1 January, 1 May, 25 December
www.polomuseale.firenze.it/ musei/sanmarco
upcoming Mattia Corvino e Firenze
news from the museum
Arte e Umanesimo alla corte del re di Ungheria
The Sala Capitolare is closed in summer 2013 for the restoration of the fresco by Beato Angelico Crucifixion and Saints
mudi
A potted history In the Sala Grazzini, an area once used for the consignment of children, a section illustrates the activity of the Innocenti from its origins to the beginning of the 20th century. It is a small-scale experimentation of the formula that will be a feature of the museum’s organisation: focusing on the link between archive documents, works of art and the institute’s history. On the walls, arranged chronologically, are photos of original documents, with transcriptions, starting with the papers documenting the purchase of the land and Brunelleschi’s payment for the start of work, the first page of the Wetnurses and Children’s register, a sort of instruction manual for admission into the institute. This is followed by the intake procedure, showing the registration of Agata Smeralda, the first child to enter the institute, in 1445. The story continues with descriptions of the development of the children and their lives outside the structure and ends with the closing of the ‘finestra ferrata’ in 1875, a prelude to new forms of reception and the modernisation of the institute. Also on display is the extraordinary interview with Rina Ositti, admitted at the beginning of the 20th century, one of the many personal records of those who lived here which the Institute is now beginning to put together.
curated by Magnolia Scudieri, Lia Brunori, Péter Farbaky and Dániel Pócs 10 October 2013 6 January 2014
he history of the Istituto degli Innocenti in Florence began in 1419 with the foundation of the Spedale, or foundling hospital, by the Silkweavers Guild, thanks to a bequest from Francesco di Marco Datini, a merchant of Prato. The intention was to “begin a new place […] which will nourish children and allow them to grow up”. Culture and beauty have always been an integral part of the social and educational function of the Istituto degli Innocenti. The modernity of the Renaissance architecture and a new concept of child care were closely linked in the structure designed by Brunelleschi. The Museo degli Innocenti (Mudi) – housing works such as the Adoration of the Magi by Domenico Ghirlandaio, a Virgin and Child by Luca della Robbia, the Virgin and Saints by Piero di Cosimo, and a splendid Virgin and Child by Sandro Botticelli – is located in the gallery, originally designed as the children’s living quarters, above the portico which enhances the façade.
T
Workshops for children see p. 44
piazza della Santissima Annunziata, 12 open: every day 10-19 closed: 1 January, 25 December
www.istitutodeglinnocenti.it
9
the accademia
n 1873 Michelangelo’s David was transferred to the specially designed tribune from piazza della Signoria. The presence of the David, the Prisoners and Saint Matthew indicate that in the 19th century the Gallery was already identifying itself as a Michelangelo museum. Yet the Gallery’s main collection is built upon the 18th-century collections of the Accademia del Disegno and the Accademia di Belle Arti, enriched with works from the suppressed monasteries. The works collected here, in addition to the plaster casts, were used as teaching materials for the students of the Accademia. The holdings comprise mostly paintings by major artists who worked in and around Florence between the mid-13th and the late-16th century. The collection is especially important for its unique paintings on a gold background, the splendid late-Gothic polyptychs and the collection of Russian icons. Also displayed in the Department of Musical Instruments are about 50 musical instruments (17th to 19th century) from the private collections of the Medici and the Lorraine, shown against the splendid backdrop of various paintings representing scenes of the musical life of the Medicean court, panoplies and still lifes with musical instruments. Among them are some remarkable instruments, both for their sound (audible on headphones at the terminals giving information on the musical culture of Florence under the grand dukes) as well as their exquisite workmanship. Among the most precious pieces are the ’cello and tenor viol by Stradivarius (1690), the only surviving pieces of the Quintetto mediceo that belonged to Grand Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici.
I
via Ricasoli, 58-60 open: Tuesday to Sunday 8.15-18.50 closed: 1 January, 1 May, 25 December
exhibition
Dal giglio al David
Arte civica a Firenze fra Medioevo e Rinascimento curated by Maria Monica Donato and Daniela Parenti 14 May-8 December 2013 The exhibition presents a selection of the works made to embellish the public buildings of Florence, the headquarters of the Guilds and magistracies, and the city walls. Examining the city’s heraldry, religion, emblematic sites (Palazzo dei Priori, Palazzo del Podestà, Orsanmichele), and dominant political parties (the Anjou family, the Guilds, the Guelphs and the Ghibellines), the chosen figurative subjects are illustrated and a new interpretation of them offered, underlining the importance of such images in the communication and propaganda of the groups holding government in the communal and republican age. The main representations of this complex figurative medium, with their many allegorical references and their blending of sacred and profane images, are religious: the Madonnas ‘in maestà’, patron saints, and evangelical episodes linked to the administration of justice. Some rare Renaissance drawings and the fresco with the Expulsion of the Duke of Athens from the ‘Carcere delle Stinche’, illustrate instead that genre of paintings that represented people and episodes that were unpopular in the city. Propitious images were found in the market, like Donatello’s Dovizia, lost but documented from derivations, while the decoration of the city gates and the heraldic images embellishing the walls were the occasion for celebrating the city and its allies. Special importance is attached to the Guilds, with the bringing together after two centuries of the panels of their patron saints, originally on the pilasters of the church of Orsanmichele.
orsanmichele
www.polomuseale.firenze.it/musei/accademia
uilt in the 13th century as a granary and market, in the next century Orsanmichele became a religious place and in the middle of the 14th century was consecrated for Christian worship. From then until the 17th century the building, which served both civil and religious functions, was modified and enriched by the city guilds with the 14 canopied niches of the exterior. Religious services take place regularly, and concerts of classical music are held here, overlooked by the splendid marble tabernacle by Orcagna and the 14th-century Madonna delle Grazie by Bernardo Daddi. On the first floor of Orsanmichele is the Sculpture Hall, which houses the original statues from the tabernacles.
B
via dell’Arte della Lana open: Church every day 10-17, Museum Monday 10-17
www.polomuseale.firenze.it/musei/orsanmichele
events
XXXIII Stagione Concertistica Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina A rich programme of concerts, with music by Mirenzi, Mozart, Sibelius, Portera, Dragonetti, Donizetti, Britten, Gabrieli, Rossini, Giglioni, Haydn, Pierami, Delphin Alard, Vieuxtemps and Grieg 12 and 13 May 2013 Conductors Robert Franz and Joost Smeets, piano Damyan Tudzharov 26 and 27 May 2013 Conductor Grigor Palikarov, double-bass Andrea Lombardo 9 and 10 June 2013 Conductor Piero Romano, piano Ivan Doncev 25 and 26 June 2013 Conductor Josè Ferreira Lobos, ’cello Giovanni Sollima 8 and 9 September 2013 Conductor Marius Matheus, violin Augusto Vismara
10
Concerts begin at 21 Information 055 783374 info@orcafi.it
www.orcafi.it
Maestro delle immagini domenicane, The Distribution of Grain from Il Libro del Biadaiolo, 14th century. Florence, Laurentian Library
at Orsanmichele from May to September 2013
The sky of the Pazzi Chapel At the far end of the Pazzi Chapel is a scarsella, a small apse with a square ground-plan covered by a small cupola decorated with a fresco representing the sky. Not an ordinary sky, reproduced in a symbolic way, but a detailed celestial sphere representing the exact position of the stars just as they were in the sky above Florence on the morning of 4 July 1442. The frescoes were concealed for centuries, until the beginning of the 20th century when the limewash that covered them was removed. Only in 2009, however, did thorough restoration work make it possible to examine the details of the surviving part of sky and confirm the date of the astronomical configuration represented; this was already presumed on the basis of a comparison with the sky painted for the Medici in the scarsella of the Old Sacristy in San Lorenzo. The two celestial spheres, independently of their technical, stylistic and iconographic differences, are astronomically identical. Various constellations of the zodiac can be identified – Virgo, Leo, Cancer, Gemini, Taurus and Aries – as well as some planets, like Venus in front of Cancer, and Jupiter under the tail of Aries. Between Cancer and Gemini, on the ecliptic, are the Moon and the Sun. The profiles of figures and astral bodies have been outlined in charcoal on a grey-blue background, obtained with a preparation of black pigment and lapis-lazuli on which azurite had been applied. The symbolic figures that characterise the constellations are highlighted with limewash and ultramarine and finished with azurite, while stars, planets and the reference lines of the celestial sphere, like the equator and the ecliptic, are executed with gold leaf on tin, while silver has been used for the Moon. The restoration has revealed numerous modifications, which, together with the lack of marks left by application techniques such as ‘spolvero’, suggest that the position of the stars was suggested directly by an astronomer with the help of incisions on the plaster that geometrically divided up the concave surface. In spite of the precise identification of the date to which the sky represented refers, the reason why the Medici and Pazzi families actually made this choice remains a mystery, just as there is no certainty about who actually executed the work and its date.
Detail of the sky painted in the Pazzi Chapel of Santa Croce
The Pazzi Chapel The chapel was commissioned in 1429 by Andrea de’ Pazzi with the twofold function of chapter room and private chapel. The works, begun in 1435, continued at length even after the patron’s death and were still unfinished in 1478 when, after the famous conspiracy, the Pazzi family were either put to death or exiled and condemned to damnatio memoriae.
santa croce monumental complex
focus
he Franciscan basilica of Santa Croce is a sort of open workshop that in 700 years has seen the most extraordinary religious and civil events and contains an exceptional wealth in works of art. It contains the tombs of many great figures in Italian history, and is thus defined the ‘tempio delle itale glorie’. A visit to the monumental complex includes: the Basilica, the cloisters and the early Renaissance Pazzi Chapel, the hall of 19th-century funerary monuments, the exhibition devoted to the wood engraver Pietro Parigi, the great 20th-century Italian illustrator, the Museo dell’Opera, which includes the Sala del Cenacolo (Refectory), with important works including Cimabue’s Crucifix and Taddeo Gaddi’s frescoes of the Last Supper and the Albero della Vita.
T
piazza Santa Croce open: Monday to Saturday 9.30-17.30; Sunday, 6 January, 15 August, 1 November, 8 December 13-17.30 closed: 1 January, Easter, 13 June, 4 October, 25 and 26 December
www.santacroceopera.it
Discovering art until autumn 2013 Guided tours of the restoration sites of the Cappella Maggiore frescoed by Agnolo Gaddi with the Legend of the True Cross. A guide illustrates the scenes and the pictorial techniques employed, accompanying visitors onto the scaffolding along an itinerary comprising 7 levels. booking 055 2466105 int. 3 booking@santacroceopera.it
11
opificio delle pietre dure and the restoration laboratories
s might be gathered from its unusual name, the origin of the Institute is composite, fruit of an ancient and illustrious tradition and modern, wideranging activity. Founded in 1588 for the manufacture of furnishings using semiprecious stones, in the late 19th century the Opificio changed character, shifting toward restoration. Following the catastrophic flood of November 1966 and the establishment of the Ministry for Cultural and Environmental Assets in 1975, the old Medici Opificio and the Restoration Laboratory of the Fine Arts Service were merged to create a single entity. In 2007, the Opificio became an Istituto Centrale and specialised in restoration, applied research and education, subdivided into specific sections including: tapestries, bronzes and antique weapons, paintings on canvas and on panel, wall paintings, works on paper and fibre, stone materials, mosaic and Florentine commesso work, goldsmiths’ and silversmiths’ work, painted wooden sculptures, ceramics and models, and textiles. The adjacent museum mirrors the history of the centuries of work carried out here, work that included prestigious creations today preserved in palaces and museums throughout Europe. The collection contains pieces of great evocative power and sophistication, outlining the history of the workshop over three centuries, as well as an important collection of antique marbles and semiprecious stones brought together in order to be used for the commesso fiorentino inlay technique.
A
Opificio via degli Alfani, 78; Fortezza da Basso, viale Strozzi, 1; Palazzo Vecchio, Sala delle Bandiere
Museum via degli Alfani, 78 open: Monday to Saturday 8.15-14 closed: Sunday and holidays
www.opificiodellepietredure.it
12
activities open to the public “effetto restauro” This initiative is designed to show the public some of the most significant works after their restoration or in the course of restoration in the Opificio laboratories. visits to the Restoration Laboratories Guided tours of the Restoration Laboratories. Information and booking opd.promozioneculturale@beniculturali.it
new publications Initiated in 1986, ‘OPD Restauro’ is an annual publication containing the most significant findings following restoration in all fields. • The second series is now at its 24th volume (1, 1989-24, 2012) published by Centro Di.
The use of blue pigments in painting Of the blue pigments, azurite and lapis lazuli – in the Libro dell’arte by Cennino Cennini referred to respectively as “Azzurro della magna” and “Oltremare naturale” – have been widely used in painting from the earliest times. They have been, and still are, the most highly prized of pigments and their use was limited to commissions for wealthy patrons and works of art of great value. Their high cost led to the search for more convenient alternatives, though with the same characteristics of brightness and colour tone. Less expensive pigments were Egyptian blue and smalt, and from the 18th/19th century artificial ultramarine and Prussian blue; artificial azurite, although less costly than in its natural form, has never been used widely.
Azurite Azurite is a basic copper carbonate whose use as a pigment dates from the time of the ancient Egyptians, who nevertheless preferred Egyptian blue. Familiar in the Greek world, it was with the Romans that it was used on a large scale under the name Lapis Armenium. In the Middle Ages it was used in both the East and the West especially to paint the mantles of the Virgin and the Holy Father, and for precious decorations. It was used widely from the Renaissance up until the 18th/19th century, when synthetic pigments began to be made at a lower cost. Deposits of this mineral, with its characteristic deep blue colour and glossy sheen, were widespread throughout Europe, the Balkans, the Middle East and China. As regards its preparation, sources indicate numerous techniques: according to some, it was ground with gum solution and rinsed thoroughly in clean water while, according to De arte illuminandi, once reduced to powder and freed from impurities by rinsing with lye, it was mixed with honey, ground again, rinsed repeatedly and finally covered with white vinegar and salt. Two days later it was rinsed again and boiled urine, gum arabic and aromatic substances added; after another night, it was drained, dried in the shade, and while still damp kept in a bag. Azurite is not a particularly dense pigment, and should never be applied to a white surface. Exposed to light and air it remains stable, but in contact with acid and alkaline substances and sulphide-based pigments it is subject to alterations that change its colour. Azurite applied “a secco”, and with binding agents that do not protect it from atmospheric pollutants, may take on a greenish hue, an alteration particularly noticeable in mural paintings.
Lapis lazuli Composed mainly of lazurite, pyrite, pyroxene, calcite and sodalite, lapis is an aluminosilicate containing sodium, calcium, chlorine and sulphur. Of these elements it is sulphur that gives the stone its much sought-after blue colour, while pyrite and calcite produce the golden streaks and greyish hues. Used as a semi-precious stone since the 4th/5th millennium BC, lapis came originally from present-day Afghanistan. It was mentioned by Marco Polo in Il Milione, when he describes “a mountain where blue stone is quarried, the finest in the world”. The first reliable record of its use as a pigment is in connection with the rock paintings of Bamiyan in Afghanistan (6th-7th century AD). In the Middle Ages it spread in the Byzantine world, where it was used almost exclusively for illuminating manuscripts, while in the Renaissance it was known throughout Europe and especially in Italy, where it arrived from the East by way of Venice. Its use continued until the middle of the 19th century, when it was supplanted by artificial ultramarine, synthesized in 1828. One of the techniques used for the preparation of the pigment involved grinding the stone in a bronze mortar, mixing with hands soaked in linseed oil together with a blend of natural turpentine, resins and wax; after a few days the mixture was dissolved in a warm lye solution and the largest deep blue granules – used for the mantles of Madonnas, God the Father, saints and other important figures – were separated from the lighter-coloured ones from which “lapis lazuli ashes” were obtained, pigments used to paint blue skies or pale clouds. Lapis is a relatively stable pigment; alteration on paintings has been noted occasionally in the form of patches varying in colour from grey to greyish yellow, probably due to the acidity of the binders or to harmful cleaning agents. It is generally used with watery binders, since when it is applied with oil it tends to lose its lustre; its use in fresco wall paintings is rare. Carlo Galliano Lalli Coordinator of the Diagnostics Laboratory of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure
opificio delle pietre dure and the restoration laboratories
focus
13
opera di santa maria del fiore
stablished at the end of the 13th century to oversee the construction of Florence’s new Cathedral cathedral, the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore today administers a group of of Santa Maria monuments and buildings of exceptional importance, structures that developed del Fiore around the Cathedral. The complex of buildings, apart from the Duomo and the Baptistery, Designed by the architect Arnolfo di consists of a variety of ‘places’ characterised by a striking individuality and a historical and Cambio, and the world’s third largest church, Santa Maria del Fiore was built on the functional specificity.
E
via della Canonica, 1 office hours: Monday to Friday 8-19, Saturday 8-14
www.operaduomo.firenze.it
Crypt of Santa Reparata
Baptistery of San Giovanni
(archaeological site) A major excavation beneath the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, carried out between 1965 and 1973, brought to light the remains of the ancient basilica of Santa Reparata, the oldest evidence of early Christianity in Florence.
With an octagonal plan, entirely faced with polychrome marbles, the Baptistery we see today was built over a smaller and earlier Baptistery dating from the 4th or 5th century.
open: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 10-17, Saturday 10-16.45, 1 May 8.30-17 closed: on the occasion of major holidays
The Cupola
The construction of the cupola, the largest dome ever built, began in1420; five years later construction was under Filippo Brunelleschi alone and was completed up to the base of the lantern on 1 August 1436. open: every day 8.30-19, Saturday 8.30-17.40 closed: Sunday and holidays
Giotto’s Campanile Giotto’s bell tower, begun in 1334, is one of the four principal components of piazza del Duomo. At a height of 84.70 metres and about 15 metres wide, it is the most eloquent example of 14thcentury Florentine Gothic architecture. open: every day 9-19.30
earlier church of Santa Reparata and dedicated in 1412 to Santa Maria del Fiore, clearly alluding to the lily, a symbol of the city. The façade was completed only at the end of the 19th century. open: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 10-17; Thursday 10-16.30, in May and October 10-16, from July to September 10-17; Saturday 10-16.45; Sunday and holidays 13.30-16.45
open: every day 12.15-19; 1st Saturday of the month, Sunday and holidays 8.30-14
The solstitial gnomon in the Baptistery The Baptistery of San Giovanni is one of the most ancient astronomical sites in the city of Florence. An inlaid marble plaque representing the zodiacal circle, with a marble disc representing the sun at its centre (surrounded by a palindrome referring to its cyclical nature), was placed near the north door as early as the 11th century. When the sun entered, at midday, on the day of the summer solstice (21 June) through the oculus in the dome, either its direct beam or its reflection from a circular mirror struck the marble sun. Later, a lantern was built over the dome and the marble zodiac was moved to the eastern side of the building, thus interrupting its function as a solstitial meridian.
Gnomons and gnomonic holes The gnomon, certainly the oldest and most widespread astronomical instrument, consists of a pole, column or obelisk whose shadow allows the measurement of the Sun’s position in the sky and its apparent movement caused by the rotating and revolving of the Earth. The accuracy of the measurement could be improved by increasing the gnomon’s height, although the shadow of the pointer then blurs into an indistinct penumbra. The best way of increasing the contrast is to substitute the shadow with light, that is, use a gnomonic hole as was done in Santa Maria del Fiore.
Astronomy in the cathedral
Museum of the Opera del Duomo
Established in 1891 and rearranged in 1999, the museum is being restructured and enlarged, work that should be finished by 2016. The museum is one of the most important ecclesiastical museums in Italy. Since the late 19th century, works of art have been removed from their outdoor location at Santa Maria del Fiore, the Baptistery and the Campanile in order to conserve them in the museum.
June 2013 This event, repeated each year at the summer solstice from 12 to 13.30, offers free guided observations of the passage of the Sun on the meridian line of Santa Maria del Fiore. For groups of up to 150 people. Entrance at the Porta dei Canonici.
piazza del Duomo, 9 open: Monday to Saturday 9-19.30, Sunday 9-13.45 in May and October every day 10-15.30; from July to September 10-17 closed: 1 January, Easter, 8 September, 25 December
www.operaduomo.firenze.it
Fuligno
San Salvi
The museum occupies part of the historic Benedictine convent of Sant’Apollonia. The Refectory houses Andrea del Castagno’s Last Supper (c. 1450) which represents the first painting of this subject in the Renaissance style in Florence.
Located in the former convent of the Franciscan nuns of Sant’Onofrio, also known as the Fuligno Sisters from the name of their town of origin, is the Last Supper now recognised as the work of Pietro Perugino and workshop (1490).
