Epiphany and the Magi procession

Tomorrow, January 6th is Epiphany. This greek word means "revelation" and refers to the episode told in Gospel by Matthew (2,12) which describes the visit of the three "wise men" called the Magi to the newborn Jesus in a manger. Starting from 1417 the Compagnia dei Re Magi in Florence arranged every 3 years an historical procession to celebrate the arrival of the three Magi in Bethlem. 
It seems that many members of the Medici family were part of this Company and in fact this historic procession was also represented in Benozzo Gozzoli's fresco (1459) in Palazzo Medici Riccardi where you can recognize many portraits of the Medici.

Benozzo Gozzoli fresco in the Chapel of the Magi in Palazzo Medici (1459) - particular

Three different processions started from the Baptistery to arrive at the Convent of San Marco, where the Company had its seat. This tradition was suppressed in 1494 when the Dominican monk Girolamo Savonarola took the power in Florence and the Medici were chased out of the city.

Since 1997 this procession has been re-enacted again organized by Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore. The itinerary goes from The Pitti palace to the Duomo, where the nativity with actors and real animals like the oxe and the donkey is arranged in a crib and the Arbishop reads Matthew's Gospel.

The Magi procession today

Grotesque decorations

The word grotesque comes from the Latin root "grotto", meaning a small cave or hollow. The original meaning was restricted to an extravagant style of Ancient Roman decorative art rediscovered and then copied in Rome at the end of the 15th century. The "caves" were in fact rooms and corridors of the Domus Aurea, the unfinished palace complex started by Nero after the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64, which had become overgrown and buried. When Nero's Domus Aurea was inadvertently rediscovered in the late 15th century, buried in fifteen hundred years of fill, so that the rooms had the aspect of underground grottoes, the Roman wall decorations in fresco and delicate stucco were a revelation. This launched a real revival of this decorative style especially fpr ceilings, columns and walls of important palaces.

Beautiful grotesque  staircase's ceiling in Palazzo Vecchio.

The decoration is characterized by the representation of fantasy creatures, often half animals, half human, of chimeras and monsters, often portrayed as thin and whimsical figures, which blend in geometric decorations and structured symmetrically, on a background of generally white or monochrome.
This had a great fortune in the Renaissance and in Florence we have some of the most beautiful examples in Palazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi museum.

Grotesque on the ceiling of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence

May 23rd Girolamo Savonarola burnt at the stake

On May 23rd 1498 the famous Florentine politician and religious authority Girolamo Savonarola was burnt to death on a pyre in Piazza della Signoria where today a commemorative stone is inlaid in the ground on the exact spot he was burnt.

Portrait of the friar Girolamo Savonarola by Fra Bartolomeo, Museo di San Marco

The Dominican monk became famous around 1490, during Lorenzo Il Magnifico's main authority, when he began to rail against moral corruption with hellfire sermons and warns of a coming apocalypse.

The death of Lorenzo il Magnifico on April 8th1492 and the passing of the power to his less capable son, Piero Lo sfortunato (Piero the Unfortunate, also known as The Fatuous) favored Savonarola unstoppable political ascent. The last years of 1400 the friar, far from limiting himself to the salvation of souls, ruled the city like an authentic religious and political despot.

He formed the Grand Council, open to 1000 citizens over 29 years of age who had previously held offices in the magistrature or who were descendants of high magistrates. That's why the famous Salone dei Cinquecento was originally projected, to hold the assembly of this new Council, 500 (Cinquecento) members at a time.

The stake in Piazza della Signora, anonymous painter, San Marco museum

His strictness against immorality and decadence arrived to orchestrate mass burnings, the so called Bonfire of the Vanities where clothes, jewels, books, musical instruments and paintings, basically everyhting that until then the Renaissance and its search of beauty had produced,  was set aflame. Many famous painters such as Sandro Botticelli and Fra' Bartolomeo followed this extreme religious ideology and witnesses of his influence on art can be found in their works of art as well as in those of other artists.

But not everyone agreed with Savonarola's preaches. When his sermons arrived to involve Pope Alexander IV, this excommunicated him for heresy and other religious misconducts. The Dominican friar was arrested and imprisoned inside Palazzo Vecchio were he was tortured till he was condamned to death after a brief trial. 

The commemorative stone in Piazza della Signoria on the spot of the execution of Girolamo Savonarola

Together with his fellows friar, Domenico Buonvicini and Silvestro Maruffi  Savonarola was hanged and burned at the stake on May 23rd 1498. 

