The Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany... ... inserted onto the UNESCO World Heritage List in June, 2013 The history of Tuscany is also the history of the Medici Family: bankers, politicians, royals, popes (three family members became spiritual leaders of the Catholic Church – but one of them, Leo XI, fell ill right after his coronation and was pope for just 17 days, in 1605), patrons of the arts, and champions of the birth of the Italian Renaissance. Lords of Florence from 1434, then Grand Dukes of Tuscany from 1569 (due to a formal “upgrade” strongly requested by Cosimo I), the Medici ruled this territory almost continuously until 1737 and they left some beautiful traces of their passage, like the constellation of the Medici Villas: a network of rural buildings, farms and hunting lodges, used as country palaces by the Medici family members, who used to move from one place to another, according to the seasons and their personal interests. Set in gorgeous and magnificent Tuscany, and immersed in the splendid countryside just outside favorite art cities like Florence and Lucca the Medici Villas are an outstanding expression of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, and an unprecedented for an epoch in which wealthy Florentines possessed either the classic rural farmsteads or ancient castles, each a symbol of power. More precisely, 12 villas total, along with two gardens, make up the UNESCO Site: The Boboli Gardens (Florence) and the Pratolino Gardens (Vaglia), the Florentine Villas of Careggi, La Petraia, Castello and Poggio Imperiale – the Belcanto Villa in Fiesole (also known as Villa Fiesole), the Poggio a Caiano Villa in Prato, the Villa in Cerreto Guidi, Villa La Magia (Quarrata, near Pistoia), Villa di Artimino (Carmignano, near Prato), Cafaggiolo a Barberino in Mugello, Villa del Trebbio (San Piero in Sieve) and Palazzo di Seravezza in Lucca The Medici Villas, as the UNESCO Committee writes, bear testimony to the influence the Medici Family exerted over modern European culture through its patronage of the arts. Built between the 15th and 17th Centuries, they represent an innovative system of rural construction in harmony with nature and dedicated to leisure, the arts and knowledge. These villas are are among the most important and lofty exemplars of Tuscan Renaissance and Baroque architecture. Their gardens and perfect integration with the local natural elements contributed to the emergence of a sensibility for landscape aesthetics, evidence of one of the defining traits of Renaissance humanism. The Boboli Gardens are also an ideal Italian garden. Conceived for the Granducal Palazzo Pitti, tthey are also connected to the Belvedere Fort, and they occupy a surface area of 45.000m². Outside the city, but still in the Province of Florence is the lush Parco della Villa Medicea di Pratolino; destroyed in 1822, it was later restructured and transformed into Villa Demidoff. The Park hosts significant artworks, including: The Colossus of the Apennines (Il Colosso dellAppennino) by Giambologna. These residences represent what was an authentic microcosm of the world of court life, and they were equally “pleasure palaces” and diplomatic residences. Some of them served as the Medicis’ hunting lodges as well, particularly Trebbio and Cafaggiolo – also the first villas constructed, and thus featuring plenty fo 13th-Century fortification architecture. (Cafaggiolo also sprung up as a ceramics hub, with one of the most famous Renaissance ceramics workshops.) Then there were the summer residences, such as Villa di Artimino, also referred to as the “villa of fireplaces and chimneystacks,” given its numerous fireplaces and chimneystacks. Another of the abodes was Villa di Fiesole, where Lorenzo de Medici loved to gather with his humanist friends, e.g. Poliziano and Pico della Mirandola. Villa La Màgia was important, rather, for its strategic location, where an historic encounter between Duke Alessandro de Medici and Emperor Charles V took place in 1536. Not to be left out is one of the oldest residences, Villa Careggi, dedicated not only to rest and relaxation, but also to the economy of agricultural activities. Today these residences serve varying functions. Some, like Villa La Petraia, one of the most beautiful – above all for its position overlooking the City of Florence – are part of the Florentine museum network. The Villa di Cerreto Guidi, a hunting lodge and hunting grounds, hosts the Historic Hunting and Territorial Museum. Similarly, Villa Poggio a Caiano, commissioned to Giuliano da Sangallo by Lorenzo the Magnificent, is a museum. Others are insitutional seats, such as Villa Castello, once decorated with Botticellis La Primavera e La nascita di Venere (Spring and the Birth of Venus), and today official location of the Accademia della Crusca; the Villa of Poggio Imperiale - renovated in the Neoclassical style and hosting a public school -and Palazzo di Seravezza, Museum of the Peasant Work and Traditions of Historic Versilia. ► SELECTED MAIN IMAGE: Villa La Petraia, Florence, one of the most beautiful Medici residences, that still contains the original furniture and has an enchanting park outside. ► OTHER IMAGES in COMMENTS: 1.Poggio a Caiano (Prato) - Villa of Poggio a Caiano 2. Quarrata (Pistoia) - Villa La Màgia | Photo by Sailko - Source: Wikimedia 3. Florence - Villa Castello 4. Florence - Villa di Carreggi | Photo by Saliko - Source: Wikimedia 5. Carmignano (Prato) - Villa Artimino 6. Barberino del Mugello (Florence) - Villa Cafaggiolo 7.The Pratolino Garden - Colosso Appennino | Photo by Valerio Orlandi - Source: Wikimedia 8. Florence - Boboli Gardens 9.Fiesole - Villa Medici di Belcanto ► VILLAS LOCATION: https://maps.google/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=208688629108429910673.0004c83ee8d337fa1761c&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=43.779189,10.975685&spn=0.371734,0.668106&source=embed&dg=feature ► SELECTED LINK 1: whc.unesco.org/en/list/175 ► SELECTED LINK 2: FIRENZE - Villa Medicea LA PETRAIA https://youtube/watch?v=jTWPA9RyFAE
Posted on: Sat, 05 Jul 2014 09:48:48 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015