The museum, housed in part of the former monastery of Vallombrosan monks beside the church of San Michele a San Salvi, is named after Andrea del Sarto’s magnificent Last Supper (1526-1527).
via Faenza, 42 open: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday 9-12 closed: 1 January, 1 May, 25 December
Museo del Cenacolo di Andrea del Sarto via di San Salvi, 16 open: from Tuesday to Sunday 8.15-13.50 closed: 1 January, 1 May, 25 December
Cenacolo di Ognissanti
Cenacolo della Calza
Cenacolo di Santo Spirito
The refectory of the Convento degli Umiliati houses the Last Supper painted by Domenico Ghirlandaio in 1480. As the fresco has been detached, the sinopia is also visible.
In the refectory of the ex convent of San Giovanni Battista, known as the Calza, after the white hood worn by the Jesuit lay bretheren, is found the Last Supper by Franciabigio (1514).
Church and convent of Ognissanti borgo Ognissanti, 42 open: Monday, Tuesday and Saturday 9-12 closed: 1 January, 1 May, August, 25 December
Convento della Calza piazza della Calza, 6 open: upon request 055 222287
cenacoli
Sant’Apollonia
via XXVII Aprile, 1 open: every day 8.15-13.50 closed: 1st, 3rd and 5th Sunday, 2nd and 4th Monday of the month, 1 January, 1 May, 25 December
Fragments of the Last Supper by Andrea Orcagna (c. 1370) and Crucifixion. see Museo della Fondazione Salvatore Romano p. 25
Cenacolo del Carmine Last Supper by Alessandro Allori (1582). see Brancacci Chapel p. 25
opera di santa maria del fiore
focus Seeing the Sun at the solstice The gnomon of Santa Maria del Fiore History The cathedral of Florence has had a gnomonic hole more-or-less from the time it was built. Ninety metres above the pavement, it is the largest of its kind. Archive documents date its making to the year 1475 and identify its creator as Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, as deduced by Leonardo Ximenes in 1757. The gnomon made it possible to know the exact moment of the solstice and to determine the duration of the solar year. Its size also allowed the verification of another highly debated phenomenon, that is, whether the inclination of the Earth’s axis remained constant in time. An inscription on the floor records the observation of the solstice in 1510, later the measuring must have become more sporadic. For almost 250 years the gnomon was improperly used to monitor the building’s stability, which was verified each year by the reassuring return of the sun’s image on the solstitial marble. Only in 1754 did a project by Ximenes to demonstrate the periodic oscillation of the earth’s axis and its measurability make it possible to restore to the gnomon its astronomical function. The Jesuit used it in fact to measure the height of the Sun at the solstice of 1755, comparing it later with information provided by the measurements of 1510. After Ximenes’ death in 1786, the gnomon fell into disuse. When in 1864 the director of the Specola museum in Florence, Giovan Battista Donati, wanted to use it again, he realised that the instrument had been removed in 1859 during restoration work. It was rediscovered in the storage spaces of the
Opera and built into the wall again in November 1865, a little higher than where it was originally, therefore destroying any possibility of making comparisons with the previous measurements of Ximenes. However, the gnomon had by then become obsolete compared to modern telescopes and was no longer used for astronomical purposes. Its use was later suggested to verify the stability of the church, although in the following century the use of improved seismographs to monitor the tiniest oscillation of the building finally marked the end of the gnomon’s glorious history. How the gnomon works This astronomical instrument consists of a bronze plate – the ‘bronzina’ – in the middle of which there is a hole about two centimetres in diameter. The height of the gnomon, placed inside the south window of the lantern, allows the sun’s rays to pass through the hole and shine on the floor of the cathedral, only between the end of May and the end of July, for just a few minutes before and after midday. During this time the sun’s image is formed at a precise point on the floor of the Cappella della Croce, to the left of the high altar, where there is a finely graduated meridian line and a pair of solstitial markers, two marble circles placed one inside the other. At the moment of the summer solstice the sun’s image is superimposed, corresponding in size to the larger circle whose diameter measures about 90 centimetres.
The sun’s image on the circles of marble placed on the floor of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore
The Confraternita dei Buonomini was founded by Saint Antoninus to assist the “poveri vergognosi” and was established in 1478 in rooms behind the church of San Martino, which were eventually transformed into an oratory. The space is decorated with a series of lunettes, painted around 1480 by Domenico Ghirlandaio’s workshop, illustrating the story of San Martino and the confraternity’s charitable work. The adjacent rooms house a rich archive documenting over five centuries of work of the confraternity. Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino piazza San Martino open: every day 10-12 and 15-17 closed: Friday and holidays
Crucifixion by Perugino Dated 1257, the original church and its adjacent monastery were dedicated to Santa Maria Maddalena delle Convertite recalling the hostel for repentant prostitutes which previously stood here. The church was rebuilt at the end of the 15th century to a design by Giuliano da Sangallo. The Sala Capitolare houses Perugino’s evocative fresco of the Crucifixion and Saints (1493-1496), with the figure of Mary Magdalene kneeling at the foot of the Cross. This is the most important artistic evidence of the Cistercian period of the monastery. Church and monastery of Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi access via the Liceo Michelangiolo via della Colonna, 9 open: Tuesday and Thursday 14.30-17.30 closed: public holidays and school holidays
Chiostro dello Scalzo
fresco cycles
Frescoes in the Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino
The cloister originally formed the entrance to the Chapel of the Brotherhood of Saint John the Baptist, founded in 1376 and known as the Scalzo. Andrea del Sarto was responsible for the fresco cycle, which he painted in several stages (1509-1526). The fine monochrome scenes represent episodes from the Life of Saint John the Baptist and the Virtues. Two of the episodes were actually painted by Franciabigio (1518-1519). via Cavour, 69 open: Monday, Thursday, Saturday 8.15-13.50 closed: 1 January, 1 May, August and 25 December
Brancacci Chapel see Civic Museums p. 25
palazzo medici riccardi
alazzo Medici Riccardi, a stone’s throw from the Duomo, is one of the most interesting palaces in the heart of Florence, both in its architecture and decoration, and in the cultural initiatives offered by the provincial administration, based in the palace. The museum includes Michelozzo’s courtyard, Benozzo Gozzoli’s Cappella dei Magi, the room with frescoes by Luca Giordano, and the Marbles Museum.
P
The Dalì Universe Florence Limonaia until 25 May 2013 An exhibition devoted to the Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalì. On show a broad collection of sculpture, drawings, surrealist furniture, glass objects and collages. www.thedaliuniverse.com
via Cavour, 3 open: every day 9-18 closed: Wednesday
www.palazzo-medici.it www.provincia.fi.it
Dal cielo alla terra Sismologia e meteorologia a Firenze dall’Ottocento ad oggi curated by Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia in collaboration with the Provincia di Firenze and the Osservatorio Ximeniano Galleria delle Carrozze until 31 May 2013
medici chapels
On display are roughly 140 instruments, most of them restored by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) in Rome, which underline the importance of Italy in the fields of meteorology and seismology. Included are the instruments used for the study of meteorology, seismology, geomagnetism and gravimetry. The chronological arrangement moves from small thermometers and seismic instruments with a mass of over 1,000 kg, to a weather plane. The exhibition includes reconstructions of observatory spaces, from those devoted to monitoring in the 19th century, to contemporary seismic monitoring stations in the INGV’s Italian area. www.dalcieloallaterra.it
state museum since 1869, the history of the Medici Chapels is tied to the history of the basilica of San Lorenzo to which they belong. The museum includes the New Sacristy, designed by Michelangelo, the Chapel of the Princes, a mausoleum in hard stone, the crypt, containing the tombs of the Medici grand dukes and their relatives, and the Lorraine crypt, with the tombs of the Lorraine princes and the funerary monument to Cosimo il Vecchio. The museum also displays items from the Treasury of the basilica of San Lorenzo.
A
piazza Madonna degli Aldobrandini, 6 open: every day 8.15-16.50 closed: 2nd and 4th Sunday, 1st, 3rd and 5th Monday of the month, 1 January, 1 May, 25 December
www.polomuseale.firenze.it/musei/ cappellemedicee
16
exhibitions
Michelangelo di Viviano da Gaiole, 16th-century Florentine manufacture, Leo X’s Crozier. Florence, Medici Chapels
exhibition
Nello splendore mediceo Papa Leone X e Firenze
curated by Nicoletta Baldini and Monica Bietti 25 March-6 October 2013 The exhibition celebrates Leo X, the second son of Lorenzo the Magnificent and the first Medici pope, following his life from his birth in Florence in 1475 until his election to the papal throne (9 March 1513) and his brief return to Florence in 1515. Works by Botticelli, Andrea Sansovino, Granacci, Ghirlandaio and Perugino portray his youth in Florence, his education in the context of his father’s humanistic entourage, and the passions and interests of the young cardinal up to his family’s expulsion from the city in 1494. Portraits, coats-of-arms, papal symbols, projects for the capital and works by Raphael, Bugiardini, Della Robbia and Giuliano da Sangallo testify instead to Leo’s “golden age” in Rome during the years of his papacy. Leo X’s entry into Florence in 1515 is illustrated by precious gold objects, illuminated manuscripts, furnishings, as well as drawings and paintings by Baldassarre Peruzzi, Rosso Fiorentino and Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, examples of the complex decoration prepared for the occasion. The last section illustrates the attention the Medici popes, Leo X and later Clement VII, devoted to the architectural projects sponsored in Florence by their family and covers the history of the Laurentian complex, presenting for the first time the extraordinary multifaceted form chosen by Michelangelo for the crowning of the lantern of the New Sacristy.
libraries
Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale opened to the public: 1861, with the unification of the Magliabechiana and Palatina libraries founders: Antonio Magliabechi (Magliabechiana) and Ferdinando III (Palatina) collection: 6,000,000 printed books, 120,000 periodicals, 4,000 incunabula, 25,000 manuscripts, 29,000 cinquecentine and more than 1,000,000 autographs piazza dei Cavalleggeri, 1 open: Monday to Friday 8.15-19, Saturday 8.15-13.30
www.bncf.firenze.sbn.it
Biblioteca Riccardiana opened to the public: after 1659 origin: the collection of Riccardo Romolo Riccardi made in the 16th century collection: 4,450 manuscripts, 5,529 single leaves, 725 incunabula, 3,865 cinquecentine, 20,000 antique printed books, 40,000 modern printed books, 276 drawings via de’ Ginori, 10 open: Monday, Thursday 8-17.30, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 8-14
www.riccardiana.firenze.sbn.it
Biblioteca Moreniana opened to the public: 1942 origin: 1870, from the collection of Domenico Moreni (1763-1835) collection: c. 2,000 manuscripts, 287 boxes containing letters, documents and booklets, 71 incunabula, 952 cinquecentine, 11,000 early printed and modern books, about 10,000 printed public notices, 265 play scripts, maps and drawings via de’ Ginori, 10 open: Monday, Thursday 8-17.15, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 8-14
www.provincia.fi.it/palazzo-medici-riccardi/ biblioteca-moreniana Detail from The Wonders of Creatures and the Strangeness of Beings (Orientali 45). Florence, Laurentian Library
Biblioteca degli Uffizi opened to the public: 1998 origin: the first public library in Florence, founded by Pietro Leopoldo of Lorraine (mid-18th century) collection: 74,000 titles, including 470 manuscripts, 5 incunabula, 192 cinquecentine, 1,445 books from the 17th to the 19th century, 1,136 periodicals Loggiato degli Uffizi open: Tuesday 9-17, Wednesday 9-13.30, Friday 9-13
www.polomuseale.firenze.it
Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana opened to the public: 1571 by order of Grand Duke Cosimo I origin: a collection begun by Cosimo il Vecchio collection: about 11,000 manuscripts, 2,500 papyri, 150 drawers of single leaves, 43 ostraka, 566 incunabula, 1,681 cinquecentine, 592 periodicals and 126,527 printed books piazza San Lorenzo, 9 open: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 8-14, Tuesday, Thursday 8-17.30
www.bml.firenze.sbn.it
Biblioteca Marucelliana opened to the public: 1752 founder: Francesco Marucelli (1625-1703) collection: the core of the collection, which grew as a result of successive acquisition, consists of about 6,000 volumes; since 1911 the library has been the repository for all books published in Florence and its province via Cavour, 43-47 open: Monday to Friday 8.30-19, Saturday 8.30-13.45
events and exhibitions La matematica greca
Tra sapienza e bellezza
Exhibition on the occasion of the Festival of Mathematics (see p. 34) 8-20 April 2013 Biblioteca delle Oblate
Restored manuscripts and documents of the Biblioteca Riccardiana until 18 May 2013 Biblioteca Riccardiana
Le coppie nel cinema degli anni Trenta
Leggere per non dimenticare
Exhibition of postcards, guides and cinema magazines from the 1930s until 30 April 2013 Biblioteca Marucelliana
18th year until 22 May 2013 Biblioteca delle Oblate
Le vie delle lettere. Appuntamenti con la storia Meetings about Florentine history 15 April-20 May 2013 every Monday at 18-19 Biblioteca delle Oblate
Miniatura viva Exhibition of codices, facsimiles and contemporary miniaturists May 2013 Biblioteca Riccardiana
www.maru.firenze.sbn.it
Fabrizio Fenucci
Biblioteca delle Oblate
Photo exhibition May 2013 Biblioteca Nazionale
opened to the public: 2007, following the restoration of the complex origin: the Biblioteca Comunale Centrale (1913) collection: the section on conservation and local history alone consists of over 50,000 documents via dell’Oriuolo, 26 open: Monday 14-19, Tuesday to Saturday 9-24 (times subject to change)
www.bibliotecadelleoblate.it
L’Europa che ride Exhibition of caricatures and satire, 19th and 20th century 7-12 May 2013 Biblioteca Marucelliana
La Tipografia Medicea tra Roma e l’Oriente On show codices, documents, books and printing equipment until 22 June 2013 Monday to Saturday 9.30-13.30 Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana
Dall’Eremo all’Europa Mille anni di vita camaldolese Faith, art and history of the Camaldoli Order May-June 2013 Biblioteca Nazionale
Percorsi di conoscenza fra libri e storia Guided visits to the ex convent booking required 055 2616512 first Saturday of the month Biblioteca delle Oblate
17
archaeological museums
Museo Archeologico Nazionale
Villa Corsini
In 1881 the museum was transferred to the 17th-century Palazzo della Crocetta, built for Cosimo II’s sister, Maria Maddalena de’ Medici. Over time it has acquired masterpieces from the Medici and Lorraine collections and fine examples of art from the Greek, Etruscan and Roman periods, flanked by the important Egyptian Museum collection. Among the large bronzes not to be missed are the Chimera, found near Arezzo in 1553, and the Etruscan Aule Meteli, known as L’Arringatore. The collection of rare figured ceramics is equally prestigious and The first room includes the large black figure François Vase (c. 570 BC). of the Egyptian In the area of stone work is a collection of marble Museum renewed sculptures and an important group of rare Etruscan In May the museum inaugurates funerary artefacts, with urns from the areas around the first room of the Egyptian Chiusi and Volterra and stone and marble sarcofagi, Museum, dedicated to the including the famous Amazon sarcophagus (4th Predynastic period, to the Ancient century BC). The Egyptian Museum of Florence, and Middle Kingdom. This new second only in Italy to the Turin museum, is also housed display follows criteria adopted here. It is made up of Medici and Lorraine collections for the new rooms of the and from 1880 was further enriched by Ernesto museum. Schiaparelli, private donors and scientific institutions. Adjacent to the museum is a delightful garden which can be visited on Saturday mornings.
Villa Corsini, on the western outskirts of Florence in the Castello district, was donated to the Italian State in 1968. The villa was used for storage by the Soprintendenza Archeologica della Toscana and has now been completely restored to display an important group of antique sculptures, including the Arianna dormiente and the recently restored Apollo saettante. The Antiquarium shows the results of research on objects found locally, dating from the Iron Age to the Roman period.
piazza della Santissima Annunziata, 9/b open: Monday 14-19, Tuesday and Thursday 8.30-19, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday 8.30-14 closed: 1 January, 1 May, 15 August, 25 December
www.archeotoscana.beniculturali.it
exhibitions
I medaglioni romani del Monetiere del Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze
Archeologia in Oriente Le collezioni vicinorientali del Museo Archeologico di Firenze
until 30 September 2013
curated by Maria Cristina Guidotti and Stefano Anastasio 3 May-7 July 2013
Begun by Lorenzo il Magnifico, the present coin display is the direct descendant of the grand-ducal ‘Medagliere’, or medals collection, and is one of the most important Italian collections of medals from the imperial Roman age. On display a selection of 150 gold, silver and bronze pieces dating between the 1st and 4th century AD. Unknown in the republican age, medals became widespread from the 1st century AD; those in gold and silver were multiples of the currency then in circulation, sometimes used as donations for officials, dignitaries or heads of allied peoples, while bronze ones – often perforated and used as ornaments – were probably made on the occasion of victories, public celebrations, acts of liberation or donations to soldiers, with a value that was largely symbolic. A separate series is made up of the “contorniati”, used as tokens for admission to the games, prizes for athletes, game pieces, amulets and gifts for the new year.
The Museo Archeologico Nazionale has among its collections a heterogeneous group of finds from the Near East, which for almost thirty years have been stored in the deposits of the museum and never shown to the public. In the absence of an Orientalist on the staff of the museum, the management of the Egyptian Museum, with the collaboration of the Direzione Regionale per i Beni Culturali e Paesaggistici, has assumed responsibility for this material, which constitutes one of the most important Near-Eastern collections in Italy. The exhibition displays finds that come mainly from Anatolia (ceramics and small statues), Mesopotamia (tomb furnishings from the excavations of Kilizu, an Assyrian basrelief and numerous cuneiform tablets), and Syria (Roman glass objects and Islamic material).