Every year on this day a ceremony called La Fiorita is celebrated to remind and commemorate Savonarola's tragic death. Mass is celebrated in Palazzo Vecchio, while in Piazza Signoria, in the place where he was burned, the flowers are arranged - the Fiorita - with music and the performance of the flag wavers.

140 years from the moving of the David

Together with Botticelli's Venus, Michelangelo's David is one of the symbols of Florence, Renaissance and Italy, especially abroad. Not everybody knows though, that its position, the beautiful Tribuna inside the Accademia museum, was created in 1882 by the architect Emilio De Fabris, the same who carved the copy of the statue after the moving of the original from Piazza della Signoria in 1873 exactly 140 years ago.

For more than 3 centuries the marble prophet stood in front of the entrance of Palazzo Vecchio, our city hall, exposed to weather, wars and revolutions. In 1527 during a civil riot the statue was hit and its left arm was broken in  three pieces and then restored wth its original pieces. In 1873 for obvious conservatory reasons the masterpiece was moved inside the Accademia museum where it could have been (almost) safe. In 1991, a deranged man attacked the statue with a hammer he had concealed beneath his jacket, damaging the toes of the left foot before being restrained.

David by Michelangelo, Galleria dell 'Accademia

Everybody look up with mouth open admiring the beauty, the mysterious eyes, the anatomical perfection and the ideal greek profile. The most frequent question is why isuch a big head and hands. Could it be a mistake? I don't think so. Michelangelo was commissioned in 1501 by the Florentine  Republic to realize prophet for the  buttresses of the Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore. The point of view should have been much more lower than now, as the statue should have been positioned very high...that's why Michelangelo faked a bit the proportions especially those of the head and hands. On 12 November 2010, a fiberglass replica of the David was installed on the roofline of Santa Maria del Fiore for one day only. Photographs of the installation reveal the statue the way the Operai who commissioned the work originally expected it to be seen.

Legs and hips are so narrow as the block of marble given to Michelangelo was actually already carved by another sculptor, Agostino di Duccio who had difficulties in proceeding and abandoned the work that Michelangelo continued many years later. The block of marble was narrow and full of defects, little microscopical holes which still today can cause many problems to the statue.
At the lights of these considerations, Michelangelo's enterprise could be even more extraordinary.

David, replica by Emilio de Fabris  in front of Palazzo Vecchio

In 1504, when the 6 tons statue was finished, it could not be moved so high on the buttresses of the Cathedral, so a special commission which also included Sandro Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci decided to put it in front of the entrance of Palazzo Vecchio as a symbol of the civic virtues of Florence. The Medici family had been just chased out of the city and the Republic ruled by Pier Soderini just needed to show its strength and self confidence such as the young hero of the Bible showed challenging Goliath with his slingshot and his faith in God.

L'alchemia e le arti

Campeggia fiero all'entrata della mostra "L'alchemia e le arti" il ritratto di Francesco I, secondo Granduca di Toscana dal 1574 alla sua morte nel 1587, figlio di Cosimo I e Eleonora di Toledo.

Francesco I in un ritratto di pittore fiorentino

Un uomo fuori dall'ordinario, molto meno interessato alla politica e alla gestione del Granducato di quanto lo fosse il padre, ma piu interessato all'Alchimia, le scienze, la fisica e le arti.

Per sua volonta' sono state creati ambienti ed edifici che hanno il fascino del magico e dello straordinario: tra il 1570-72 il famoso Studiolo all'interno di Palazzo Vecchio, in cui il Granduca amava ritirarsi per studiare e dove collezionava i piu' disparati materiali. Si tratta di uno dei piu'grande capolavori del manierismo, creato dalla collaborazione del grande architetto Giorgio Vasari e dell'intellettuale Don Vincenzo Borghini che di quella stanza detto' il programma iconografico basato sulle allegorie dei quattro elementi: acqua, fuoco, aria e terra.

Studiolo di Palazzo Vecchio

Dobbiamo sempre a Francesco la nascita della Galleria degli Uffizi, concepiti come un luogo magico in cui il Granduca decise di sistemare la cospicua collezione di famiglia di sculture antiche, ma non
solo. Fino alla seconda meta' del 700 Uffizi erano non solo un posto in cui i Medici collezionavano oggetti d'arte ma bensì teatro di molteplici saperi che esaltavano la magnificenza dei granduchi. Raccolte di antichità' illustri, strumenti scientifici, vasi in pietre dure e armi, botteghe di ebanisti, artigiani, laboratori pietre dure e alchimisti.

Nel 1582 Francesco commissiono' a Bernardo Buontalenti la Tribuna, un ambiente ottagonale annesso al Corridoio di Levante, riaperta lo scorso Giugno 2012 dopo un lungo restauro. Una vera e propria camera delle meraviglie, a partire dalla sua decorazione che richiama i 4 elementi: la cupola rivestita di oltre 6000 valve di conchiglie ( acqua) pareti di velluto rosso cremisi (fuoco), il pavimento in marmi e pietre dure ( la terra) e per finire alla sommita della cupola la rosa dei venti (aria).  All'interno di questo spazio magico ottagonale venivano riposti gli oggetti d'arte piu rari e preziosi come quadri, bronzetti, sculture antiche, gemme rare e preziose. Poco rimane dell'allestimento originale, ma recentemente sono state riposizionate e restaurate le sculture antiche restaurate come la celebre Venere dei Medici, al centro della Tribuna.

Interno della Tribuna degli Uffizi

E' nel corso del 500 e 600 che nascono le prime wunderkammer - " camere delle meraviglie":
ambienti allestiti con ogni sorta di rarita' e curiosita' appesa alle pareti, o al soffitto, o sistemata in appositi scaffali, destinati solo a un pubblico selezionato come membri del clero, personaggi di spicco della cultura e della vita politica e quindi nascosti alla vista della gente comune.

Un coccodrillo appeso nella simulazione di Wunderkammer realizzata alla mostra

Tutto cio' destava naturalmente grande meraviglia nei visitatori. I Medici aderirono a questa nuova tendenza conservando addirittura mummie egiziane che venivano usate per l'estrazione di alcuni medicamenti.

Una mummia conservata dai Medici e allestita
nella wunderkammer ricreata alla mostra

Ma il luogo principale delle sperimentazioni alchemiche era La Fonderia, un grande laboratorio situato nel corridoio di Ponente degli Uffizi, creato da Cosimo I e sviluppata da suo figlio Francesco nel 1585 quando la trasferi al Casino di San Marco dove venivano svolte ricerche ed esperimenti mirati alla creazione della la prima porcellana europea ad imitazione di quella cinese. Almeno 1500 pezzi furono creati ma solo una sessantina sono arrivati fino ad oggi e alcuni esemplari sono ora custoditi al Museo del Bargello.

La decorazione a grottesche della volta numero 13 degli Uffizi, eseguita  da Antonio Tempesta e Alessandro Allori nel 1581 testimonia questa passione per gli esperimenti e l'alchimia e anticipa di qualche anno la creazione della Nuova Fonderia avvenuta nel 1586 all'interno degli Uffizi, precisamente nella stanza n 25, dove ora e' esposto il Tondo Doni di Michelangelo. La' vi rimarra' per almeno 200 anni.

Anche l'aspetto farmaceutico era rilevante perche' la trasformazione della materia riguardava principalmente la ricerca dell'elixir, la sostanza capace di purificare i metalli ma anche l'animo umano dalle impurita' e quindi anche dalla malattia.

Farmacia portabile prodotta dalla Fonderia degli Uffizi e
solitamente donata ai membri della nobiltà europea

Nel corso del 600 Cosimo II e Ferdinando II dettero impulso alla produzione farmaceutica. I preziosi medicamenti venivano donati dai Granduchi ai nobili di tutta Europa custoditi in preziosi cofanetti d'ebano. In quel periodo la Fonderia era luogo di esposizione di rarita' animali e vegetali.

un esempio di oggetti esposti nelle Wunderkammer: uno scheletro di scimmia,
il rostro di un pesce, un alambicco per la distillazione, un pesce palla...

Il Porcellino

The Porcellino under the Loggia del Mercato Nuovo

Here is the Porcellino, with its shiny nose, by the fifteen hundred loggia del Mercato Nuovo, just a block behind Piazza della Signoria and Piazza della Repubblica. Actually it should represent a wild boar rather than a piglet (as "porcellino" means) but the statue is famous amongst tourists as well as amongst Florentines: a legend says hat if you put a coin in its jaws and this falls into the underlying grating of the basin, this will bring you good luck.

That's why crowds of tourists stand around the statue at every time of the year making photos and touching the statue's nose as a promise to be back in Florence soon.

The original ellenistic sculpture in marble (mid 3rd century B.C.) was given by the Pope Pio IV as a gift to Cosimo I around 1560, as a homage to the Medici's passion for hunting and now this is kept in the Uffizi Gallery. Cosimo ordered to make a copy in bronze to the famous sculptor Pietro Tacca, Giambologna's apprentice, who will gain the place of Granduke's favourite sculptor after his master's death. The model in wax was realized in 1620, while the bronze final sculpture was finished in 1633. Here Pietro Tacca even surpassed the classics in his creation.