via della Petraia, 38 open: Saturday and Sunday 9.30-13 closed: 1 January, 25 and 26 December
www.polomuseale.firenze.it/musei/villacorsini
Parco Archeologico di Carmignano The centre for archaeology brings together in a single system the Archaeological Museum at Artimino and the various Etruscan sites of the area. The main sites in the Archaeological Park are the Artimino necropolis at Prato Rosello, the fortified settlement of Pietramarina, the Tumulus of Montefortini and the Tomba dei Boschetti at Comeana. The Archaeological Museum at Artimino exhibits a collection of finds discovered in the area of Carmignano and arranged according to topographical and chronological criteria in two sections dedicated to the “world of the living” and the “world of the dead”. Archaeological Museum at Artimino piazza San Carlo, Artimino (Prato) open: from February to October Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9.30-13.30, Saturday and Sunday 9.30-13.30 and 15-18, Wednesday upon reservation; from November to January Saturday, Sunday and holidays 9.30-13.30 and 14-16, special openings upon request closed: 1 January, Easter, 1 May, 15 August, 1 November, 25-26 December, 31 December (when it falls on a Sunday)
www.parcoarcheologicocarmignano.it
Civic Archaeological Museum The museum exhibits early Etruscan, Roman and medieval artefacts which came to light during excavations in the area of Fiesole, as well as items donated by private collectors. As it began to grow in size, in 1914 the museum was transferred to a structure in the shape of an Ionic temple, designed by Ezio Cerpi and located inside the archaeological park. Reorganised in 1981, this also houses the Costantini Collection. via Portigiani, 1, Fiesole open: every day, March and October 10-18, from April to September 10-19, from November to February 10-14 closed: Tuesday from November to February
www.museidifiesole.it
Lectures at the Museum Lectures at 17 with free entry to the Museo Archeologico Nazionale: Le Statue-Stele della Lunigiana: dall’Età del Rame al Medioevo (24 April 2013), La ‘Collezione Campana’ nel Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze (22 May 2013) and L’Abitato Preistorico di San Lorenzo a Greve (19 June 2013)
18
The “Paolo Graziosi” Florentine Museum and Institute of Prehistory Created in 1946, the museum brings together, classifies and conserves the prehistoric collections once scattered throughout the city of Florence. The library consists of about 3,000 volumes. via Sant’Egidio, 21 open: Monday 14-17, Tuesday and Thursday 9.30-16.30, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 9.30-12.30 closed: 1 January, Easter and Easter Monday, 1 May, week of the 15 August, 24-26 and 31 December
www.museofiorentinopreistoria.it
exhibitions
Franco Franchi Archaeological area, Fiesole June-August 2013
Movimento e dinamismo nell’arte del Novecento Sala Costantini, Civic Archaeological Museum, Fiesole September-October 2013
fondazione scienza e tecnica
he Fondazione Scienza e The Gabinetto di Storia Naturale Tecnica was and the Museo Tecnologico in 1987 with the founded The collection of over 47,000 samples was aim to conserve and begun with a documentary and educational aim, paying particular attention to mineralogy and lithology promote the patrimony of because of the economic importance of mines and mineral the Istituto Tecnico deposits. Also part of the Gabinetto are: the botanical section, Toscano, founded in the which includes 18th-century herbals and the precious Tuscan Lorraine period, and more The Gabinetto di Fisica Xylology Collection; an entomological section with insects, bone generally to spread scientific It retains the largest and most complete samples, and over 250 marine creatures preserved in liquid; and Italian collection of 19th-century culture. The collections of a collection of approximately 1,600 fossils in the palaeontology instruments for the study and teaching of the institute, formed over section. The Museo Tecnologico contains a broad sample of physics, bought from the most well-known French, the 19th century, consist of objects from the industrial and manufacturing industries, German and English producers; at that time in Italy two main nuclei giving a picture of the various branches of 19th-century almost no-one was capable of supplying high-quality to the corresponding Italian production, from metallurgy and mechanics to instruments. The collection of over 3,000 machines and Gabinetto di Fisica and building and textiles. Completing the collections are the apparatus, a real encyclopaedia of classical physics, the Gabinetto di Storia anatomical models, like those in wax of the illustrates the laws and phenomena of mechanics, Florentine Officina Ceroplastica, including a with the Museo Naturale, pneumatics, acoustics, thermodynamics, optics and mycological collection and models used in Tecnologico attached. On electromagnetism. Among the objects on display are morphology and of vegetal and display are technical and models of engines and kinematic models, and animal anatomy. scientific instruments and interesting apparatus and prototypes made for machines, collections in original research by some of the directors of the Gabinetto, eminent physicists such natural science, and models as Antonio Roiti, Adolfo Bartoli or and manufactured products Eugenio Bazzi. of Tuscan industries in the early 19th century. The quality, quantity and variety of objects forms a unique patrimony in the field of the history of science, technology and technical-scientific teaching. Since 2002 the Planetarium has also been in working order. 123RF Photo Archive
T
via G. Giusti, 29 open: upon request 055 2341157 242241 fax 055 2343140 Gabinetto di Fisica guided tours Saturday 10-12 and 15-18 and Sunday 10-12 entry every 30 minutes
www.fstfirenze.it
The Planetarium The Florence planetarium, a collaboration between the Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica, the Institute and Museum of the History of Science and the Astrophysics Observatory of Arcetri is housed inside a dome with a diameter of 8 metres. It can simulate the daily or annual movement of the various celestial bodies, the nature of the sky at any latitude on Earth and the precession of the Earth’s axes. Motions can be combined so as to visualise a range of singular effects, such as observation of the sky from a space station or from the moon. The planetarium is also equipped with a further system of projection which enables the use of modern digital technologies. Sessions are organised for the general public, held by astronomers from the Astrophysics Observatory of Arcetri, which focus on classic topics in astronomy, such as the motions of the Sun, Moon and planets, nebulae, galaxies, the Milky Way and the precession of the equinoxes, as well as subjects ranging from the observation of the sky to mythology, to astronomy in the Divine Comedy and in the history of the arts and sciences. Meetings offer a general description of the most important celestial phenomena and give the public information about astronomical events in the current month. Experts show the most commonly visible constellations, and those of the zodiac in the current season, explaining how to find them in the sky and the fascinating mythical tales behind them. open: Sunday at 15 and 16.30, Thursday at 21. Calendar available on the website www.fstfirenze.it. Booking required for Thursday openings, advised for Sunday openings 055 2343723 (Monday to Friday 9-16) fax 055 2478350 iscrizioni@fstfirenze.it
19
galileo museum
he Galileo Museum is heir to a prestigious tradition of scientific collecting that boasts nearly five centuries of history and centres on the importance attributed, by the Tuscan grand dukes, to the protagonists and to the tools of science. It revolves around the figure of Galileo Galilei, authoritative and controversial protagonist of astronomy and modern science. The new arrangement of the museum emphasises the importance of Galileo in the museum’s collections and the research activities that identify the dual function of the Galileo Museum – as an Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, an institute and a museum for the history of science.
T
piazza dei Giudici, 1 open: Wednesday to Monday 9.30-18, Tuesday 9.30-13 closed: 1 January, 6 January, Easter, 1 May, 15 August, 1 November, 8 December, 25 and 26 December
www.museogalileo.it
exhibition
Antichi bicicli e biciclette dei mestieri mid June-mid November 2013 The old bicycles and so-called traders’ bicycles of the Museo Galileo illustrate the most important stages in the development of two-wheeled vehicles, and focus on their symbolic and social significance. Among the museum’s models (which are usually kept in storage) are: the ancestor of the bicycle known as the draisine, “boneshakers” – the first velocipedes with pedals – and penny-farthings. Forming part of the Marco Paoletti collection, on the other hand, are the traders’ bicycles dating from the early 20th century, vehicles modified and specially equipped for trades such as those plied by knifegrinders, cobblers and puppeteers.
The reflection of a starry sky 7 May-4 June 2013 A course in astronomy given by Massimo Mazzoni, organised by the Museo Galileo in collaboration with the Comitato per la Divulgazione dell’Astronomia and the Accademia “La Colombaria” Accademia “La Colombaria”, via Sant’Egidio, 23 Tuesday at 16-18 booking 055 265311
www.museogalileo.it
20
Draisine, second half of the 19th century. Florence, Galileo Museum photo Archivio Fotografico Museo Galileo
The science of the stars conjures up visions of galaxies lost in the darkness of the cosmos, technologically advanced equipment and aesthetically ascetic instruments: massive telescopes, radio telescope antennas, space probes and powerful computers. But if you go back to the 16th century, astronomy was a whole different ball game. In the age of the arts, by definition, Urania, the muse of astronomy, walked hand-inhand with her other sisters. Sky and Earth converse with each other in a dialogue of secret harmonies. They are in fact two parallel entities that must be studied simultaneously. It is no surprise that one of the greatest astronomers of the age, the Danish nobleman Tycho Brahe, coined two interchangeable mottoes, ‘Suspiciendo despicio’ and ‘Despiciendo suspicio’. The mottoes mark two halves of a virtuous circle at whose centre is the figure of the observer in all his humanistic integrity, capable of dominating a world created in his image. The astronomical devices of the scientific collection gathered together by Cosimo I de’ Medici and his successors, today kept at the Galileo Museum, are the remote witnesses of a connection between Sky and Earth that had not yet become polarised or been broken. In the 16th century astronomy performed essential daily functions, determining the daily and yearly rhythms that regulated civil life and giving scientific substance to the belief that the positions of the planets along the zodiac, together with the
galileo museum
Astronomy and art at the Galileo Museum
focus
apparitions of comets and other celestial phenomena, exerted an influence on earthly events. Astrolabes, sundials, nocturnals, celestial globes, and instruments for measuring stellar coordinates, were not exclusively instruments of research, but entered the houses of the rich, the nobility and sovereigns. Rulers added to their functions that of underlining the ruling family’s ability to maintain absolute political control over its territories. Daily life and prestige meant that the astronomic instruments displayed in the rooms of the Museo Galileo dedicated to the Medici collections were not only versatile, functional and precise, but also beautiful and precious in a princely way. One of the many objects on display is the large armillary sphere made between 1588 and 1593 by the cosmographer Antonio Santucci for Grand Duke Ferdinando I de’ Medici. Almost four metres high, it was the object between 2008 and 2010 of a meticulous restoration that restored it to its former splendour. The model sums up the cosmological, astrological and theological conceptions that prevailed at the end of the 16th century and, at the same time, celebrates the power of the grand-ducal house with bas-reliefs and gilded sculptures, as well as “Vasarian” paintings executed by Enea Santucci, the cosmographer’s brother. Giorgio Strano Galileo Museum
Antonio Santucci, Armillar sphere, 1588-1593. Florence, Galileo Museum photo Archivio Fotografico Museo Galileo
21
walks in the city sundials
Until the 14th century sundials were the only instruments available for measuring time, and even after the spread of mechanical tower clocks, whose precision was in any case unreliable, they continued to be used to indicate the hour of the day. The term meridian, today used generically to define a sundial, in actual fact indicates the line of intersection between the local meridian and the level of the horizon; in horizontal sundials it is therefore the line extending in a north-south direction, along which the shadow of the gnomon falls at midday during the course of the year. In time some sundials were also used to establish astronomical parameters such as equinoxes and solstices, useful for establishing Christian festivities. Between the 15th and 18th centuries some of the most important buildings in Florence were fitted with sundials for scientific reasons or celebratory purposes: among these, the gnomon of Santa Maria del Fiore, built by Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli to measure the declination of the sun at the summer solstice, or the sundial made by Vincenzo Viviani in collaboration with the astronomer Giovan Battista Cassini inside the Palazzina della Meridiana at Palazzo Pitti. 1 Sundial, Ponte Vecchio the Ponte Vecchio, destroyed by a flood in 1333, was rebuilt in 1345 as a three-arched bridge with a row of workshops along the two sides. In the middle of the bridge the buildings are interrupted by a tiny square: here, on the roof of a workshop, is a meridian in white marble held up by a small polygonal pilaster on which a small sculpted lizard symbolises the sun. The hour of the day is indicated by a perpendicular pointer that projects its shadow onto a semicircular vertical quadrant. Cut into the outer edge of the quadrant are marks indicating the 12 hours of the day, while the concave area is divided by little columns indicating the canonical hours, punctuating those times of the day that the Catholic Church dedicated to the recitation of common prayer: the first hour (6 am), or the hour of dawn, the third (9 am), the sixth (midday), the ninth (3 pm) and lastly the twelfth (6 pm) when Vespers were recited at sunset. This division implied a different length of the hours of the day according to the seasons. on the Ponte Vecchio
2 Sundials, Santa Maria Novella
the mathematician and cosmographer Egnazio Danti dedicated his last years in Florence to the question of the reform of the Julian calendar, which was supposed to re-establish the liturgically exact date of Easter and the feast days associated with it. Between 1572 and 1575 he installed three astronomical instruments on the façade of Santa Maria Novella: a quadrant with sundials, an equinoctial armillary sphere and a gnomonic hole for a ‘camera obscura’ sundial. The first consists of a vertical quadrant with three gnomons indicating the hour starting from different times (from dawn, from midday and from sunset); inscriptions accompanying the three pointers specify their use during the course of the day. The armillary sphere is instead composed of two graduated metal circles, oriented in such a way as to calculate both solstice and equinox. The last instrument was without the meridian line on the pavement of the church due to the departure of Danti, who succeeded only in making the gnomonic hole, first in the rose window and later higher up on the façade, making two openings also in the inner vault in such a way as to let sunlight through during the equinoxes and the winter solstice. As a result of the measurements carried out with the three instruments, the cosmographer was able to confirm the discrepancy between the date chosen by the Council of Nicea for the spring equinox (21 March) and the day on which it actually took place (11 March). Some years later, in 1582, the reform of Gregory XIII would determine an adjustment of 10 days in the calendar and the spring equinox would again fall on 21 March.
2
9 12
piazza Santa Maria Novella
3 Sundial, Palazzo Guidacci a large slab of marble, located on the façade of the building, bears an engraved vertical sundial; the metal pointer has a hole through which the sun’s rays strike the meridian line at local true midday. Still functioning, the instrument was made in the 19th century to regulate the mechanical clock in the tower of Palazzo Vecchio, from which the hour was then transmitted by telegraph to all the railway stations in Tuscany, in such a way as to synchronise the departure and arrival of trains. The curve of mean time was added by the astronomer Giovan Battista Donati, who was summoned to carry out a revision of the instrument; following its replacement on the façade on 11 September 1858 every citizen could more easily read the sundial.
22
piazza della Signoria, 6
13
14
walks in the city sundials
10
4 Sundial, Istituto Geografico Militare
5 Sundial, Galileo Museum
the vertical quadrant, facing south-west, is painted on a little tower of the building that houses the official State institute for cartography. Made in 1950 by Angelo Pericoli, the sundial functions not only as a clock, for the measurement of astronomical hours, but also as a calendar, having an equinoctial line and seasonal curves. The instrument is still integral and functioning.
inaugurated in 2007, and traced on the paving in front of the Museum, this sundial marks true local time throughout the year, while also serving as a calendar. The signs of the zodiac, in watergreen glass, flank the meridian line in Tuscan travertine, which extends about 15 metres from the pavement on the Lungarno, where it marks the summer solstice, to the Museum’s entrance, where it indicates the winter solstice. The hour lines, which for reasons of space show the hours only from 9 am to 3 pm, form an array of slender brass bands between the solstitial curves at the edges of the great dial. The hours are indicated by a monumental gnomon, a bronze stele 6 meters high encircled by a wind rose. The materials used clearly allude to the four elements, which, along with the seasons, indicated on the sundial by the course of the Sun, evoke the ancient Platonic doctrine of the correspondence between microcosm and macrocosm, that is, between man and the universe.
via Cesare Battisti, 12
piazza dei Giudici
Other sundials in the city
6 Solstitial sundial, Baptistery of San Giovanni ‘camera oscura’ sundial, no longer functioning (11th century) piazza San Giovanni (see p. 14)
11
7 Gnomon, Santa Maria del Fiore
4
‘camera oscura’ sundial (1475)
piazza del Duomo (see pp. 14-15)
7
8 Sundial, Tribune of the Uffizi
6
‘camera oscura’ sundial, destroyed (end of the 16th century) the Uffizi, piazzale degli Uffizi (see p. 2)
9 Sundial, Palazzo Pitti ‘camera oscura’ sundial, no longer functioning (1696)
Palazzo Pitti, Sala della Meridiana piazza dei Pitti
3
10 Sundial, Villa medicea della Petraia
8 1
vertical sundial (c. 1740)
Loc. Castello, via della Petraia, 40
5
11 Sundial, Ximenes Observatory ‘camera oscura’ sundial, no longer functioning (second half of the 18th century)
piazza San Lorenzo, 6
12 Sundial, “La Specola” ‘camera oscura’ sundial (1784) Natural History and Anthropology Museums, Torrino della Specola via Romana, 17 (see p. 35)
13 Sundials, Certosa del Galluzzo three sundials and a ‘camera oscura’ sundial (19th century) via della Buca di Certosa, 2 illustration by Silvia Cheli
14 Sundial, Villa Romana vertical sundial (1988) via Senese, 68
23
civic museums
he Musei Civici Fiorentini are made up of a varied and comprehensive group of collections. Their function is to preserve and exhibit the rich heritage of Florentine art, encouraging its enjoyment by the general public. Belonging to this cultural patrimony are some of the most important Florentine churches, religious buildings and numerous collections donated by collectors, artists and city institutions.
T
Palazzo Vecchio
Palazzo Vecchio was built between 1299 and the early 14th century as the seat of the city’s highest authority; it became a ducal residence in the mid-16th century and is now the seat of Florence’s city council. The history of the building is reflected in the magnificent apartments and chambers that now form the museum – a series of halls and private rooms sumptuously decorated by some of the most famous artists of the Florentine Renaissance and Mannerism, and enhanced with furnishings of the period and masterpieces like Verrocchio’s Putto, Donatello’s Judith, Michelangelo’s Genius of Victory and the decoration of Eleonora’s Chapel painted by Bronzino. The new exhibition area Traces of Florence (situated on the ground floor) enriches the tour through the Monumental Apartments: this section offers an overview of the historical development of Florence in terms of urban planning and landscape, through the permanent display of a selection of paintings, engravings and drawings and a section dedicated to temporary exhibitions.
www.museicivicifiorentini.it
piazza della Signoria open: from October to March Friday to Wednesday 9-19 (visits to the tower 9-17), Thursday 9-14 (visits to the tower 10-14); from April to September Friday to Wednesday 9-24 (visita alla Torre 9-21), Thursday 9-14. Extraordinary openings on special occasions. In case of rain, no access to the tower closed: 25 December
www.museicivicifiorentini.it/palazzovecchio
The Roman Theatre of Florence (Palazzo Vecchio) The archaeological excavations in the ground below Palazzo Vecchio brought to light the remains of a Roman theatre (1st-2nd century AD). A series of galleries and walkways makes it possible to visit the fascinating vestiges of the ancient monument and the later medieval stratifications. Guided visits by appointment only. The excavations are partially accessible to disabled visitors not in wheelchairs (and accompanied by carers), and are not accessible to children younger than 8 for safety reasons. For information and booking: 055 2768224 2768558 info.museodeiragazzi@comune.fi.it
www.palazzovecchio-museoragazzi.it
Museo del Bigallo This museum takes its name from the Greater Company of Saint Mary of Bigallo. It houses 14th century frescoes, including the Madonna della Misericordia from 1342, which contains the first known image of Florence, and priceless 14th and 15th century paintings, including a triptych by Daddi, paintings by Domenico di Michelino and the Master of San Miniato, and sculptures by the architect of the Loggia, Master Alberto Arnoldi. piazza San Giovanni, 1 open: Monday to Saturday 10.30-16.30, Sunday 10.30-13.30 Admission every hour, only by appointment, with tour guide 055 288496 bigallo@comune.fi.it closed: 1 January, 1 May, 25 December
www.comune.fi.it
Let’s open the memory box from May 2013 A series of meetings on the history of the Comune di Firenze, from its foundation in 1781, and guided visits to the Historic Archive of the Comune (Palazzo Bastogi, via dell’Oriuolo, 33-35) booking required 055 2616527
24
www.comune.fi.it/ archiviostorico
civic museums
Museo Stefano Bardini Stefano Bardini (1854-1922) created a museum in the building he bought in 1881 to house his antiques’ business. The recent renovation entirely reflects the character of the collection as it was when Bardini left it to the city of Florence in 1922. Among more than 2,000 paintings, sculptures and objects in the applied arts are Tino da Camaino’s Charity, Donatello’s Madonna dei Cordai, Antonio del Pollaiolo’s Michael Archangel, Guercino’s Atlas and Pietro Tacca’s famous bronze Porcellino. There is also an interesting collection of medallions, bronzes, oriental carpets, 15th-century marriage chests and the precious armoury.
Workshops for children see p. 42
via dei Renai, 37 open: Friday to Monday 11-17; group booking Tuesday to Thursday closed: 1 January, Easter, 1 May, 15 August, 25 December
www.museicivicifiorentini.it/bardini
Brancacci Chapel The 13th-century church of Santa Maria del Carmine houses the Brancacci Chapel, the masterpiece universally known for the frescoes of the cycle illustrating the Life of Saint Peter by Masaccio and Masolino. Executed in the years 1425-1427, the frescoes remained unfinished and were completed by Filippino Lippi between 1481 and 1482. A visit to the museum also includes the cloister and the Sala del Cenacolo housing the Last Supper by Alessandro Allori (1582).
piazza del Carmine, 14 open: Monday and Wednesday to Saturday 10-17; Sunday and mid-week holidays 13-17 closed: 1 January, 7 January, Easter, 1 May, 1 July, 15 August, 25 December
www.museicivicifiorentini.it/brancacci
Foundation Salvatore Romano The museum in the historic refectory of the monastery of Santo Spirito houses sculptures, architectural fragments and wall paintings, mainly medieval, donated to the city in 1946 by the antiquarian Salvatore Romano. piazza Santo Spirito, 29 open: Saturday to Monday 10-16 closed: 1 January, Easter, 1 May, 15 August, 25 December
www.museicivicifiorentini.it/romano
Santa Maria Novella Museum The monumental complex of Santa Maria Novella includes the church itself, the Cimitero degli Avelli, the cloisters decorated between the 14th and the 15th century – including the Chiostro Grande, il Chiostro dei Morti and the Chiostro Verde with important work by Paolo Uccello –, the Cappellone degli Spagnoli (Spanish Chapel), decorated with frescoes by Andrea di Bonaiuto, the Cappella degli Ubriachi and the Refectory with the late 16th-century work of Alessandro Allori. piazza Santa Maria Novella and piazza della Stazione, 4 open: Museum Monday to Thursday 9-17.30, Saturday 9-17, Sunday and holidays 12-17 (from July to September), 13-17 (from October to June). Chiostro Grande open according to a special calendar available on the website closed: 1 January, Easter, 1 May, 15 August, 25 December
www.museicivicifiorentini.it/smn
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri called Guercino, Atlas, 1646. Florence, Museo Stefano Bardini
restoration In progress, the restoration of the frescoes on the east side of the Chiostro Verde of Santa Maria Novella representing Stories from Genesis, executed by Paolo Uccello and his workshop in the first half of the 15th century.
Santa Maria Novella: from museum to monumental complex At the end of 2012 the singleadmission tour of the monument complex of Santa Maria Novella was created, making it possible to enter with a single ticket all the monumental areas of the Dominican complex and get an idea of the inseparable unity that once characterised it. A first important step towards a much improved presentation of the entire complex.
25
palazzo strozzi
exhibition
The Springtime of the Renaissance
www.palazzostrozzi.org
piazza Strozzi open: every day 9-20, Thursday 9-23
Sculpture and the Arts in Florence 1400-1460 curated by Beatrice Paolozzi Strozzi and Marc Bormand
Musée du Louvre 26 September 2013-6 January 2014
This exhibition sets out to illustrate the birth of the Renaissance in Florence by focusing in particular on masterpieces of sculpture, the first of the major arts to embody the new style. Following the rediscovery of Classical art by Nicola Pisano, Arnolfo di Cambio and their successors in the 13th and 14th centuries – and the assimilation of the expressive richness of Gothic – Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi each produced a panel depicting the Sacrifice of Isaac. These, winners of the competition for the second gate of the Baptistery, together with a model for the dome of the cathedral, marked the birth of the Renaissance and begin this exhibition. The great Humanists, such as Coluccio Salutati, Leonardo Bruni, Poggio Bracciolini, in their written works, used the Florentine Republic’s political achievements, its economic power and its social harmony to spread the myth of the city as the heir to Republican Rome and as a model for other Italian city states. The monumental public sculpture of Donatello, Ghiberti and Nanni di Banco for the cathedral and for Orsanmichele illustrates this cultural “revolution” and had a profound influence on painting and the decorative arts. Other Classical themes (ranging from the equestrian monument to the Humanist tomb, the playful theme of mischievous little “spirits” and the portrait bust) were assimilated and transformed in the new language of sculpture, reflecting both the spiritual and intellectual climate prevalent in the city and the creative fervour it engendered. Beatrice Paolozzi Strozzi
upcoming The Russian Avant-Garde, Siberia and the East 27 September 2013 19 January 2014
26
Palazzo Strozzi 23 March-18 August 2013
Exhibition Walkthrough The Legacy of the Fathers The new sculptural style of the Renaissance is rooted in the work of Nicola Pisano, who drew his inspiration from Classical finds placed in the Camposanto in Pisa. On show is the Talento Crater, which once stood outside Pisa cathedral, and sculptures by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, Arnolfo di Cambio, Tino di Camaino and their successors who worked on the construction site of Santa Reparata. The more strictly “Classical” and monumental style inspired by the sculpture of Nicola and Arnolfo sits alongside a Gothic vein introduced by the work of Giovanni Pisano and by French sculptures in circulation, which played a significant role that can still be detected in the work of Sienese sculptors such as Jacopo della Quercia and Francesco di Valdambrino. Florence 1401: The Dawn of the Renaissance The panels depicting the Sacrifice of Isaac submitted by Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi for a competition in 1401 to win the commission for the second set of doors for the Baptistry are a milestone in the history of art. While still imbued with the spirit of International Gothic, the two panels show that both young artists were familiar with the masterpieces of Classical sculpture. Brunelleschi was inspired by the famous Boy with Thorn and Ghiberti by the Torso of a Centaur. Beside the panels is the Wooden Model of the Dome which encapsulates the new vision of space and history that originated in Florence. Civic and Christian Romanitas At the beginning of the 15th century, the triumphs of the Republic were matched by the population’s growing pride in the city. The development of civic Humanism and the construction of the myth of Florence as a new Rome and a new Athens, albeit in a strongly Christian vein, were interpreted in public sculpture with statues of herosaints and prophets for the cathedral, and above all, in the large-scale figure sculpture for the niches of Orsanmichele and the statues for the bell-tower of Santa Maria del Fiore. “Spirits” both Sacred and Profane “Spirits”, childlike figures based on the Cupid figurines of Classical Rome, illustrate the dissemination of Classical art in Renaissance iconography, and the transition from paganism to Christianity in its significance. Easily identifiable with the angels of Christian tradition, these putti first appeared on tombs and, thanks primarily to the work of Donatello, gradually spread to other arts in the first half of the century.
Donatello, Protome Carafa, c. 1455. Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale. Photo Archivio dell’Arte/ Luciano Pedicini. Su concessione del Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali
Sculpture in Paint Large statues illustrate the importance of polychromy, often used by sculptors to increase their work’s expressiveness, and stand alongside paintings which endeavour to give a statuesque dimension to the painted figure. Andrea del Castagno’s series of Famous Men and Women forges a rapport between sculpture and painting, harking back to descriptions of Classical statues, at the same time playing in a sophisticated way on the ambiguity of the human form painted in space. History “in Perspective” The great revolution in perspective had a major impact on sculpture. Donatello’s predella, St. George and the Dragon, allows us to compare the stiacciato – flattened relief – technique in which he applied the principle of linear perspective to sculpture, drawing the composition together and suggesting spatial depth, with some emblematic paintings in the early depiction of perspective, and a number of drawings by Paolo Uccello, which develop motifs from Brunelleschi’s wooden inlay work. Well-known reliefs show how sculptors translated into sculpture the new laws governing the construction of space in accordance with the perspectiva artificialis, even heralding future developments. The Spread of Beauty From the second decade of the 15th century onwards the new artistic criteria and prototypes spread to many sectors of society, in the production of Madonnas and small altars for private devotion. The traditional hierarchical scale of materials became less important than the quality of a work’s execution. Terracotta embellished with colour and gold, began to rival precious marble and bronze, and, shortly before 1440, Luca della Robbia invented enamelled and glazed terracotta, destined for success thanks to their charm, their low cost and their resistance to the elements. Beauty and Charity. Hospital, Orphanages and Confraternities Numerous masterpieces were made for the city’s hospitals, pilgrim hospices, childcare institutions and confraternities where art played a social and educational role. The importance of this tie between the cult of beauty and the spirit of Christianity also came to the fore in works of art inspired by the Council of Florence (1439). Attended by Pope Eugene IV, the Patriarch of Constantinople and Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaeologus, dignitaries, Humanists and theologians, the event expressed Florence’s aspiration to be the “City of God” and sanctioned its political and moral primacy, reinforced by the rise of the Medici. From City to Palace. The New Patrons of the Arts Towards the middle of the 15th century an art concerned with depicting magnificence developed for the city’s oligarchy, heralding the birth of the portrait bust as a form of self-celebration. In Palazzo Medici, Cosimo the Elder and his son Piero launched a fashion for sumptuous art patronage; private citizens vied with the public sector for the privilege of granting the most prestigious commissions. The exhibition closes with the Model of Palazzo Strozzi, the most extravagant private building in 15th-century Florence, an ideal counterpoint to the Wooden Model of Brunelleschi’s Dome on display at the beginning of the exhibition.
palazzo strozzi
The Rebirth of the Condottieri Monumental equestrian statues are one of the Classical themes tackled by early Renaissance Florentine artists – although not in Florence itself, where the republican ideal was at odds with this aristocratic art form. Donatello’s Gattamelata in Padua was the first such monument in modern times, while his Protome Carafa, the surviving element of a Monument to Alfonso V of Aragon, testifies to the revival of the use of bronze to celebrate military virtue. The statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline Hill is echoed in Filarete’s small bronze, marking the birth of this new Renaissance genre exalting the activity of man and highlighting the value of the individual in history.
Palazzo Strozzi and the city: beyond the exhibition
Palazzo Strozzi aims to play the role of a catalyst for the city and its hinterland, each exhibition allowing visitors to appreciate Florence from a new perspective which is never the same twice Youth and adults at Palazzo Strozzi Touchscreen and Touchtable A rich programme of events, lectures, cour- The Touchscreen in the courtyard – now a ses and more with which to explore art in permanent feature of every exhibition – an enjoyable way, with something for eve- allows visitors to explore the architectural ryone and sculptural masterpieces of Early Renaissance Florence. The Touchtable on • Thursday Squared. A new way of experiencing Thursday evening at Palazzo the Piano Nobile allows visitors to explore two major restoration projects conducted Strozzi: on the second Thursday of every month, Palazzo Strozzi hosts a full evening especially for the exhibition: Donatello’s gilded bronze statue of Saint Louis of programme of events and activities Toulouse and the Saint Jerome in designed to let you experience the many different sides of art. Sip a cocktail at the terracotta. Major new discoveries were made during restoration in both instances. Renaissance Café in the atmospheric The other two screens invite you to play courtyard as you allow yourself to be with selected objects from the exhibition to drawn into the activities offered by the Creatives in the Courtyard, giving free rein discover new ways to explore art. Inspired by the famous book by André Malraux to your ideas, sharing them with others you can create your own ‘imaginary and creating an endless string of new museum’, grouping objects according to objects. Don’t miss the Acoustic Carpet! categories such as Love, Power, Joy, Palazzo Strozzi Courtyard second Thursday of the month (except from August) Lightness, Femininity, Courage, or inventing your own categories from 19.30. Information edu@palazzostrozzi.org Calendar on www.palazzostrozzi.org
Palazzo Strozzi Passport The Passport leads visitors on a journey of discovery to the places that witnessed the springtime of the Renaissance in Tuscany: buildings that are famous in their own right or that host masterpieces of painting every Thursday at 18 and more especially of sculpture, the • Interactive Rooms: the Reading Room is branch of art in which the new season first an open invitation to all visitors to stop, dawned. We also point visitors in the wind down and leaf through books direction of less celebrated places and relevant to the show. The room has been others which one might call “new entries”, designed to recall the studiolo of a late such as the former convent of Santa Maria Renaissance collector; it even contains degli Angeli where the marble inscription small bronze statuettes for you to touch; in of Ghiberti’s Shrine of the Martyrs, the Cast Court you are invited to use your thought to be lost, was recently hands to explore plaster casts of sculptural rediscovered masterpieces. Tactile observation allows you to appreciate the shape of Renaissance Machiavelli from the Signorie works and to gain a better understanding to Globalisation Cycle of conversations organised by the of how they were made Fondazione Cesifin in conjunction with the • Please Touch Tour: sculpture is the art that best lends itself to tactile exploration. Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi
• Thursdays at Palazzo Strozzi: Palazzo Strozzi stays open until 23. From 18 free admission to the Strozzina and special ticket 2x1 to the exhibition The Springtime of the Renaissance
An exhibition illustrating the dawn of the Renaissance in Florence, especially through the art of sculpture, had to have an itinerary for the visually impaired allowing visitors to discover some of the works through touch and to have a complex emotional experience. Each participant is given a pair of gloves with which they can delicately touch the Altar Frontal by Pagno di Lapo Portigiani and Michelozzo from the Museo Bardini in Florence, the better to appreciate its shapes and its surface first Tuesday of the month at 18.30. In Italian only free activities with exhibition entry ticket booking required for the Please Touch Tour 055 2469600 fax 055 244145 prenotazioni@cscsigma
Guided tours Guided tours of the former monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli and of the ANMIG offices; of the Ciglia & Carrai Foundry in Cascine del Riccio; of the Restoration Laboratories of the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore Thursday for Young People Florentine high-school students from the Liceo Artistico Statale Leon Battista Alberti and the Liceo Linguistico Piero Calamandrei in Sesto Fiorentino become guides for a night in the exhibitions The Springtime of the Renaissance and An Idea of Beauty
Altana, Palazzo Strozzi 8, 15, 22 and 29 May 2013 at 18
Conferences on the Renaissance A cycle of six encounters with leading scholars in the most symbolic venues of the Florentine Renaissance, to allow visitors to experience and to explore one of the most extraordinary eras in the city’s history in a superbly atmospheric setting. The encounters are held before Masaccio’s Trinity in Santa Maria Novella, in the Brunelleschi’s Hall in the Spedale degli Innocenti, in the Old Sacristy in San Lorenzo, in the Pazzi Chapel in Santa Croce, beneath the Cathedral dome and in the Courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi
Families at Palazzo Strozzi exhibition related activities for families see pp. 42-43 and 45
27
in the now
Centre for Contemporary Culture Strozzina Created in 2007 as part of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, the Centre houses exhibition projects of contemporary art which explore themes and modes of expression with an interdisciplinary approach through meetings with artists, debates, conferences, workshops and video projections. The Strozzina programme expressly centers on the artistic developments of recent years, favouring multimedia projects and relational and interactive forms of art. Palazzo Strozzi, piazza Strozzi open: Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday to Sunday 10-20, Thursday 10-23 closed: Monday The Strozzina ticket is valid for a month; a special ticket gives entry to both exhibitions in the Palazzo
www.strozzina.org www.palazzostrozzi.org
exhibition
An Idea of Beauty
events linked to the exhibition
Vanessa Beecroft, Chiara Camoni, Andreas Gefeller, Alicja Kwade, Jean-Luc Mylayne, Isabel Rocamora, Anri Sala and Wilhelm Sasnal curated by Franziska Nori 29 March-28 July 2013 The exhibition, through an exploration of the work of eight contemporary international artists, stimulates reflection on one of the dominating themes in the history of art, the need for beauty, its function, its value and its purpose. Today's world is the heir to a historical and philosophical process that has separated art from beauty, in the sense of a conventional synonym for harmony or as the expression of a world vision incapable of expressing the complexity and inconsistency of the modern era. Rediscovering an idea of beauty today means adopting a different approach to our experience of reality, to our search for a value, for a spiritual moment or for exploring an intellectual intuition in greater depth. Thus beauty arises anew from our ability to rethink of our customary way of seeing it, of grasping it and of recognising it even in a mundane object, moment or gesture. In visiting this exhibition, the public will be confronted with works of art soliciting their physical and emotional participation. The artists highlight the subjective nature of the way a person views art, triggering individual responses in visitors that can become a tool for forging new connections with other people and with the world at large. On the one hand they address and revisit such traditional artistic techniques and genres as the themes of landscape and the human figure, while on the other it is almost as though they are attempting to listen to nature, capturing its moments and its fragments, or reflecting on the power of beauty in its social dimension or in its capacity to transform.
Guided tours Free guided tours, looking in depth at the work on show and its artists. every Saturday and Sunday at 16.30 no booking required Thursday for Young People A special occasion to visit the exhibition with new eyes, listening to the students’ points of view on a selection of works on display. 16 May and 6 June at 20-22 Take Part in Art A creative workshop for families with children aged 6 and up at the Biblioteca delle Oblate. For calendar see p. 42 For full schedule of activities consult the website www.strozzina.org
Workshops for children see pp. 42-43
Wilhelm Sasnal, Kacper, 2009, oil on canvas, 85x105 cm. Courtesy the artist, photo Marek Gardulski
Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci The purpose of the Centro Pecci is to interpret and display the cutting edge in international contemporary art. In addition to the permanent collection of works, the Centre periodically stages temporary exhibitions, workshops and events. viale della Repubblica, 277, Prato open: Monday and Wednesday to Friday 10-19, 1 January 15-19 closed: 25 and 31 December The permanent collection is closed for works until the end of 2013
www.centropecci.it
Ettore Sottsass, Pianeta Fresco, 1967
Libri di Ettore Sottsass curated by Giorgio Maffei and Bruno Tonini CID/Visual Arts Rooms 24 March-2 June 2013 The artist’s books of the father of radical architecture express his prolific inventiveness, presenting what he wrote, illustrated and curated from 1947 to 2006.
La figurazione inevitabile curated by Marco Bazzini and Davide Ferri Exhibition Rooms 24 March-8 July 2013 The retrospective on new names in painting from the 1990s to today illustrates various aspects of portrayal understood as an unrenounceable approach and consequence of the hiatus produced between painting, representation and narration.
Paolo Scheggi
Intercamera plastica e altre storie in collaboration with the Collezione Peggy Guggenheim, Venice Lounge/Project Room 24 March-8 July 2013 One of the foremost experimenters of the stylistic innovations introduced by Lucio Fontana, the Settignano artist who died prematurely, famous for his Intersuperfici, ranged widely in his work, even touching on the practice of architecture. Intercamera plastica (1967), now donated to the museum by the artist’s family, is shown in its new presentation and documented through the photographs of Ugo Mulas and Ada Ardessi, direct witnesses of Paolo Scheggi’s work.
Museo Marino Marini An exhibition space devoted to contemporary art. The collection of the artist Marino Marini’s own works is permanently on show, along with exhibits, and in-depth learning and training activities. piazza San Pancrazio open: Monday and Wednesday to Saturday 10-17 closed: Tuesday, Sunday, holidays and August
www.museomarinomarini.it
in the now
exhibitions
events
Artlands Spring 2013
The project, which aims to promote the reconstructions of ecological systems carried out by the biologist Carlo Scoccianti, focusing on new projectual and artistic intervention criteria linked to the landscape and ecology, continues with a series of meetings. Taking part in the meetings are important speakers from abroad, including Barry Bergdoll, Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at MoMa.
Festival delle colline June-July 2013
Music festival organised by the Comune di Poggio a Caiano, Regione Toscana, Provincia di Prato in collaboration with the Comuni of the Florentine area.
exhibitions
Early one morning
Preziosa 2013
Matthew Brannon e Nicola Martini
Un Certain Regard
curated by Alberto Salvadori 20 April-8 June 2013 A new work by the American Matthew Brannon, using installations and graphic works, alongside work by the young Florentine artist Nicola Martini.
curated by Maria Cristina Bergesio 20 June-21 July 2013 Contemporary jewellery by David Bielander, Sigurd Bronger, Sophie Hanagarth, Suska Mackert, Philip Sajet and Karin Seufert, organised by Le Arti Orafe.
29
in the now
Places for contemporary art Fondazione Studio Marangoni
Switch Creative Social Network
The FSM fosters the art and teaching of contemporary photography with courses, workshops and conferences. The FSM also organises exhibitions in Italy and abroad.
Urban creativity, musical experimentation and artistic entertainment. Switch offers meetings with musicians, deejays, urban writers and digital artists in a continual dialogue with the development of the city.
via San Zanobi, 32r and 19r
www.studiomarangoni.it
via Scipio Slapater, 2
Fondazione Pitti Immagine Discovery Fashion, visual arts, cinema, photography, advertising, architecture and music all come together in Florence in the events organised by Pitti Immagine. via Faenza, 111
www.pittimmagine.com Stazione Leopolda, viale Fratelli Rosselli, 5
Cantieri Goldonetta
6-26 April 2013 Fondazione Studio Marangoni
Urban creativity, musical experimentation and artistic entertainment. Switch offers meetings with musicians, deejays, urban writers and digital artists in a continual dialogue with the development of the city. via Santa Maria, 23-25
Villa Romana
Base
www.villaromana.org
Musicus Concentus Explores the new scene in electronic music, offering concerts and other musical encounters throughout Tuscany.
21 March-31 May 2013 Base
Photographs, Stefano Rovai
www.cango.fi.it
via Senese, 68
Michael Sailstorfer
www.switchproject.net
www.stazione-leopolda.com A centre of independent artistic production. Every year it provides hospitality for four German artists whose works are presented in an exhibition at the end of their residency. The Villa also organises workshops and symposiums and a full programme of exhibitions and events dedicated to contemporary art.
calendar of exhibitions and events
Al Intithar (L’Attesa) One-man show, Mario Rizzi 10 April-24 May 2013 Villa Romana
Lapsus
Cultural association and art gallery, supports in-depth research and collaboration with international artists.
curated by Marinella Paderni in collaboration with Celeste Prize 17 May-8 June 2013 Fondazione Studio Marangoni
www.baseitaly.org
Auction in support of the Fondazione Studio Marangoni
Tempo Reale
23-24 May 2013 Museo Marino Marini
via San Niccolò, 18r
European reference point for research, production and education in new music technologies. It collaborates with Tuscan music festivals, offering performances by international artists who explore the confines of auditory experience.
Corso Triennale di Fotografia Final work, 1st and 2nd year students 25 June-12 July 2013 Fondazione Studio Marangoni
Villa Strozzi, via Pisana, 77 (in attesa del trasferimento nella nuova sede a Forte Belvedere)
www.temporeale.it
piazza del Carmine, 19
Fondazione Fabbrica Europa per le Arti Contemporanee This cultural festival takes place in May in the Stazione Leopolda and other spaces in the city. On the programme are theatrical performances, concerts, dance, workshops and discussion.
Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze A prestigious institution, founded in 1784, today committed to developing the creative potential of its young students with university level courses.
photo Hank Willis Thomas
www.musicusconcentus.com
via Ricasoli, 66
www.accademia.firenze.it
borgo degli Albizi, 15
alinari museum
www.ffeac.org
he MNAF (Alinari National Photographic Museum), managed by the Fratelli Alinari Fondazione per la Storia della Fotografia (Alinari Brothers Foundation for the History of Photography), includes a space for temporary exhibitions of historical and contemporary photography and a permanent exhibition space devoted to the history and the techniques of photography. A particular feature of the museum is the Museo Tattile (Tactile Museum) for the blind: for the first time, a museum space devoted to photography includes specially designed braille supports for ‘reading’ the works.