Detail of the base of the sculpture

The wild boar raises on its front legs, with its shaggy fur bristling, upon hearing the footsteps of
hunters. The base on which the animal rests is in the form of a piece of an uncoltivated ground, with grass , bushes, plants and small animals as lizards, frogs, snails, river crabs, a grass snake... The naturalistic details show Giambologna's influence on Pietro Tacca.
The water that gushed from the animal's jaws was then collected  in a basin in front of the base.

The fountain was coinceived as a urban furnishing and was initially placed in the Boboli gardens. In
1639 this was moved in  Piazza del Mercato Nuovo. The base was deteriorated by the time and the people and was thus moved in the Museum of San Marco, while the statue was replaced by a copy in 1998 and the original in bronze is now kept in he Bardini museum.

One of the two fountains in P.zza SS Annunziata by P.Tacca

The equestrian statue of Ferdinando I in P.SS. Annunziata - 1608 

Pietro Tacca other famous bronze works are the equestrian statue of the Granduke Ferdinando I (begun by Giambologna and finished by P.Tacca) in Piazza SS Annunziata and the two fountains in the same square, where he also showed a great talent in representing animals and monsters of the sea.

FLORENCE AS ... FLOWER

I think that Spring is the best season at all to visit Florence. Gardens are in full bloom and can offer a valid alternatives to churches and museums, as well as a relaxing break for Florentines.

A"giaggiolo" the florentine name for lily

Not by chance the symbol and coat of arm of the city is a lily: founded in 59 B.C. during the celebrations of Floralia, the city's ancient name was Florentia, an auspicious name which came from the word flower.

We have a unique institution in Florence, called the Iris Garden http://www.irisfirenze.it/giardino.htm located at the corner between Viale dei Colli and the panoramic Piazzale Michelangelo which specializes in growing and preserving this elegant and beautiful flower. This is open only in May, (free) when this flower gives its best in colors and perfume. A nice walk out of the historical center to see the garden, combined with a visit to the outstanding romanic church of San Miniato, an ice cream to recover the forces and your afternoon will be flown!

Wisteria pergola at the Bardini Gardens

But you won't need to go so far to relax your eyes...just think about the Bardini Gardens http://www.bardinipeyron.it/ab/ , its wisteria pergola which leads you to the top terrace will appear like a vision to your eyes in April/May, (this can be also because it's uphill garden!) 

Another wonderful view of the city and you can get into one of the most classical example of Italian style gardens, the glorious and regal Boboli gardens and walk down to Palazzo Pitti (same tickets, the two gardens are connected).

 Boboli gardens

Florence has also the biggest gardens in Europe within the city walls: The Torrigiani garden http://www.giardinotorrigiani.it, still belonging to this old and noble family, can be opened on request and you will be revealed to the history of the family and of this English style garden.

Villa di Castello and its garden

Not to mention the Medici villas of Petraia and Castello, http://www.uffizi.firenze.it/musei/?m=villacastello near Sesto Fiorentino, whose gardens were a real celebration of the Medicean glories, where you will admire sculptures and citrus collections which are unique in all over the world. 

Come to Florence and celebrate Spring with us!

SANTA TRINITA BRIDGE AND THE MISTERY OF THE MISSING HEAD

Looking downstream from the wonderful terrace offered by the Ponte Vecchio, you can admire one of the most beautiful and elegant Italian bridges: the Bridge of Santa Trinita. Dedicated to the Holy Trinity the bridge was built in 1252, patronized by the Frescobaldi family who needed a bridge connecting the right side of the river with the left side where they had their residences.

The bridge was swept away many times by floods of the Arno and always rebuilt.

Its actual and last shape follows the project realized by Bartolomeo Ammannati in 1567. This the oldest elliptical arch bridge in the world and it seems that the Ammannati asked suggestions to Michelangelo who projected the three modern parabolic arches, the so called catenary curves. Upside down, this is the curve assumed by a chain under its own weight when supported only at its ends. This is not only an elegant shape which anticipates the baroque trends, but also has a strong static resistance.

The bridge is made in pietra forte, a golden stone used for many palaces and constructions in Florence and its pillars of support are carved as a ship's bow, sharp and slim in order to dodge the logs carried by the floads.

Four allegoric sculptures stands at the two ends of the bridge and represent the four seasons. These were not part of the original project but were realized by different sculptors and put later on the bridge.

The bridge was destroyed by the Germans during the second World war and re built starting from 1952.

This was a big and affectionate restoration rather than a re-building. The Florentines gave a symbolic contribute by buying a stone or a brick, so that they managed to finance one third of the cost! Hundreds of small and big fragmented pieces found in the neighborhood of the bridge were examined. Think that one of the stones of the bridge was found in the Church of Carmine, on the other side of the Arno, hundreds of meters from the bridge in the center of the San Frediano area.