T
piazza Santa Maria Novella, 14a red open: Thursday to Tuesday 10-18.30 closed: August
www.mnaf.it
upcoming Paris des Rêves
30
see p. 44
Joel-Peter Witkin
Il Maestro dei suoi Maestri curated by Baudoin Lebon 21 March-23 June 2013 An exhibition of about 80 recent works by Witkin (New York, 1939), known for his provocative photographs in which the glory of the human body is combined with misery, soul-seeking with religious unease. Applying the painter’s compositional methodology, he reviews western mythology and European art, mixing classical sculpture, baroque and neoclassical art with great photographers such as Muybridge, Rejlander and Holland Day. © Joel-Peter Witkin, Prudence, 1996
Maria Orioli 26 June-31 July 2013
Izis Bidermanas Workshops for children
exhibitions
18 September 2013 6 January 2014
Since the 1960s, during her travels from Italy to China, Morocco, Ireland, France and Russia, Maria Orioli has used a Rollei Tesser to portray landscapes, monuments and people with an approach that is realistic but also suspended in time. The exhibition features about 90 photographs on the occasion of Alinari’s recent acquisition of the photographer’s archive.
The museum was created in 1975 within the Istituto Tecnico Industriale Tessile Tullio Buzzi, as a cultural institution aimed at conserving the memory of local industrial production and acting as material support in the study of industrial textile design. via Santa Chiara, 24, Prato open: Monday and Wednesday to Friday 10-15, Saturday 10-19, Sunday 15-19
www.museodeltessuto.it
Vintage
exhibition
L’irresistibile fascino del tessuto until 30 May 2013 The story of vintage fashion, illustrated in a thematic exhibition recounting how “second-hand” clothes have, over time become a phenomenon. This confirms the fact that fashion increasingly plays with legacies of the past: from the medieval practice of readapting clothes and fabrics to the exemplary case of Prato, with the process of recycled wool, and second-hand shops selling military uniforms and vintage denim, from worn garments symbolising protest for 20th-century youth, to the revival of luxury brand icons and the vintage craze among international celebrities.
Museo Roberto Capucci Housed in Villa Bardini, the museum opened in 2007 with the aim of making Capucci’s work better known through thematic exhibitions. The rotating exhibitions use the rich archive of the Fondazione Roberto Capucci which, since 1951, includes 450 creations, 300 illustrations, 22,000 sketches, 20 notebooks, 150 audiovisual sources, 50,000 photographs and 50,000 press articles. costa San Giorgio, 2 open: Tuesday to Sunday 10-19 closed: 1 January, 25 December
www.fondazionerobertocapucci.com
exhibition
Dalle mani di Roberto Capucci: tessuti da plasmare until 31 December 2013 27 creations highlight Capucci’s approach to various materials, impalpable flowing forms, silhouettes crafted by the lines of repeated forms and almost sculptural rigidities. In the first section are dresses in the peplos style and cascading one-shoulder dresses in jersey and georgette, while the fabrics take on undulating forms and volumes becoming more pronounced in the Calla sculpture-dress, presented in 1956. The second section comprises small jackets and boleros; the more sculptural dimension is seen in the black and white bolero in gazaar worked into a tube effect, resembling the form of a caterpillar, presented in 1985. In the third section are creations with complex volumes, rigid drapes, waves, spirals and volutes, panier effects, scalloped hems, inlays in relief and rouches challenging the linearity of taffetas and velvets, sauvage and shantung, georgette and organza.
Cindy Sherman Untitled (Murder Mystery People), 1976-2000, black and white photograph, 25,4 x 20,3 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Metro Pictures © Cindy Sherman
Museo Salvatore Ferragamo The collection of footwear on exhibition at this museum, inaugurated in 1995, documents the entire working life of Salvatore Ferragamo, from his return to Italy in 1927 until his death in 1960. The collection is enhanced by post-1960 production: every year, several contemporary models are given places in the Archivio Salvatore Ferragamo, from which the museum selects the materials for exhibition. piazza di Santa Trinita, 5r open: Wednesday to Monday 10-18; in August, Monday to Saturday 10-13, 14-18 closed: 1 January, 1 May, 15 August, 25 December
www.museoferragamo.it
fashion museums and archives
Textiles Museum of Prato
Museo Gucci Opened in the historic Palazzo della Mercanzia, the museum offers a dynamic and interactive display on three floors, using objects, documents and pictures of the well-known fashion house founded in 1921 in Florence. piazza della Signoria open: every day 10-20 closed: 1 January, 15 August, 25 December
www.guccimuseo.com
exhibition
Cindy Sherman. Early Works
curated by Francesca Amfitheatrof until 9 June 2013
Cindy Sherman is a pioneer of photography as an art form. She is both the actor and director in her work, interpreting the lives of others by transforming herself with make-up and clothes. The three series we show here – selected from her formative years – illustrate the mechanics of her working methodology and demonstrate the link between film and performance, vital in her narrative method. In Murder Mystery People and Bus Riders (1976-2000), the originals of which have been lost and have been reprinted by the artist, stereotypical characters tell the story of the love of a Thirties actress for the director of an imaginary Hollywood murder mystery, in the first, and interpret classic types who travelled about on the Buffalo Metro Bus, in the second. Doll Clothes, an example of Sherman’s deep involvement with issues of gender and sexual identity, is an animation she made while still in college, embodying society and women’s confrontation with conformity, structure and identity.
31
ecrf exhibition area
he exhibition area, recently opened on the ground floor of the historic headquarters of the Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze, represents a new point of reference for Florentines, and an added asset for Florence, just a stone’s throw from the Duomo and the the main sites of artistic and cultural interest scattered throughout the city’s historic centre. The venue hosts prestigious exhibitions and cultural events.
T
via Bufalini, 6
www.entecarifirenze.it
exhibition
Porcellane e Cappelli fioriti da Firenze nel mondo
L’Art Nouveau della Richard Ginori in collezioni private fiorentine ‘Chapeaux de paille d’Italie’ curated by Pierluigi Ciantelli and Roberto Lunardi
8 March-30 May 2013
The double exhibition, promoted by ECRF and OmA (Associazione Osservatorio dei Mestieri d’Arte) features two examples of Tuscan artistic craftsmanship at its best. ‘L’Art Nouveau della Richard Ginori in collezioni private fiorentine’ presents objects from Florentine private collections made by the Richard-Ginori Factory of Doccia between the early 20th century and the end of the First World War, pieces characterised by a highly refined floral style in vivid colours. This exhibition is flanked by ‘Chapeaux de paille d’Italie’, a selection of straw hats from the workshops of Signa. The factory was established in 1714 by Domenico Michelacci, who exported his hats throughout the Western world from the port of Livorno. Widespread in the English-speaking world and in France already before the Unification of Italy, they were the first real example in modern times of a ‘made in Italy’ product, while Signa became the centre of the world’s main area for hat production. By the mid-19th century 150,000 people were involved in the business, and even today Signa is internationally acclaimed for its quality due to the constant commitment of extremely well-known businesses employing hundreds of highly specialised workers.
medici villas
open: Monday to Friday 9-19, Saturday and Sunday 10-13 and 15-19. Free entrance Guided visits upon reservation: mromagnolo@hotmail.it 338 5901744
exhibition Capolavori in Valtiberina Da Piero della Francesca a Burri
in various museums in Valtiberina 22 June-3 November 2013 Piero della Francesca, Rosso Fiorentino, Raphael, Donatello, Jacopo della Quercia and Alberto Burri are among the artists featured in the 9th edition of the ‘Piccoli Grandi Musei’ project regarding Tuscany and Umbria. The Valtiberina initiative involves, among others, the museums of Sansepolcro and Anghiari, the Museo della Madonna del Parto in Monterchi, the Museo Michelangiolesco of Caprese Michelangelo, the Antiquarium Nazionale of Sestino, the civic museums of Umbertide and Montone, the Museum of Citerna, the Castello Bufalini in San Giustino, and at Città di Castello the Collezione Burri, the Pinacoteca Civica, the Museo Diocesano, the Tela Umbra Textile Collection and the Centro di documentazione Arti Grafiche “Grifani-Donati”. The project aims to promote art and culture in the areas where the museums are located and from which projects are launched, encouraging the discovery of local artistic workmanship, the food and wine tradition and all expressions of uniqueness and excellence. www.piccoligrandimusei.it
Parco mediceo di Pratolino Villa Demidoff
Villa medicea di Castello
The Medici villa, designed by Buontalenti and demolished in 1822, was inside a large park that, with its water games, automatons and fountains, was imitated all over Europe. The existing Villa Demidoff was adapted from the paggeria while the transformation of the garden into an English park was carried out by Joseph Fritsch in the Lorraine period. to see: the park with its centuries-old trees; the Colossus of the Apennines and the Mugnone grotto (Giambologna), the Cupid grotto (Buontalenti, 1577), the Casino di Montili (Cambray Digny, c. 1820) and the chapel on a hexagonal plan (Buontalenti, 1580).
The villa is one of the oldest Medici family suburban residences, altered, with its garden, in the 16th century, under the supervision of Tribolo, Vasari and Buontalenti. to see: the terraced garden, considered by Vasari to be one of the most magnificent in Europe, is well worth the visit, as are Ammannati’s Fountain of Hercules and Antaeus and the Grotta degli Animali.
via Fiorentina, 282 - Loc. Pratolino, Comune di Vaglia open: from April to October. In April and October, Sunday and holidays 10-17; in May and September, Saturday, Sunday and holidays 10-18; from June to August, Saturday, Sunday and holidays 10-19. Groups of residents and visitors can request to see the central area of the park on days when the park is generally closed: parcpra@provincia.fi.it 055 409427
www.provincia.fi.it/pratolino
Villa medicea di Poggio a Caiano
The villa, built to a plan by Giuliano da Sangallo, reflects the humanist trends in architecture inspired by classical antiquity (1485-1492); it was completed in the 16th century under Giovanni, later Pope Leo X. to see: frescoes by Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo, Franciabigio and Alessandro Allori; Still Life Museum with over 200 paintings dating from the 16th to the 18th century and belonging to the Medici collections. piazza Medici, 14, Poggio a Caiano open: every day, from November to February 8.15-16.30, in March and October 8.15-17.30 (official summer time 18.30), in April, May, September 8.15-18.30, from June to August 8.15-19.30; Still Life Museum booking required 055 877012, unguided accompanied visits, every hour, begin at 9 (excluding lunchtime between 13 and 14) closed: 2nd and 3rd Monday of the month, 1 January, 1 May, 25 December
www.polomuseale.firenze.it/musei/poggiocaiano
via di Castello, 47, Castello, Firenze open: from November to February 8.15-16.30, in March 8.15-17.30, in April, May, September, October 8.15-18.30, from June to August 8.15-19.30 closed: 2nd and 3rd Monday of the month, 1 January, 1 May, 25 December
www.polomuseale.firenze.it/musei/villacastello
Villa medicea della Petraia The building came into the possession of Ferdinando in the second half of the 16th century and was modified by Giulio Parigi in the 17th century. to see: the interior decoration and 19th-century furnishings and interesting decoration; the ballroom with frescoes by Volterrano (17th century); the formal garden planned by Niccolò Tribolo and the fountain with Giambologna’s Fiorenza, transferred from the Villa di Castello. via della Petraia, 40 - Loc. Castello, Firenze open: every day, from November to February 8.15-16.30, in March 8.15-17.30, in April, May, September, October 8.15-18.30, from June to August 8.15-19.30 closed: 2nd and 3rd Monday of the month, 1 January, 1 May, 25 December
www.polomuseale.firenze.it/musei/petraia
Villa medicea di Cerreto Guidi The villa was built in 1556 as a hunting residence to a plan attributed to Bernardo Buontalenti. to see: furniture, Medici portraits and 14 lunettes by Justus Utens showing Medici villas at the time of Ferdinando I; Historic Museum of Hunting and the Countryside. via dei Ponti Medicei, 7, Cerreto Guidi open: every day, 8.15-19 closed: 2nd and 3rd Monday of the month, 1 January, 1 May, 25 December
www.polomuseale.firenze.it/musei/cerretoguidi
5 March-28 May 2013 Seven musical aperitifs with students from the Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini, who offer concerts of classical and contemporary music, solo recitals, chamber music, jazz and opera Booking required 055 20066206 mg.geri@bardinipeyron.it
bardini villa and garden
A musical aperitif at Villa Bardini
he Fondazione Parchi Monumentali Bardini e Peyron was established in 1998 by the Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze in the wake of the project to revive the properties of the Bardini inheritance that had been acquired and restored. Since 2008 the Villa has not only housed the monographic museum dedicated to the artist Pietro Annigoni, but has also, and in this it surpasses the classic dimension of a ‘closed’ museum, been an exhibition centre for temporary events and scientific research, focusing particularly on the historical period between the late 19th and early 20th century. The Museo Capucci (see p. 31) and the Società Italiana di Orticoltura are also based on these premises.
T
Museo Annigoni via dei Bardi, 1r; costa San Giorgio, 2 open: Tuesday to Sunday 10-18 from November to March; 10-19 from April to October. closed: Monday, 1 January, 1 May, 25 December
Bardini Garden via dei Bardi, 1r; costa San Giorgio, 2 open: every day 8.15-16.30 in January, February, November and December; 8.15-17.30 in March; 8.15-18.30 in April, May, September and October; 8.15-19.30 in June, July and August closed: 1st and last Monday of the month, 1 January, 1 May, 25 December For times and events see:
www.bardinipeyron.it
exhibition
Da Boldini a De Pisis Firenze accoglie i capolavori di Ferrara curated by Carlo Sisi
until 19 May 2013 Masterpieces from the Gallerie d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea of Ferrara were moved to Florence for safety following the earthquake of 2012. As well as the 35 paintings and sculptures exhibited at Palazzo Pitti (see p. 6), Villa Bardini houses 26 works that document the Ferrarese collections, beginning with the historic Romanticism of Gaetano Turchi, Massimiliano Lodi, Girolamo Domenichini and Giovanni Pagliarini, followed by the self-portraits of local artists – from Giuseppe Mentessi to Giovanni Boldini – and arriving at the symbolism of Gaetano Previati with his masterpiece Paolo e Francesca (1909). The exhibition continues with a nucleus of works by Boldini in a now mature style. The choice of Villa Bardini for Boldini’s more glamorous works is inspired by their links with the collection of Roberto Capucci’s creations housed in the villa. Giovanni Boldini, La signora in rosa, 1916. Ferrara, Museo Giovanni Boldini
open: Tuesday to Sunday 10-19
www.daboldiniadepisis.it
33
natural history and anthropology museums
he Imperial and Royal Museum of Physics and Natural History, was founded in 1775 by Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Hapsburg Lorraine to collect together natural artefacts and scientific instruments, previously kept in the Uffizi Gallery. It is commonly called “La Specola”, recalling the Astronomical Observatory which was completed in 1789. The institute now consists of six sections, or museums, located in palazzi throughout the centre of Florence, where items of quite exceptional naturalistic and scientific value are preserved. These include 16th-century herbals, rare 18th-century waxworks, fossilised skeletons of elephants and collections of brightly coloured butterflies, giant crystals of tourmaline, Aztec artefacts, majestic wooden sculptures and even the largest flower in the world. The museums represent an impressive universe of nature, history, science and art.
T
Administrative offices: via Giorgio La Pira, 4
www.msn.unifi.it
Mineralogy and Lithology Collections of minerals, rocks and gems. Not to be missed is the large topaz crystal and an aquamarine weighing almost 1 kilo. Videos and innovative educational multi-media graphics describe and illustrate the museum’s collections. via Giorgio La Pira, 4
Geology and Palaeontology Fossils of vertebrates found in Tuscany over two centuries, illustrating the palaeontological history of the region, its palaeogeography and evolution of marine and terrestrial fauna. On display is the skeleton of the oldest primate found in Tuscany. via Giorgio La Pira, 4 open: from October to May Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9-13, Saturday and Sunday 10-17; from June to September Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 10-13, Saturday and Sunday 10-18 closed: 1 January, Easter, 1 May, 15 August, 25 December
Botany This is the most important Italian scientific institution for the collection and preservation of plants. The museum houses some exceptional herbals, and artistic and didactic collections which include the still life paintings of Bartolomeo Bimbi and wax models of plants, fruits and mushrooms made in the 18th and 19th century. via Giorgio La Pira, 4 open: admission with reservation and guided tour only 055 2346760
Anthropology and Ethnology
Botanical gardens The Botanical Gardens originated in 1545 as a garden of medicinal plants. Today it covers an area of 3 hectares, with thematic flower-beds, hot-houses and greenhouses. Itineraries are available for the blind, based on touch and smell. The gardens are also home to some monumental trees, several of which are over 300 years old. via Pier Antonio Micheli, 3 open: from April to 15 October Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 10-19, from 16 October to March Saturday to Monday 10-17 closed: 1 January, Easter, 1 May, 15 August, 25 December
The oldest items come from the Medici collections and the 18th-century collection of James Cook, while others were collected by researchers and scientists in the 19th and 20th century. The American Indians, Lapland, Siberia and Indonesia are all represented in separate sections. The collection of musical instruments is significant. via del Proconsolo, 12 open: from October to May Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9-13, Saturday and Sunday 10-17; from June to September Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 10-13, Saturday and Sunday 10-18 closed: 1 January, Easter, 1 May, 15 August, 25 December
Villa Il Gioiello via Pian dei Giullari, 17 Biomedica viale G.B. Morgagni, 85
exhibitions
museum of mathematics
open: by appointment with guided tour only 055 2346760
Tropicalia
he Giardino di Archimede is a museum, the first of its kind, dedicated entirely to mathematics and its applications. It is organised into a number of interrelated sections, each of which functions as an independent exhibition: Beyond the Compass, dedicated to the geometry of curves; Pythagoras and his Theorem; Mathematics in Italy 1800-1950; A Bridge on the Mediterranean. Leonardo Pisano, Arab Science and the Rebirth of Mathematics in the West; A Little History of Infinitesimal Calculus; Mathematics in the Past through Stamps; Helping Nature. From Galileo’s Le Meccaniche to Daily Life; Education for the Masses. Mathematical games and passtimes.
T
via San Bartolo a Cintoia, 19/a open: from 16 May to 30 September Monday to Friday 9-13; from 1 October to 15 May Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9-13, Tuesday and Thursday 9-13 and 14-17, Sunday 15-19 closed: holidays and August
Il mio Tropico “La Specola” until 14 April 2013 Drawings, watercolours and paintings by Daniele Ballerini, an architect and painter who lived for a long time in the Caribbean. His works show the striking contrast between European and tropical colours: birds moving about in the branches, reptiles and frogs hidden under the ferns and in the primordial mud, fish swimming in the turquoise water.
In cammino nel tempo
Ko phiripè e vaktesa Fotografie di Massimo D’Amato
www.archimede.ms
event
Festival of Mathematics 8-20 April 2013 The second edition is dedicated to Archimedes, born 2,300 years ago. The Museum of Mathematics organises at the Oblate an exhibition on Greek mathematics featuring the inventions, ideas and discoveries of the most important Greek exponents and presents classic problems and the curves used to solve them (see p. 17).
Anthropology and Ethnology 2 March-21 May 2013 The exhibition describes the cultural and religious characteristics of the Rom people of Kosovaran and Macedonian origin present for some decades in the Florence area, tracing through photography the profile of an identity imported from a native land into another social context. open: Thursday to Tuesday 9.30-13, Saturday and Sunday 10-17
operative as an observatory in 1807, in the Napoleonic age. Exhibited in the recently restored rooms are the telescopes used in the first half of the 19th century by astronomers like Giovan Battista Amici. In the centre of the upper octagonal room, where we can admire a spectacular all-round view of the city, is the telescope presented by Tito Gonnella at the Third Congress of Italian Scientists in 1841. This innovative instrument saw the substitution of the second mirror, typical of the Newtonian optical system, with a reflecting prism that improved the telescope’s luminosity by about 10%. Descending to the lower floor we come to the Sala della Meridiana, also called the Sala delle Cicogne because of the large stucco birds designed by Giuseppe Martelli around 1840 decorating the supports of the ceiling beams. Here we can see, on the floor, an 18th-century sundial and three telescopes, including the brass one of the London firm Dollond used by Giovan Battista Donati in Spain for measuring the height of solar protuberances during the total eclipse of 18 July 1860. One of the cabinets in the room is dedicated to Jean-louis Pons who, from being an illiterate mountain boy, taken on as a custodian at the observatory of Marseilles, rose to become one of the most celebrated astronomers (discovering 37 comets) and directed the Torrino from 1824 to 1831. In the lower octagonal room is the conical telescope with which Donati carried out some of the earliest astrophysical research in the world, before moving the observatory to Arcetri. Here also are precious pieces documenting scientific activity in the 17th and 18th centuries: minerals from the Niccolò Stenone collection, models of fruit in terracotta of the Dutch naturalist Georg Everhard Rumpf; ethnographical finds collected by James Cook during his third journey in the Pacific (1776-1779), life-sized plants and fruits made by the museum’s waxcraft workshop, in addition to some collections acquired in the 19th century, like the herbarium of Andrea Cesalpino (1563) – one of the oldest in the world – and that of Philip Barker Webb, the Targioni Tozzetti collection and that of the Florentine botanist Pier Antonio Micheli. Among the curiosities a pair of leonine monkeys, brought back from an expedition to Amazonia by the botanist Giuseppe Raddi (1817). Lastly, two still lifes by Bartolomeo Bimbi reveal the close link between art and science in Medicean Florence.
natural history and anthropology museums
The Torrino focus della Specola The forty-metre high Torrino became
“La Specola”
To be visited are the Skeleton Hall, with skulls and complete skeletons of ancient and extinct animals, Galileo’s Tribune (1841), rooms devoted to zoology, providing an almost complete panorama of existing animals as well as a large number now extinct or in danger of extinction, the collection of anatomical waxes of great scientific and artistic interest, and the Torrino. The visit ends with the exhibition of crystals including Adalberto Giazotto’s collection (until 30 June 2013).
via Romana, 17 open: Tuesday to Sunday from October to May 9.30-16.30; from June to September 10.30-17.30; Skeleton Hall admission with reservation 055 2346760 closed: Easter, 1 May, 15 August Rooms XXV, XXVI and XXXI-XXXIV, containing wax collections, are closed for works
Sundial, “La Specola”
On the floor of the Sala delle Cicogne is a sundial in marble, copper and silver with zodiac signs in scagliola made in 1784 by the astronomer Giuseppe Slop. The ‘camera oscura’ sundial was equipped with a metal wire stretched taut a few centimetres from the ground which was used to measure the passage of the sun on the local meridian. The gnomonic hole on the frame of a small door, together with a series of blocks placed at regular intervals along the meridian, suggests the use of another unusual instrument, the ‘quarantale’, which made it possible to use the sundial at night: a small telescope moving along two tracks anchored to the blocks observed a star passing on the meridian through the open window, projecting the image on the meridian line.
open: 2nd Saturday of the month for guided visit only, at 10.30 and 11.30 The sundial in the Sala delle Cicogne
35
house museums
Museo di Casa Martelli
Palazzo Martelli, which became a State museum in 1999, was opened to the public in 2009 to make available for general viewing the historic home and artistic collections of this noble family. At the beginning of the 16th century the Martelli, bankers and allies of the Medici, bought a property that was to grow in the following years. Since the 17th century the first floor has housed an art collection that today retains its original arrangement. This house museum is, therefore, not the result of a posthumous reconstruction but derives from the centuries-old stratification of a family’s life. via Zannetti, 8 open: Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning by appointment
www.polomuseale.firenze.it/musei/ casamartelli
The Association of the Friends of the Museums of Palazzo Davanzati and Casa Martelli is organising a calendar of events to promote the two museums www.amicidavanzatimartelli.it
Palazzo Davanzati or Museum of the Florentine House An almost unique example of a typical Florentine house, which developed out of the medieval tower and preceded the appearance of the Renaissance palace. Built in the mid-14th century by the Davizzi family, it passed to the Bartolini and then in 1578 to the Davanzati who owned it until the late 1800s. In 1904 it was bought by the antique dealer Elia Volpi who restored the palace and furnished it with items from his collection. The palazzo was later bought by the State and opened to the public in 1956. The furnishings, paintings, tapestries and items of everyday use effectively recreate the interior of a noble Florentine house as it would have been from the 14th to the 17th century. There are also numerous paintings with secular and religious subjects including the tondo decorated with the Gioco del Civettino (Game of the Fop) by Giovanni di ser Giovanni known as lo Scheggia. Sculptures include Antonio Rossellino’s Bust of a young man. Of great interest is the collection of ceramics and majolica (14th-18th century) and the rare wall decorations, such as those in the Sala dei Pappagalli and the bedroom of the Castellana di Vergy. via Porta Rossa, 13 open: every day 8.15-13.50; the second and third floors are accessible by appointment 055 2388610 closed: 2nd and 4th Sunday, 1st, 3rd and 5th Monday of the month, 1 January, 1 May, 25 December
www.polomuseale.firenze.it/musei/ davanzati
Museo Casa Rodolfo Siviero The house was built in the neo-Renaissance style in 1875. Rodolfo Siviero, known as the “James Bond of the art world” for his contribution in ensuring that many stolen works of art were returned to Italy, bought the building in 1944 and lived there until 1983. He left the house to the Regione Toscana on the condition it became a public museum. As well as furnishings, archaeological finds and art objects of every type and period, in the collection there is a nucleus of 20th-century works by, among others, Soffici, Annigoni, Manzù, Berti, and de Chirico. lungarno Serristori, 1-3 open: Saturday, from October to May 10-18, from June to September 10-14 and 15-19; Sunday and Monday, all year 10-13; group booking Tuesday to Friday on request at casasiviero@regione.toscana.it closed: 1 January, 1 May, 24 June, 15 August, 25 and 26 December
www.museocasasiviero.it
36
exhibition
Ospiti a Casa Siviero Mostra fotografica di Carlo Cantini 18 May-16 September 2013 Starting with a photograph from the archive of the house museum portraying Rodolfo Siviero in his study of the 1950s, the exhibition presents portraits of Florentine cultural figures from the 1960s to today, who in various ways had relations with the socalled “James Bond of the art world”. These people were photographed in their studies by Carlo Cantini. The Florentine photographer began his work in 1967, collaborating with galleries, art museums, fashion and home design magazines, publishing art and architecture books and taking part in national and international exhibitions.
The Museo Casa Rodolfo Siviero takes part in the initiative Luoghi insoliti (see p. 1)
Case della Memoria Association Established in 2005, the association has grouped together 35 houses (27 of them in Tuscany) with the aim of preserving the memory of illustrious artists, musicians and historical figures. The headquarters of the association is at Palazzo Datini in Prato, while Boccaccio’s House at Certaldo houses the archive. www.casedellamemoria.it
House of Dante The Casa di Dante we know today dates back to 1911 when the architect Giuseppe Castellucci reproduced a rather quaint medieval style building in the area in which the poet was said to have lived. The museum illustrates the life of Dante Alighieri and the Florence of his times. The Museo degli Originali includes a collection of medieval edged weapons, ceramics and objects once in daily use. via Santa Margherita, 1 open: from October to March Tuesday to Sunday 10-17; from April to September every day 10-18
www.museocasadidante.it
Casa Guidi After their secret marriage (1846) the poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning fled to Italy and lived in Florence until Elizabeth’s death (1861); the house was bought in 1971 by the Browning Institute of New York which restored the apartments, filling them with objects and furniture, some of which once belonged to the couple. piazza di San Felice, 8 open: from April to November, Monday, Wednesday and Friday 15-18
House of Piero Bargellini Purchased in 1946, it was in the 16th-century Palazzo Da Cepparello where Piero Bargellini (1897-1980) carried out his literary and civic work. Hundreds of letters, and volumes inscribed to Bargellini, are kept in the study, where Bargellini met with artists, writers and people involved in cinema and theatre, and where he worked until the last day of his life. On the walls is a magnificent 14th-century fresco cycle, taken from the Chiesa delle Busche in Poggio alla Malva. Palazzo Bargellini, via delle Pinzochere, 3 open: by appointment 055 241724 bargellini.studio@libero.it
Fondazione Primo Conti The Foundation is housed in the 15th-century Villa Le Coste where the artist lived for many years. In 1980 the villa became the seat of the Foundation when a donation by the Conti family led to the establishment of a Documentation and Research Centre on the Historic Avant Garde. The Foundation has three sections: the Museum with the works of Primo Conti, the Archive and the Studio. The Museum (with 63 paintings and 163 drawings by the artist) and the Archive (housing many archives including those of Papini, Conti, Pavolini, Carocci, Pea, and Samminiatelli) together represent a unique resource in Italy for the scholarly study and understanding of avant-garde movements. Villa Le Coste, via Giovanni Dupré, 18, Fiesole open: Museum Monday to Friday 9-13. Visits also Saturday, Sunday and the afternoon, for groups by appointment Archive Monday to Friday 9-13, by prior appointment
www.fondazioneprimoconti.org
case della memoria
Leonardo Touch, multi-media interactice application. Birth house of Leonardo da Vinci
focus
The birth house of Leonardo da Vinci Only three kilometres from the town of Vinci, at Anchiano, is the house where Leonardo da Vinci was born, set in the unchanged landscape of the ancient olive groves of the Montalbano. For over 150 years it belonged to his family, today the house represents the symbol of Leonardo’s birth in Vinci and of his link with his birthplace. The intention of the 2012 restoration was to preserve the image of the house as a museum, by enhancing its evocative power and its educational potential, as well as its relationship with the landscape and the surrounding magnificent views. The multi-media installations, which explore Leonardo’s life and pictorial work, represent the most important and distinctive part of the new museum display of both the house and the adjacent farm. The video installation, Leonardo in Vinci: a genius tells his story, enriched with the holographic effect of a life-size Leonardo, tells his life story, including some lesser known aspects, such as his relationship with his birthplace. Leonardo Touch is a multi-media
Appartamento dell’abate Agnolo Firenzuola Badia di San Salvatore, piazza Firenzuola, 1, Vaiano (PO) www.cultura.prato.it/musei
Casa di Dante Alighieri in Lunigiana via Signorini, 2, Mulazzo (MS)
Casa natale di Lorenzo Bartolini via di Savignano 21, Savignano, Vaiano (PO)
Casa di Sigfrido Bartolini via di Bigiano, 5, Pistoia
Casa Giovanni Boccaccio via Boccaccio, 18, Certaldo (FI) www.casaboccaccio.it
Casa Ferruccio Busoni piazza Vittoria, 16, Empoli (FI) www.centrobusoni.org
interactive application displaying all Leonardo’s pictorial work, using high-resolution reproductions, which can be searched at any level of detail, following different search paths. The first nucleus of this is on display. A high-resolution reproduction of The Last Supper, painted by Leonardo in the Refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, and projected in 1:2 scale, can be explored through both a touch screen and an innovative gestural system. Exhibition panels, documents, and a video trace the long history of the house, up to the grand inauguration of 1952, in the presence of the President of the Republic Luigi Einaudi and of the Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi, an event that officially celebrated the House of Anchiano as Leonardo’s birthplace. Anchiano, Vinci (Firenze) open: every day from March to October 10-19, from November to February 10-17
www.museoleonardiano.it
Casa Giosuè Carducci
Casa Niccolò Machiavelli
Casa Giacomo Puccini
via Carducci, 29, Santa Maria a Monte (PI) www.santamariaamonte.com
via Scopeti, 157, Sant’Andrea in Percussina, San Casciano (FI) www.giv.it
Casermetta San Colombano, Mura Urbane, 1, Lucca Appartamento www.fondazionegiacomopuccini.it dell’abate Agnolo Firenzuola Badia di San Salvatore, piazza Firenzuola, 1, Casa Puccini di Celle (PO) di Vaiano Pescaglia www.cultura.prato.it/musei/badia/ Via Meletoli, Celle dei Puccini, Pescaglia (LU) www.lucchesinelmondo.it/museocelle.htm Casa di Dante Alighieri
Villa Caruso Bellosguardo via di Bellosguardo, 54, Lastra a Signa (FI) www.museoenricocaruso.it
Le ‘stanze’ di Indro Montanelli Fondazione Montanelli Bassi
Casa di Benvenuto Cellini
Palazzo della Volta, via San Giorgio, 2, Fucecchio (FI) www.fondazionemontanelli.it
corso del Popolo, Vicchio (FI) www.comune.vicchio.fi.it
Casa Museo Francesco Datini Palazzo Datini, via Ser Lapo Mazzei, 41-43, Prato www.archiviodistato.prato.it
Casa di Giotto Loc. Vespignano, Vicchio (FI) www.comune.vicchio.fi.it
Casa di Francesco Guerrazzi Villa La Cinquantina, via Guerrazzi, San Pietro in Palazzi, Cecina (LI)
in Lunigiana Dimora di Filippo Sassetti
piazza Benassai, Loc. Castello, Incisa in Val d’Arno (FI) www.comune.incisa-valdarno.fi.it
via Signorini, 2, Mulazzo (MS) Villa del Mulinaccio, viaCasa Masso natale all’Anguilla, Vaiano (PO) www.comune.vaiano.po.it di Lorenzo Bartolini via di Savignano 21, Casa Sidney Sonnino Savignano, Vaiano (PO) Castello Sonnino, via Volterrana nord, 6/A, Montespertoli (FI) Casa di Sigfrido Bartolini www.castellosonnino.it via di Bigiano, 5, Pistoia
Casa di Pontormo
Casa museo di Leonetto Tintori Casa Giovanni Boccaccio
via Pontorme, 97, Empoli (FI) www.casapontormo.it
viavia di Vainella 1/g, di Prato Boccaccio, 18,Figline Certaldo (FI) (PO) www.laboratoriotintori.prato.it www.casaboccaccio.it
Casa Museo Giovanni Pascoli via Caprona, 6, Castelvecchio Pascoli (LU) www.fondazionepascoli.it
Casa di Francesco Petrarca
Casa Ferruccio Busoni piazza Vittoria, 16, Empoli (FI)
37
famous foreigners
Frederick Stibbert: a Florentine Englishman
Stibbert Museum Now a foundation, the Stibbert Museum is a rare example of a 19thcentury house and museum which is still well preserved. In recent years, many of the original arrangements and exhibits, altered during the 20th century, have been reinstated. The creation of the Japanese armoury was one of Stibbert’s passions and he went on to collect hundreds of objects that document the styles of armour and the splendid quality of edged weapons from the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’. Today the collection is considered one of the most important in the western world.
Unlike other Anglo-Florentines, Frederick Stibbert did not choose Florence as his city of choice, but was born in the typically Florentine via del Cocomero (today’s Via Ricasoli). His father Thomas, after leaving the British army, had begun a life of travels through Europe; in Florence he had met Giulia Cafaggi and from their union came Frederick, Sophronia and Erminia. After the death of Thomas – who left the enormous wealth accumulated by his father Giles when he was commander of the East India Company in Bengal – Giulia bought the villa of Montughi in 1849. After having spent a very rebellious childhood and youth in England, in 1859 Frederick returned to his home city, where his heart lay and where he had friends. Heir to a massive patrimony, he became one of the richest men in Tuscany and, abandoning the irresponsible behaviour of his youth, manifested fully his passion for collecting works of art, with one specific interest above others: the history of applied arts and costume, and in particular European, Islamic and far Eastern arms and armour. And so it was that in the villa of Montughi lavish collections were accumulated in a short space of time, to the point that it was necessary to purchase some neighbouring villas to make the house more comfortable and realise the great project of setting up a fully-fledged museum. The villas were joined into a single building, with extensions and transformations that busied Frederick throughout his life and also involved the large park. Stibbert personally took care of every detail of the decoration and layout of the rooms, the arrangement of the works, and the creation of mannequins and horses for the spectacular staging of his famous armoury. However, Stibbert was also a man of the world, a vital and engaging personality, who participated in the cultural and social life of the city and travelled throughout Europe, a familiar figure among collectors and art dealers. He also showed a passion for the unification of Italy, in 1866 reaching the ranks of the Garibaldians and distinguishing himself among the guides on horseback in the Trentino campaign. In his final years he organised the future of the museum that would carry his name, already visited by such illustrious people as Queen Victoria, the Duke and Duchess of Teck, Oscar Wilde and Gabriele d’Annunzio. On the advice of English friends, famous collectors and experts like Guy Francis Laking and Baron de Cosson, he decided that the inheritance should go the British government, though with the obligation that the museum remain unaltered. As second legatee he named the City of Florence, and when, at his death on 10 April 1906, his will was published, insistent diplomatic manoeuvres began that would eventually lead to British renouncement and the definitive attribution of the spectacular legacy to the city. Thus, in April 1909, the Stibbert Museum was opened to the public.
38
Simona Di Marco Curator, Stibbert Museum
via Frederick Stibbert, 26 open: Monday to Wednesday 10-14, Friday to Sunday 10-18 closed: 1 January, Easter, 1 May, 15 August, 25 December
www.museostibbert.it
exhibition
Samurai! curated by Enrico Colle and Francesco Civita 27 March 3 November 2013 The terrifying yet seductive allure that the magnificent armour and extravagant helmets even today emanate – consider the many interpretations by contemporary artists and designers – is the starting-point for the exhibition highlighting the materials and handicraft techniques with which Japanese artists created true works of art, where the power of steel was made even more fascinating by the contrasting embellishments in iridescent silks, beautifully tanned leathers and splendid lacquers.
illustrations by Paolo Fiumi
Horne & Friends
Firenze un sogno da salvare curated by Elisabetta Nardinocchi and Matilde Casati from May 2013 A permanent exhibition of drawings, prints, documents and books from the library of the Anglo-Florentine connoisseur describes the intellectual climate which influenced and informed the interests of the esteemed scholar and writer; friendships with writers and artists, art historians and collectors, from Walt Whitman to Bernard Berenson. The exhibition also recounts Horne’s contribution to the study of the Florentine Renaissance and his support for the Associazione in difesa di Firenze antica, founded in 1898 to oppose the demolition of the historic centre of the city, which represented to the Anglo-Americans a dream to be recalled and protected.
Horne Museum In 1911, the English architect and art historian Herbert Percy Horne purchased Palazzo Corsi to house his collection of paintings, sculptures, drawings, and furnishings in such a way as to recreate the atmosphere of a Renaissance home. Today, visitors see the museum as Horne would have wanted them to: an elegant treasure chest of masterpieces of painting and sculpture (from Giotto to Simone Martini, Masaccio, Filippino Lippi, Domenico Beccafumi, and Giambologna), but above all as a home, in which to relive the past and discover the customs and art as they were in 15th- and 16th-century Florence. via dei Benci, 6 open: Monday to Saturday 9-13. Can be opened on special request. Archive and Library by appointment
www.museohorne.it
The British Legacy. Horne e Stibbert, due musei per Firenze British Institute 23 May 2013 (see p. 40)
famous foreigners
event
Herbert Horne, a Florentine by choice
In spite of the many studies dedicated to him, Herbert Percy Horne remains an enigmatic figure. His contribution to culture between the 19th and 20th centuries, springing from the many interests he cultivated in the fields of figurative art, literature and music, has still to be comprehensively evaluated. Born in London on 18 February 1864, Horne trained as an architect and it is in this role that we find him between 1882 and 1890 in the studio of Arthur H. Mackmurdo. These are the years in which he frequented the salons of Victorian London and struck up friendships with some of the most prominent men of the time: George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, John Ruskin and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. He showed his skills as an artist, designing furnishings and fabrics, working with printing, and distinguishing himself equally as a poet and an art critic. In all cases his work expressed his fervent interest in Italian traditions, admired and experienced directly through travels in 1889. It was from this time that Horne increasingly withdrew from London life, and in 1905 he finally decided to settle in Florence. Here he came into contact with foreign intellectuals and directed his interests toward Renaissance art, becoming himself a meticulous and reserved scholar and, at the same time, a refined collector. During these years he penned numerous publications on Florentine artists of the 15th century, including a monograph on Sandro Botticelli (1908), a work unrivalled for the richness of its documentary research. To improve his financial situation, he also worked on the antique market, becoming chief interlocutor for the Metropolitan Museum of New York and for such eminent collectors as John G. Johnson and John Pierpont Morgan. At the same time he started his own art collection, and in 1911 bought and began to restore the building in Via de’ Benci in which to house it. It was at this time that Horne started to focus on the project to which he would dedicate the last years of his life, that of reconstructing the refined residence of a gentleman of the Renaissance, a dimension which by now he entirely identified with. Great masterpieces had already entered the collection (Giotto’s Saint Stephen had been bought in London in 1904), and negotiations now multiplied for the acquisition of furniture, sculpture, ceramics, coins and seals. Drawings, illuminated manuscripts and rare books also flowed into the house. On 12 April 1916, with the collection not yet set up, Horne dictated his last will and testament, leaving the palazzo and the collections it contained to the Italian state. Two days later a violent attack of tuberculosis abruptly ended his young life. His donation led to the birth of a Foundation and a Museum which opened to the public in 1921. What we see today, a treasure of over 6,000 works of art, is a recreation of that still credible and fascinating idea of Renaissance Florence so dear to Englishspeaking scholars of the time.
Elisabetta Nardinocchi Director, Horne Museum
39
foreigners in florence
British Institute of Florence The Harold Acton Library
The British Legacy. Horne e Stibbert, due musei per Firenze
Founded in 1917 to promote cultural exchange between Italy and the English-speaking world, the British Institute today offers a comprehensive programme of courses in the Italian language, the English language and history of art, as well as a wide range of cultural events. lungarno Guicciardini, 9
www.britishinstitute.it
events
Wednesday Lectures The Cultural Programme includes Philip Mansel on Royal Alexandria, John Maiben Gilmartin on the decoration commissioned by Pope Clement XI Albani for the church of San Clemente in Rome, and Corinna Lonnergan on Lorenzo the Magnificent’s Ambra at Poggio a Caiano.