Stones, marble curls, pilasters and profiles, gray stone sheets, fragments of the body of the Four Seasons sculptures were fished out of the river. Only one sculpture resulted horribly disfigured: Spring, which was found without the head and an arm.

This is the woman on the right side of the river who holds a baskets full of flowers and fruits. Carved by Pietro Francavilla for the gardens of the Acciaoli family who had their residences in the area, she was then set on the bridge together with the others sculptures. If you look at it carefully she is not exactly beautiful (Mr. Francavilla may excuse me if I say that), but it is a symbol for the city of Florence with a very important and strong meaning for the population. You can still see the injury between the bust and the neck, the exact point of the traumatic detachment of the head from the body.

After the new bridge's inauguration on May 16^th 1958 the missing head of the Spring was the protagonist of true and false stories about its finding. Witnesses told they had seen a soldier of the Allied Forces who digging amongst the ruins near the river, had found and stolen the head.

An advertisement with photos said “Have you ever seen this woman? She is about 350 years old, marble white skin, 20 pounds of weight. 3000 Dollars reward to the person who will report about her.” A famous American pens producer company published this announcement in almost half of the world but nobody answered.

In the sharp air of the morning of October 6th 1961 Timoteo Lucaroni from Piacenza was digging the river's shore with a drag. About 100 meter from the bridge on the right side he hit something, maybe a big stone. He set down the stuff and together with sand and gravel he saw a round white stone rolling down: the head of the Spring!

The news run along the Arno River, through the narrow streets of the city arrived to Palazzo Vecchio, entering inside the Salone dei Cinquecento and exploded on the newspapers of the world. The head was exposed in the courtyard of Palazzo Vecchio and received the homage of the Florentines who passed in front of it deeply moved as pilgrims in front of a relic.

The head of the Spring had been restored and put at its original place with a solemn ceremony, but the wound of the detachments is still visible and always alive in our memories. 

Freely adapted and translated from: 

Pierluigi Bacci "Firenze, Segreti, storie, misteri, curiosità" Angelo Pontecorboli Editore

Photo by Sailko

OUR HERO PERSEUS

Walking in Piazza Signoria, the outstanding sculpture of Perseus by Benvenuto Cellini fascinates me always as the first time. It proudly dominates the left side of the Loggia dei Lanzi, a space first created to host public ceremonies of the government, then transformed by Cosimo I dei Medici into an outdoor museum of ancient sculptures, paert of the Medici collection.

This is the only sculpture expressly conceived for that position by Cosimo I in 1554 with a precise and clear  political meaning: the symbol of the "cut" with the republic and the beginning of his rulership. And a cut is what we have in front of us...precisely the cut of the head of the Medusa defeated by the mythological hero.

The statue of Perseus under  the loggia dei Lanzi
Piazza Signoria

Benvenuto Cellini tells us about the extraordinary casting of this bronze statue in his biography, decribing it as an epic enterprise. This was created by a unique bronze casting differently from the previous bronze sculptures of this dimension which were usually created by assembling different pieces.

Mr. Cellini left us his signature on the shoulder belt of the hero and as if it were not enough, using the hair of Perseus as beard he also left his self portrait on the back of the helmet.

Besides the story of its casting, what fascinates me of this scultpure is the mythological history of Perseus. His mother Danae was stucked in a room underground by her father Acrisio because he did not want her to make children. A prophecy said that the birth of Danae's son would have caused the death of his father or grandfather.

Nevertheless Zeus managed to possess Danae by transforming himself into a golden rain. From the union of them Perseus was born. Danae's father got very angry and sent his daughter and the baby Perseus on a boat away from the island. They approached the the island of Serifo, which was ruled by Polidette, a tyran who wanted to possess Danae. But Perseus was now a young and strong boy who protected his mother. So Polidette invented a trick to send Perseus away, by inviting him to lunch and asking a present. Perseus offered to bring as a present the head of Medusa, one of the gorgons, a terrible monster with snakes instead of hair who had the power tonturn into stone those who watched her in the eyes.

Medusa just after the cut of the head
in a painting by Caravaggio

He left Serifo with a sword given to him by Ermes, winged sandals received by the nymphs, a magic helmet (Ade helmet) which made him invisible and finallya shild given by Athena. Thanks to these magic trick ans most of all thanks to the shield where Medusa reflexed herself, Perseus  beheaded Medusa and from her neck came out Pegaso, the winged horse (born by the union of Medusa with Poseidon).

So many events behind a hero, so many things to tell in front of this amazing sculpture.