Morning session Introduction Cristina Acidini La comunità inglese 1880-1917 (chair M. Bossi) La città nel Libro dei Soci del Gabinetto Vieusseux, L. Desideri e M. Pacini Frederick Stibbert: la vita di un inglese fiorentino, S. Di Marco Herbert Percy Horne: Firenze – una nuova patria, E. Nardinocchi Three Friends: Anglo-American Collectors in Florence, M. Roberts Anglo-American. Le origini del British Institute of Florence (1917): notizie da un work in progress, A. Price Afternoon session Dalle collezioni private alla nascita dei musei (chair C. Sisi) Dalla villa al museo: la costruzione del museo nell’archivio Stibbert, M. Becattini Firenze e dintorni: itinerari nella biblioteca Horne, M. Casati Tutela e diffusione di un gusto: il caso di Villa La Pietra, dalla dimora Acton alla casa museo di New York University, F. Baldry Gli anglo-fiorentini e l’influenza del gusto inglese nelle collezioni d’arte italiane, E. Colle
The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies
New York University in Florence at Villa La Pietra
The centre at Villa I Tatti is devoted to advanced study of the Italian Renaissance in all its aspects: the history of art; political, economic, and social history; the history of science, philosophy, and religion; and the history of literature and music.
La Pietra is the seat of the University in Florence and houses the Acton Collection with over 7,000 paintings, sculptures and objects, and a Library with about 12,000 volumes and 16,000 photographs. The University hosts the Remarque Institute seminars, the Graduate Studies seminars, the Acton Miscellany, the Season Events and the La Pietra Policy Dialogues. The La Pietra Policy Dialogues aim to make a creative contribution to contemporary public policy debate by bringing together a wide array of actors not commonly called upon to reflect on policy questions with the ultimate goal of building a rich network across the Atlantic.
Villa I Tatti via di Vincigliata, 26
www.itatti.harvard.edu
edited by Alyson Price
One-day conference in collaboration with the Stibbert and Horne museums devoted to the two Anglo-Florentine collectors. The day’s proceedings are held in Italian. 23 May 2013
events
Revision, Revival and Return: The Italian Renaissance in the Nineteenth Century organised by Alina Payne, Harvard and Lina Bolzoni, SNS, Pisa The conference focuses on the Renaissance revival as a Pan-European, even global phenomenon of critique, commentary and re-shaping of a 19th-century present perceived as deeply problematic. Sweeping the humanistic disciplines, it marked the oeuvre of a diverse a group of figures. 5-7 June 2013
European University Institute
Villa La Pietra via Bolognese, 120
www.nyu.edu/global/lapietra
events
NYU La Pietra Dialogues Spring Events Under the banner The New Civic Imagination are three appointments: ‘Creative Urban Economies: A Dialogue with U.S. and Italian Mayors’, ‘The Crisis of Democratic Representation’ (10-11 April at 9-18), and ‘Social Media and Political Participation’ (10-11 May at 9-18). The Dutch University Institute Middle East Now Film Festival runs from for Art History 3 to 8 April. The experiences of Women in Founded in 1958 to encourage cultural exchange, World War II are the focus of the days 22particularly between northern and southern 24 April which include screenings of the Europe, the institute has an extensive and specialised library with a prestigious collection of films The Real Rosie the Riveter and Beyond These Walls in the presence of critical texts on the history of art and culture. The main areas of specialisation are Italian art Elizabeth Hemmerdinger.
and the art of the Netherlands. The insitute organises exhibitions, publications and lectures. viale Torricelli, 5
www.iuoart.org
Syracuse University in Florence
40
As one of the oldest study abroad programmes in Italy, Syracuse’s long-standing relationship with the Florentine community enable it to offer an extensive range of courses and cultural immersions. It is housed in Villa Rossa, purchased by the University in 1963. piazza Savonarola, 15
www.syr.fi.it
Georgetown University In 1979, Margaret Rockefeller Strong Cuevas, granddaughter of John D. Rockefeller, donated her father’s estate, Villa Le Balze, to Georgetown University. Her aim was that Le Balze would be a place of learning in honour of her father, himself a philosopher, writer, and educator. Georgetown University now offers students the opportunity to study in Florence, and organises conferences and publications Villa Le Balze via Vecchia Fiesolana, 26
www11.georgetown.edu
The EUI is an international postgraduate teaching and research institute established in 1972 by the six founding Member States of the European Community to promote cultural and scientific development in the social sciences, law, economics and the humanities in a European perspective. Lectures and seminars are organised with high profile figures on the international scene. The EUI carries out its work in various places near the city. Badia Fiesolana via dei Roccettini, 9, San Domenico di Fiesole
www.eui.eu
events The State of the Union 2013 A one-day conference brings together politicians from governments and European institutions, academics, and opinion and business leaders, to discuss the future of the EU. Attendance by invitation only. 9 May 2013, at Palazzo Vecchio
Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz Founded in 1897, and part of the Max-PlanckGesellschaft since 2002, this is one of the oldest research institutions dedicated to the history of art and architecture in Italy. One of its principle aims is the education of scholars of an international level. The institute’s resources include the library with over 300,000 volumes, 940 ongoing journal subscriptions, and one of the most wide-ranging photographic libraries on Italian art, at the disposal of researchers from all over the world. via Giuseppe Giusti, 44
www.khi.fi.it
French Institute in Florence The French Institute, the oldest in the world and established in 1907, is part of the French State and of the cultural network of the French Embassy in Italy. It is located in the 15th-century palazzo Lenzi and for over a century it has constantly maintained an active cultural policy and developed its unique library and newspaper library. For events see the website. piazza Ognissanti, 2
www.france-italia.it
New books about Florence
Comunicare con Leon Battista Alberti. Il nuovo collegamento tra il Museo Marino Marini e la Cappella del Santo Sepolcro, a cura di V. Vaccaro, Firenze 2013. Il fatale Millenovecentoundici. Le Esposizioni di Roma, Torino, Firenze, a cura di S. Massari, Roma 2012. La Villa, il Giardino, il Paesaggio. Un parco per gli Archivi Europei a Villa Salviati, di M. Zoppi, Firenze 2012.
Florence at the Dawn of the Renaissance. Painting and Illumination 1300-1350, catalogo della mostra, a cura di Christine Sciacca, Los Angeles 2012. Francesco d’Antonio a Figline Valdarno (e altrove), di A. Tartuferi, Figline Valdarno 2012. Francesco Maria Riccardi (16971758), un Monsignore fiorentino nella Curia romana, di S. Sperindei, Roma 2012. Francesco Pesce (Accettura 1908Firenze 1992), scultore, di D. Viggiano, A. Molinaro e P. Cassinelli, Firenze 2012.
Medioevo nascosto a Firenze. Case torri e monumenti minori della città tra XI e XIV secolo, di A. Favini, Empoli 2012.
Giorgio Vasari e la nascita del museo, a cura di M. Wellington Gahtan, Firenze 2012.
Settecento anni di storia. San Giovanni di Dio: un ospedale da non dimenticare, di E. Ghidetti e E. Diana, Firenze 2012.
Giorgio Vasari tra capitale medicea e città del dominio, a cura di N. Lepri, S. Esseni e M.C. Pagnani, Firenze 2012.
The First Modern Museums of Art. The Birth of an Institution in 18thand early 19th-Century Europe, edited by C. Paul, Los Angeles 2012.
I Verworner a Fiesole. Carte d’archivio, a cura di M. Borgioli, Firenze 2012.
Villa, giardino, paesaggio. Città e contado nella Toscana fiorentina intesi come luoghi estetici e politici, di C. Bertsch, Firenze 2013.
Painting, Sculpture, Applied Arts
Artista. Critica dell’arte in Toscana (2011), a cura di C. Del Bravo, C. Sisi e A.M. Petrioli Tofani, Firenze 2012. Das Elfenbein der Medici, di E.D. Schmidt, München 2012. Egisto Ferroni, 1912-2012, catalogo della mostra, a cura di A. Baldinotti, Lastra a Signa 2012. Fasto privato. La decorazione murale in palazzi e ville di famiglie fiorentini, I: Quadrature e decorazione murale da Jacopo Chiavistelli a Niccolò Contestabili, a cura di M. Gregori e M. Visonà, Firenze 2012.
Il rapace in fuga. Leonardo, Verrocchio e il Battesimo di Cristo, di G. Antonioli Ferranti, Firenze 2013. L’alchimia e le arti. La Fonderia degli Uffizi da laboratorio a stanza delle meraviglie, catalogo della mostra, a cura di V. Conticelli, Livorno 2012.
pittore e miniatore tra Arezzo, Roma e Urbino
Catalogo delle opere
Cecilia Martelli November
La Firenze scomparsa. Le antiche mura, il Ghetto e il Mercato Vecchio demolito nell’800, di D. Zani, Firenze 2012.
Pontormo. Meisterwerke des Manierismus in Florenz, catalogo della mostra, a cura di B. Eclercy, Petersberg 2013.
La prigione medievale. Una storia sociale, di G. Geltner, Roma 2012.
Vasari and the Renaissance Print, di S. Gregory, Farnham 2012. Vetri islamici a Firenze nel primo Rinascimento, di M. Spallanzani, Firenze 2012.
History and Traditions A tavola nel Granducato di Toscana, a cura di G. Fatati e B. Paolini, Ospedaletto 2012.
La Toscana degli Australiani e dei Neozelandesi, di D. O’ Grady e S. Tobin, Firenze 2012. La via delle lettere. La Tipografia Medicea tra Roma e l’Oriente, catalogo della mostra, a cura di S. Fani e M. Fanna, Firenze 2012.
Le lapidi terragne di Santa Croce. I: dalla metà del Trecento al 1417; II: dal 1418 al 1499; III: dal dal 1500 a 1931, di A. Chiti, R. Iacopino e C. Cheli, Firenze 2012.
Art and the Relic Cult of St. Antoninus in Renaissance Florence, di S.J. Cornelison, Farnham 2012.
Memorie domenicane (CXXVII 42 2011). Filosofia e teologia negli ordini mendicanti (XIII-XV secolo), Firenze 2012.
Chiassi e vicoli dimenticati di Firenze. Guida alla riscoperta di storie, usanze e curiosità, di L. Artusi e M. Venturi, Firenze 2012.
Monna Lisa addio. La vera storia della Gioconda, di R. Zapperi, Firenze 2012.
Firenze e il profeta. Dante fra teologia e politica, di E. Brilli, Firenze 2012. Firenze e l’Europa liberale. “L’Economista” (1874-81), a cura di M. Poettinger, Firenze 2013.
Oceano Arno: i navigatori fiorentini, di N. Rinaldi, Reggello 2012. Parole di Firenze. Dal vocabolario del fiorentino contemporaneo, a cura di T. Poggi Salani, N. Binazzi, M. Paoli e M.C. Torchia, Firenze 2012.
Florence and Tuscany. A Literary Guide for Travellers, di T. Jones, London 2013.
Rinascimento e Antirinascimento. Firenze nella cultura russa fra Otto e Novecento, a cura di L. Tonini, Firenze 2012.
La scultura fiorentina del Quattrocento. Ricezioni e interpretazioni nella critica d’arte del secondo Novecento in Italia, di A. Bellandi, Morbio Inferiore 2012.
Florence et Bagdad. Une histoire du regard entre Orient et Occident, di H. Belting, Paris 2012.
Salviamo Firenze di L. Doninelli, Milano 2012.
I Medici. Uomini, potere e passione, catalogo della mostra, a cura di A. Wieczorek, G. Rosendhal e D. Lippi, Mannheim 2013.
Umanesimo e Università in Toscana (1300-1600), Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi, a cura di S.U. Baldassarri, F. Ricciardelli ed E. Spagnesi, Firenze 2012.
Il medico Ferdinando Zannetti (1801-1881): patria, civiltà, scienza, atti del convegno, a cura di M. Bietti e F. Fiorelli Malesci, Livorno 2012.
Uno stemma come indizio: i Bosi a Legnaia fra XVII e XIX secolo, di E. Boldrini, Signa 2012.
La primavera del Rinascimento. La scultura e le arti a Firenze nel 1400-1460, catalogo della mostra, a cura di B. Paolozzi Strozzi e M. Bormand, Firenze 2013. Le chiavi per aprire 99 luoghi segreti di Firenze e della Toscana, di M. Cangioli e E. Grassi, Roma 2012.
Corpus of Sienese Paintings in Hungary 1420-1510
Revelations.
Dóra Sallay
Andrea G. De Marchi
October
July
Discoveries and Rediscoveries in Italian Primitive Art
Il vocabolario del vernacolo fiorentino e toscano, di A. Bencistà, Firenze 2012.
new books
Cecilia Martelli
Bartolomeo della Gatta pittore e miniatore tra Arezzo, Roma e Urbino.
Neri di Bicci: l’Assunzione della Vergine di Faeto in Pratomagno. Storia e restauro, a cura di P. Refice e I. Droandi, Firenze 2012.
La scelta di Lorenzo. La Primavera di Botticelli tra poesia e filosofia, di C. Poncet, Pisa 2012.
info www.centrodi.it BARTOLOMEO DELLA GATTA
Michelangelo e il linguaggio dei disegni di architettura, a cura di G. Maurer e A. Nova, Venezia 2012.
La cultura popolare racconta Garibaldi. Oggetti e curiosità di una collezione fiorentina, catalogo della mostra, a cura di A. Zuri, Firenze 2012.
Centro Di spring-summer 2013
ʻGli Uffizi. Studi e Ricercheʼ, 25
Maso di Banco in Giotto’s Workshop in Naples and an Unpublished Saint Dominic
Volume II ʻLe Antologie di OPD Restauroʼ, 9
Series directed by Antonio Natali
March
March
John T. Spike March
March
Michelangelo A Brush with Sacred and Profane. Passion. Masterpiece Drawings Mattia Preti from the Casa Buonarroti
John T. Spike with Adriano Marinazzo contributions by Pina Ragionieri and Aaron H. De Groft March
Vallombrosa. Memorie agiografiche e culto delle reliquie, a cura di A. Degl’Innocenti, Roma 2012.
(1613-1699) Painting from North American Collections in Honor of the 400th Anniversary of His Birth
Sale dei pittori stranieri
edited by Valentina Conticelli with Marica Guccini
edited by Andrea De Marchi
Il restauro dei materiali lapidei
edited by Maria Cristina Improta
a selection of books on Florentine art and architecture, published in Italy and abroad
Alessandro Pieroni dall’Impruneta e i pittori della Loggia degli Uffizi, catalogo della mostra, a cura di A. Bernacchioni, Firenze 2012.
Il Rinascimento a Firenze. Capolavori e protagonisti, catalogo della mostra, a cura di C. Acidini, Roma 2012.
Leon Battista Alberti: poeta, artista, camaleonte, di G. Gorni, Roma 2012.
La conquista dell’acqua. Dai laghi preistorici alla gestione del bene comune, di E. D’Angelis, Firenze 2012.
made by Arte&Libri via dei Fossi, 32r, Firenze www.artlibri.it
Alchimie di colori. L’arte della scagliola. La collezione Bianchi di antiche scagliole dal XVII al XIX secolo, catalogo della mostra, a cura di S. Botticelli e M. Romagnolo, Firenze 2012.
Il mare di Firenze. Arti e collezioni al tempo dei Medici, di C. Acidini, Firenze 2012.
Monumenti ai caduti, Firenze e Provincia, a cura di L. Brunori, Firenze 2012.
books about town
Architecture, Gardens, Museums, Palazzi
children Activities generally take place in Italian, please consult websites for information regarding activities in English or in other languages.
april A day out with the family
june
Obladì
Obladì
Palazzo Strozzi The Storyteller’s Tale 2 April at 17.30-18.30 Exploring the Palazzo. 100 ways to say “piazza” 7 April at 15.30-16.30
the Oblate every Saturday
the Oblate every Saturday
Detective dell’Arte
A day out with the family
Detective dell’Arte
Mathematical Sundays
Museo Casa Siviero 6 April
Artigiani in famiglia
Museo Casa Siviero 4 May
Palazzo Strozzi Exploring the Palazzo. 100 ways to say “piazza” 2 June at 15.30-16.30 The Storyteller’s Tale 4 June at 17.30-18.30
Museum of Mathematics Amico Museo 5 May at 16
Family Size
Horne Museum Ori e colori 6, 13 and 20 April (ages 8 to 13) Ori e colori 27 April (ages 5 and up)
A tutti i costi. Bardini vende tutto!
Mathematical Sundays
Familiarizzare il museo
Museum of Mathematics Giochiamo con il Tangram 7 April at 16 (ages 4 to 7)
Familiarizzare il museo
Botanical Gardens Caccia al tesoro verde 6 April at 15-17 28 April at 10.30-12.30 (ages 5 and up) Mineralogy and Lithology Dalla Terra a casa nostra 20 April at 15-17 (ages 6 and up) Geology and Palaeontology Il professore pazzo 27 April at 15-17 (ages 6 and up)
La scienza per tutti!
Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica Dalla pila al telegrafo 7 April (ages 11 and up) Il cielo del mese (Planetarium) 7, 14, 21 and 28 April at 15 and 16.30 (ages 6 and up) Science attack! Per fare un albero ci vuole un fiore 14 April (ages 6 and up) Una storia elettrizzante 28 April (ages 11 and up) Science attack! Razzo spaziale! 14 April (ages 6 and up)
A tutta scienza
Galileo Museum Experiential visit (in English) 6 April at 15 Leonardo artista e scienziato 7 and 21 April at 15 Alla scoperta dell’universo dantesco 13 April at 15 Gli strumenti di Galileo 14 and 28 April at 15 Sulla nave di Amerigo Vespucci! 20 April at 15 Sperimentiamo il Museo! 27 April at 15
CCC Strozzina 8 and 22 June at 15
Museo Stefano Bardini A tutti i costi 5 and 19 May at 11
Familiarizzare il museo
Geology and Palaeontology Paleodetective 15 June at 15-17 (ages 6 and up)
Anthropology and Ethnology Acqua: essenza della vita nelle popolazioni umane 4 May at 15-17 (ages 8 and up) Mineralogy and Lithology L’arcobaleno della natura 18 May at 15-17 (ages 6 and up) Botanical Gardens L’erbario 25 May at 15-17 (ages 6 and up)
Artigiani in famiglia
at the Horne Museum guided visits, activities and workshops on artisanal techniques for families with children aged 5 to 13. The museums offers the courses Ori e colori (gilding on wood) and Un, due, tre... libro! (linked to the exhibition Horne & Friends to make an instant book)
A tutta scienza
Museo Galileo La chimica di Pietro Leopoldo 4 May at 15 Leonardo artista e scienziato 5 and 19 May at 15 Il cannocchiale racconta 11 May at 15 Gli strumenti di Galileo 12 and 26 May at 15 Sperimentiamo il Museo! 18 May at 15 Experiential visit (in English) 25 May at 15
booking 055 244661 info@museohorne.it
www.museohorne.it
Amerigo Vespucci. Dall’Arno all’Oceano
the Oblate Theatre and readings 11 May at 16.30 (ages 6 to 11)
Family Size
CCC Strozzina 11 and 28 May at 15
Take Part in Art
Amerigo Vespucci. Dall’Arno all’Oceano
organised by the CCC Strozzina at the Oblate 18 May at 10.30-12.30
A day out with the family
CCC Strozzina 13 and 27 April at 15
Palazzo Strozzi Exploring the Palazzo. The stone giant 5 May at 15.30-16.30 The Storyteller’s Tale 7 May at 17.30-18.30 Family Sunday 26 May at 15-19
Famiglie al museo
Artigiani in famiglia
Family Size
Villa medicea della Petraia Le lunette di Utens: Medici in villa 14 and 21 April at 10.30 Collezione Borbottoni (seat of the ECRF) Firenze di ieri, Firenze di oggi: scopri le differenze! 27 April at 10
A tutti i costi. Bardini vende tutto!
Museo Stefano Bardini A tutti i costi 14 April at 11 20 and 28 April at 14.30
42
may
Amerigo Vespucci. Dall’Arno all’Oceano
the Oblate Theatre and readings 27 April at 16.30 (ages 6 to 11)
at the Oblate
at the Oblate, in collaboration with the Galileo Museum, theatre and readings, exploring models of ships, while listening to Amerigo’s story information 055 2616512 www.bibliotecadelleoblate.it
Museo Horne Un, due, tre... libro! 18 and 25 May, 1 June (ages 8 to 13)
A tutti i costi. Bardini vende tutto! at the Museo Bardini
games for children aged 7 and up accompanied by adults, to give an understanding of the works in the museum; become an antiquarian for a day, buy, barter and auction booking required 349 1800311 bardini.atuttiicosti@gmail.com
www.museobardini.org/ per-i-piu-piccoli
Obladì
august Obladì
september Obladì
the Oblate every Saturday
the Oblate every Saturday
the Oblate every Saturday
A day out with the family
A day out with the family
Artigiani in famiglia
Palazzo Strozzi The Storyteller’s Tale 2 July at 17.30-18.30
Palazzo Strozzi The Storyteller’s Tale 6 August at 17.30-18.30
Horne Museum Ori e colori 28 September (ages 5 and up)
Family Size
CCC Strozzina 13 and 27 July at 15
Familiarizzare il museo
at the Natural History and Anthropology Museums workshops, games, guided tours for the old and the young playing through the museum collection
La scienza per tutti!
at the Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica
children
july
workshops, guided tours, birthdays and Sundays under the stars for families with children aged 4 and up booking required 055 2343723 iscrizioni@fstfirenze.it
www.fstfirenze.it
booking 055 2756444
www.msn.unifi.it
Family Size at the CCC Strozzina
A tutta scienza
the 2nd and 4th Saturday of every month guided visit to the exhibition An Idea of Beauty, adults and children aged 7 to 12, to explore contemporary art
at the Galileo Museum interactive guided visits and workshops, for families with children aged 6 and up, using Galileo’s scientific instruments and inventions
booking required 055 3917137 didatticastrozzina@palazzostrozzi.org
www.strozzina.org
booking required 055 265311 weekend@museogalileo.it
www.museogalileo.it
Detective dell’Arte
at the Museo Casa Siviero
Famiglie al museo
learning from detective Rodolfo Siviero
Sezione Didattica del Polo Museale
booking required by one o’clock on the last Thursday before the relevant Saturday casasiviero@regione.toscana.it
guided visits to discover art for children aged 7 to 14 and accompanying adults
www.museocasasiviero.it
booking required 055 284272 didattica@polomuseale.firenze.it
www.polomuseale.firenze.it/ didattica
Mathematical Sundays Obladì
at the Oblate at the Oblate stories, readings, puppets and entertaining characters for all illustrations by Silvia Cheli
information 055 2616512
www.bibliotecadelleoblate.it
at the Museum of Mathematics
guided visits and surprises every first Sunday of the month (on the following Sundays, depending upon demand) booking required 055 7879594
www.archimede.ms
43
children
Birthdays at the museum at the Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica children aged 4 and up can celebrate their birthday playing with science, visiting the Planetarium or participating in workshops and physics experiments booking 055 2343723 (Monday to Friday 9-17)
iscrizioni@fstfirenze.it
at Palazzo Vecchio celebrate a birthday in a specially appointed room of Palazzo Vecchio with gifts and candles Saturday and Sunday 9.30-12.30 and 14.30-17.30. Activities for children begin at 10 and at 15. Parents have the first half an hour to decorate the birthday room. Maximum numbers 20 children and 5 adults
at the Museum of Prehistory celebrate a birthday observing and touching prehistoric objects; at the end of the visit workshops and treasure hunts designed for different age groups (ages 5 to 12)
Workshops at the Pecci
booking 055 295159 info@museofiorentinopreistoria.it didattica@museofiorentinopreistoria.it
lectures, meetings, workshops and guided visits to the permanent collection and to the current exhibitions. For adults and children
at the Archaeological Museum of Artimino children aged 8 to 12 can spend a special day exploring ancient Etruria
Il Museo dei Ragazzi
booking required 055 8718124 333 3404244 parcoarcheologico@comune.carmignano.po.it
booking 0574 531835 edu@centropecci.it calendar on website
(Children’s Museum)
www.centropecci.it
at Palazzo Vecchio
I giorni della preistoria at the Museum of Prehistory
guided visits and workshops to find out about prehistoric painting, drawing, weaving, ceramics and fabric making for children aged 4 and up booking required 055 295159 didattica@museofiorentinopreistoria.it
www.museofiorentinopreistoria.it
a collection of educational projects promoted by the municipality, offering over 40 activities for adults and children aged 4 to 7: at Palazzo Vecchio guided visits led by guides in costume, workshops and special itineraries •Family kit (with children aged 6 and up) •Piccole storie di animali •Vita di corte (ages 4 to 10) •La favola del primo viaggio intorno al mondo •La storia del furto nello Studiolo di Francesco I •La favola profumata della natura dipinta •La favola della tartaruga con la vela for all aged 8 and up •A corte con Donna Isabella •In bottega, la tempera su tavola •Invito alla Reggia di Cosimo •Guidati da Giorgio Vasari •Dipingere in fresco fra Quattrocento e Cinquecento booking 055 2768224 fax 055 2768558 (Monday-Sunday 9.30-17) info.museoragazzi@comune.fi.it
www.palazzovecchio-museoragazzi.it
Families
at the MNAF
La Bottega dei Ragazzi
(Children’s Workshop)
at the Mudi
workshops and guided visits at the Innocenti and in town for families with children aged 3 to 11. Free workshops upon request on Saturday afternoons booking bottega@istitutodelinoccenti.it 055 2478386 (Monday, Wednesday and Friday 10.30-12.30). For calendar see
www.labottegadeiragazzi.it
guided visits and workshops for families with children aged 5 and up specially designed to stimulate in participants a spirit of observation and creativity booking required for family groups, no less than 10 people. Guided tour of the historic Fratelli Alinari building (largo Alinari, 15) is possible for groups of up to 15 people booking 055 216310 fax 055 2646990 mnaf@alinari.it didatticamnaf@alinari.it
www.alinarifondazione.it
Alla scoperta del MNAF! Guided tours of the museum’s permanent exhibition La storia vera di un cavallo fotografo Guided tour on the theme of movement in photography, and a workshop on producing a ‘moving’ photograph Una camera oscura grande come la cattedrale di Santa Maria Novella Guided tour on the development of the camera obscura and a workshop on optical apparatus L’Italia in posa Guided tour on the theme of the portrait in photography, and a workshop using multimedia games on well-known figures of the Risorgimento Fotografia: invenzione o scoperta? Guided tour looking at work illustrating the progress of this marvelous process, and a workshop of multimedia games
44
Scatta Firenze! Tour around the city through photography
illustrations by Silvia Cheli
at Palazzo Strozzi
Activities available in English at request
for families with children aged 3 and over l a b e l s • Special designed to stimulate cross-generational discussion • Separate audioguides for adults and children • A rich programme of activities with which to explore art, for different age groups from 3 and up • The special Family Ticket allows family groups (up to 2 adults + children up to the age of 18) unlimited admission to the exhibitions The Springtime of the Renaissance and An Idea of Beauty • The Family suitcase: the Sculptor’s Satchel allows you to discover the art and artists in a truly fun and innovative way • The Family Sunday (26 May 2013) is a unique occasion to visit the entire palazzo with the family until 18 August 2013 on the occasion of the exhibition The Springtime of the Renaissance. Sculpture and the Arts in Florence 1400-1460 free activities with exhibition entry ticket; booking required for workshops and Exploring the Palazzo Sigma CSC 055 2469600 (Monday to Friday 9-13, 14-18) fax 055 244145 prenotazioni@cscsigma.it Family activities are available in English on request at 055 3917141 The Family suitcase is free with an exhibition ticket. To book The Sculptor’s Satchel phone beforehand (+39 055 2645155) or enquire at the Info Point on the first floor. For further information and a full schedule of activities: www.palazzostrozzi.org/families
Exploring the Palazzo Look, Discover, Create
Have you ever really looked closely at Palazzo Strozzi? Over three visits, we’ll use our senses to discover the sounds, colours and forms of this building and its relationship with the city. Games and activities will help us discover the details which hold the clues to understanding this “grand home” of the Strozzi Family. first Sunday of the month at 15.30-16.30 for families with children aged 7 to 12 no exhibition ticket required and it is possible to attend only one visit
Visits with workshop The Storyteller’s Tale...
A work of art can tell us a thousand stories, we just have to learn how to listen! Discover the fables and legends hidden in each sculpture, playing and sketching in the exhibition. first Tuesday of the month at 17.30-18.30, on other Tuesdays upon request (minimum group participation may apply) for families with children aged 3 to 6
Sculpture in play
How are sculptures made? What are they made of? Let’s explore the exhibits with our eyes and with our hands to discover how the great Renaissance masters used to work. We can experiment with techniques and materials in the workshop to create our own personal tactile work of art in clay. every Sunday at 10.30-12.30 for families with children aged 7 to 12
children
A day out with the family
The family suitcase The Sculptor’s Satchel
Of all the arts, sculpture calls out to be touched. Museums famously forbid touching, and visitors must content themselves with touching with the eyes only. But the Sculptor’s Satchel, the family kit devised for The Springtime of the Renaissance exhibition, contains a wealth of tactile experiences for the whole family. In fact, the satchel itself is your first tactile experience because it’s made up of an assortment of pieces of leather that each feels very different to the touch. The satchel contains explanatory cards and games for every age group, allowing the whole family to explore the show in a thought-provoking and fun way. everyday for everyone aged 3 and up
Workshops and events in the city A Thousand and One Tales of... The Springtime of the Renaissance!
For the exhibition, Palazzo Strozzi organises activities for families that exploit the narrative potential of works of art. This game, based on cards invented by the writer Gianni Rodari and on our own imaginations, develops around one question: how many stories can we invent starting from works in the exhibition? in various libraries and toy libraries, among them the Oblate for families with children aged 7 to 12
Kamishibai. A City Never Seen Before
During the exhibition, a street theatre actress tours Florence’s parks, squares and school playgrounds on a bicycle with a specially-created performance based on Palazzo Strozzi. around the city for families and children
Families
at the Archaeological Museum of Artimino guided visits, meetings, weekend workshops, special events, walks and snacks at the museum and in the Archaelogical Park at Carmignano to discover the history of Etruscans. For families with children and young people booking required 055 8718124 333 3404244 parcoarcheologico@comune.carmignano.po.it calendar of activities on
www.parcoarcheologicocarmignano.it
illustrations by Silvia Cheli
45
in tuscany
Astronomy observatories
Florence and Tuscany boast a long tradition of astronomical study carried out by a succession of illustrious scientists, from Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli and Galileo Galileo to Margherita Hack. The richness of the scientific and artistic patrimony linked to astronomy and the presence of important observatories set up in the 18th century is testimony to this deeply rooted interest. The first public observatory in Tuscany, founded in 1734, was the Specola dello Studio in Pisa, one of the oldest observatories in Italy; after its demolition in 1826, the Osservatorio Ximeniano of Florence (1756) and the Specola fiorentina (1789) were the only astronomical centres active in Tuscany. In the 19th century the situation improved after the creation of the Specola nera Lucca (1819), built in the park of the Villa Reale di Marlia on the wishes of Maria Luisa of Bourbon, and the new observatory of Arcetri, inaugurated in 1872, which even today is an important international reference for astronomical research. In addition to centres associated with scientific and university institutions, in recent decades Tuscany has seen the proliferation of a series of centres run by amateur associations or by local administrations, involved in both research and didactic activity. A selection of these is presented in the current issue.
Astrophysics Observatory of Arcetri In 1751 Tommaso Perelli, director of the Specola in Pisa, indicated the hill of Arcetri as the most suitable place for an observatory in Florence, the one in Via Romana being no longer adequate because of the excessive amount of light in the city. It was only on 27 October 1872, however, that the observatory of Arcetri, wanted by Giovan Battista Donati, was officially opened. An important figure for Arcetri was the director Giorgio Abetti who, in 1925, had one of the first sun towers in Europe built there. 25 metres high, it enabled the carrying out of advanced studies in solar physics, testified by the over 12,000 images conserved at the observatory. With Abetti a ‘Florentine school’ grew up, formed by Attilio Colacevich, Guglielmo Righini, Mario Girolamo Fracastoro and Margherita Hack. Under Righini’s direction solar radioastronomy was introduced and the first radiotelescope was installed. Concentrating initially on the study of the sun, since the end of the 1970s the observatory’s activity has extended to galactic and extra-galactic research and the most advanced astronomical technologies, making Arcetri an important institution at an international level. Today the research, developed in collaboration with Florence university, ranges from solar studies and the solar system to other star systems in our galaxy, from the regions in which new stars and planetary systems originate to the formation of pulsars, black holes, and galaxies at the limit of the observable universe. The observatory has a historic collection of instruments like telescopes (of major importance that of Giovan Battista Amici), pendulum clocks and astronomical lenses, while most of the old texts and archive documents are kept at the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza. The observatory also has a lecture room equipped with projection systems, a machine for visualising cosmic rays, calculators, a spectroscope, a planetary system model and sky charts. The observatory is flanked by the astronomical park, a didactic area created in 2009 extending over the adjacent hillside with a scale reproduction of the solar system: starting with a model of Neptune, the most distant of the eight planets, the route finally ends with the Sun and with an observation of the sky through the telescope. largo E. Fermi, 5, Firenze open: visits to the park and observation of the sky in the week of the first quarter of the moon (from November to March at 18.30 and 21, from April to October at 21); Osservatorio aperto visits on Saturday evenings for individuals and groups up to 5 people. Booking required for all visits 055 27521 (Monday to Friday 10-12) fax 055 220039 richiesta_visita@arcetri.astro.it
www.arcetri.astro.it
46
The dome of the observatory at Punta Falcone photo Paolo Volpini
Osservatorio Astronomico dell’Università degli Studi di Siena The Physics Department, founded in 1991 by the merging of the institutes of Physics and Medical Physics of Siena University, has an interesting collection of electrical, optical, acoustic and measuring instruments made in the 19th and 20th centuries and used for teaching. The observatory is situated in the south of the city where, despite the city lights, the horizon is dark enough to enable observation of the sky with telescopes. From 1996 to 2002, before its transfer to the new site, the University carried out research at the Observatory of Torre Luciana, an activity documented by historical archives. Since 2004 the new observatory has held evening observations with guided tours, lectures, photographic exhibitions and workshops, both at the centre and in the area of Siena and Grosseto. via Roma, 56, University Complex at Porta Romana, Siena open: calendar on website; special openings upon request 0577 234677 0577 234685
www.unisi.it/fisica/astro
Osservatorio Astronomico Torre Luciana The observatory is situated in an impressive Longobard lookout tower, restored in the 1990s to be used as an Astronomic and Naturalistic Observatory under the management of Siena University. Since 2003 it has been run by the Comune di San Casciano and, thanks to the involvement of a local group of astronomy enthusiasts, carries out didactic activities, organises observations at the time of special astronomic events such as eclipses or comets, and arranges meetings on specific subjects on request. Torre Luciana, Mercatale Val di Pesa (Firenze) open: one evening a month (calendar on website); special openings upon request 388 7360800 osservatorio@torreluciana.it
www.torreluciana.it
in tuscany
Osservatorio Astronomico Provinciale di Montarrenti
Osservatorio Astronomico della Montagna Pistoiese
Osservatorio Astronomico di Punta Falcone
The two towers on the hill of Montarrenti, the remains of a medieval bridge house, are the centre of an observatory run by the Unione Astrofili Senesi. The observatory takes part in amateur level research into stellar variability and sky survey, carries out astronomical photography and adheres to the Gruppo di Astronomia Digitale, the Italian section of the International Union of Astronomical Amateurs - European Section. The association, active in the campaign against light pollution, organises observations, lectures, exhibitions and seminars and every month opens the “Palmiero Capannoli” observatory to the public.
Set up in 1990 by the Comune di San Marcello Pistoiese, it stands on an area of open ground above Gavinana at 980 metres a.s.l., in an excellent position for observations. Enlarged in 2003, the observatory has made possible the discovery of dozens of new asteroids. Research is carried out in the field of the astrometry of asteroids and comets and is dedicated to the discovery of new minor objects of the solar system. It has two semi-spherical domes each containing a telescope, one 40cm in diameter, the other 60cm. Activities include nighttime and day-time visits with an introductory lesson and sky observation, projections and astronomy courses.
Centre of the Associazione Astrofili di Piombino and one of the first amateur observatories in Tuscany, the observatory was set up in a former naval artillery emplacement, the “Sommi Picenardi” of the Regia Marina, built on the promontory of Piombino during the two wars to intercept enemy ships. The building’s circular structure housing the telemeter and its isolated location were ideal for the setting-up of an observatory. The dome for the main telescope was made in the mid-1980s and in 2010 was replaced with a completely automated one. In 2005 the structure was flanked by another building with a retractable roof, recently equipped with a semi-professional telescope used for scientific observations. The association organises observation evenings, meetings and other public activities.
Statale 73 Ponente, Sovicille (Siena) open: Observatory, observations the 2nd and 4th Friday of the month at 21.30 on request via sms 347 6527389 or consulting the website; Stazione Astronomica “Palmiero Capannoli” (Poggio a Cardinale, Porta Laterina) the first Saturday of the month, meeting time and place, 21.30 Porta Laterina with a walk to the observatory (in case of bad weather call 338 8861549)
www.astrofilisenesi.it
Osservatorio Astronomico “Galileo Galilei” a Libbiano The Centro Astronomico di Libbiano, opened in 2006, comprises an observatory named after Galileo and a didactic centre incorporating a lecture room, planetarium and a permanent exhibition of images taken by astronomy enthusiasts of the centre. Run by the Associazione Astrofili Alta Valdera, the observatory has two main telescopes. The centre carries out research activities, concentrating mainly on asteroids, spectography, and the observation of the orbits of extra-solar planets. The association promotes meetings, evening observations and openings at the time of special astronomical events. Libbiano, Peccioli (Pisa) open: three evenings a month on request 0587 672603 (Comune di Peccioli) 340 5915239 vilalber@tin.it
www.astrofilialtavaldera.com
Pian dei Termini, San Marcello Pistoiese (Pistoia) open: booking required, from September to June, Friday and Saturday at 21, Tuesday and Thursday at 10 (observation of the Sun), in July and August, Monday, Friday and Saturday at 21, Tuesday and Sunday at 10 (observation of the Sun). Booking 0573 621289 (Biblioteca Comunale di San Marcello Pistoiese)
Punta Falcone, Piombino (Livorno) open: from May to September Friday evenings, booking required; special openings upon request 320 4126725 visite@astropiombino.org
www.gamp-pt.net
www.astropiombino.org
Osservatorio Astronomico San Giuseppe a San Donato a Livizzano
Osservatorio Astronomico Comunale di Grosseto
Wanted by the parish priest Don Mario Boretti and opened in 1990, the observatory has a main telescope flanked by other telescopes, didactic instruments and a digital planetarium. Since 2004 it has had a mobile planetarium, an inflatable dome that can accommodate 30-35 spectators, used on the occasion of special events and in schools upon request. The observatory is completed by a series of sundials installed outside and the Sala delle Stelle with multimedia installations. The observatory organises observation evenings and special openings at the time of particular astronomical events, and takes part in national evenings organised by the Unione Astrofili Italiani. via Montelupo, 186/A, San Donato a Livizzano, Montespertoli (Firenze) open: from March to October two evenings a month coinciding with the new moon and the first quarter of the moon; from November to February on request for groups of a minimum of 10 people 0571 671521 339 6013850 info@oasg.it
www.oasg.it
Osservatorio Astronomico Pubblico “Città di Volterra” The observatory has been run by the Gruppo Astrofili Volterra since its foundation in 2008. It works with local schools and institutions, including the Casa di Reclusione in Volterra, for the diffusion of astronomy, and organises observations in the town square. At G.I.A.N., Casale “Il Vile”, Mazzolla, Volterra (Pisa) open: Fridays at 21.30 in stable weather conditions and a clear sky
www.gianvolterra.org
The observatory was set up in a former school on the initiative of the Associazione Maremmana Studi Astronomici, and opened in 1986. In 2009, following a long period of closure, this detached section of the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Grosseto resumed its didactic activity of conferences, photographic exhibitions, courses of astronomy, meteorology and climatology, and observation evenings. Great emphasis is also placed on research, particularly into extra-galactic supernovas and planets. As well as telescopes, the observatory has a well-stocked library and lecture room. Casette di Mota, Roselle (Grosseto) open: booking required 348 1643702 392 1269888 0564 493216 (Comune di Grosseto) amsa.grosseto@gmail.com amsa@gol.grosseto.it
www.astrofiligrossetani.it
Osservatorio Astronomico Comunale di Santa Maria a Monte Active since 1999, the observatory was set up by the local council in a former school building. It has a meeting room, an environmental laboratory and a revolving dome. Run by the Associazione Isaac Newton, and dividing its time between didactic work and research, the observatory offers educational activities in schools and courses of astronomy at various levels. It collaborates with the programme of international research into small planets at the Minor Planet Center of Cambridge, Massachusetts and belongs to the sites protected against light pollution. via Tavolaia, Tavolaia, Santa Maria a Monte (Pisa) open: 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month. Information 0587 706694
Other observatories
Osservatorio Astronomico Alpi Apuane
Osservatorio Astronomico del Chianti
Al Monte, Stazzema (Lucca) open: currently closed to the public. For the association’s activities call 0584 54653
Osservatorio Polifunzionale del Chianti, Montecorboli, San Donato in Poggio (Firenze) open: calendar on website
www.astrogav.eu
www.osservatoriodelchianti.it
47