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Medici villas #1: La Petraia
Medici Traces

Medici villas #1: La Petraia

21 abril, 2024 / By:
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Perched on a hill top of Castello, with a panoramic view of Florence, this astonishing 14th century villa was first owned by the Brunelleschi family and the Strozzi, before being home to Cosimo I de’ Medici and his offsprings. It was also the favourite residence of Vittorio Emanuele II in the company of her lover Rosa Vercellana. Its significance has paved the way for restorations throughout the centuries, thus becoming declared UNESCO World Heritage in 2013 and an asset of the state museums today. Not to miss are the famous lunettes painted by Giusto Utens — each representing a Medici villa and garden —, the sculptures of Giambologna and a wander lost in its gardens. There is a guided tour in Italian every 30 minutes. Free entrance.

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The gates of Florence
Medici Traces

The gates of Florence

20 abril, 2024 / By:
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The gates of Florence were part of the city´s old defensive border. Sadly, the wall by the northern side of the Arno River was demolished in the 19th century so to pave the way for the main ring road. However, part of the wall located in Oltrarno, at the south side of the Arno, and other gates remain today: Porta San Gallo, Porta San Niccolò, Porta alla Croce, Porta San Frediano, Porta San Giorgio, Porta San Miniato and Porta al Prato. A stroll on a sunny afternoon from Porta San Giorgio to Porta San Miniato — with the ancient wall on one side and the terrific landscape of the Tuscan countryside on the other — is a must; feels like natural Prozac for the senses. …

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Gardens of Florence #4: parco mediceo di Pratolino
Medici Traces

Gardens of Florence #4: parco mediceo di Pratolino

19 marzo, 2024 / By:
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This monumental complex, property of the City of Florence, is included since 2013 in the Unesco World Heritage list. In addition to housing The Colossus of the Appenines, the work of Giambologna for which it is perhaps best known, the Medicean Park in Pratolino contains two Italian gardens and another one in romantic style due to modifications in the 19th century, when the property passed to the Lorena and later to the Demidoff. …

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Past and present of the «pensione» Annalena in Florence
Medici Traces

Past and present of the «pensione» Annalena in Florence

1 febrero, 2023 / By:
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The story of Annalena (an orphan aristocrat adopted by Cosme de ‘Medici) and her palace is told in Niccolò Machiavelli´s Florentine Stories at the beginning of the 16th century. Her palace of Via Romana (a few steps from the Palazzo Pitti) was Cosme´s gift as she married Baldaccio di Bicci de ‘Medici. After Bicci´s murder, Annalena converted the building into a convent, to become later a casino, a luxury brothel, and finally, in 1919, a boarding house. Since then, it’s been the favourite of foreign travellers, musicians, poets, artists and actors, as Annalena displays through the furniture its splendid and decadent past. The Nobel Prize for literature Eugenio Montale used to stay here in the 30s; he shared «his room» with his lover when attending occasional meetings at the Crusca Academy in Florence. Prices depend on the season, so one double room with terrace could cost between 60 and 140 euros.
Hotel Annalena – Via Romana, 34, Florence, 50125, Italy
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Cappelle Medicee: answered prayers in Florence
Medici Traces

Cappelle Medicee: answered prayers in Florence

6 enero, 2022 / By:
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Everyday, I get up and go to bed with the Cappelle Medicee. And it is not a metaphor. It’s the first thing I see when I open the windows in the morning and as I close them at night. Indeed, I appreciate this view. God has so many prayers to answer that I have decided just to refer mine to the Medici. The Medici chapel in the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence comprises two structures added to Brunelleschi’s original design. Currently, the chapel is one of the State´s museums of Florence as well as the burial place of the Medici family. Its Sagrestia Nuova was designed by Michelangelo. The opulent Cappella dei Principi, dedicated to the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, was raised in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and is completely covered with splendid coloured marbles. But unfortunately, and since I can remember, is still under restoration.
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Palazzo Medici Riccardi of Florence: Renaissance paradigmatic construction
Medici Traces

Palazzo Medici Riccardi of Florence: Renaissance paradigmatic construction

4 marzo, 2020 / By:
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It is hard to say how many times a day I pass by and around the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence — I live a few steps away from this Renaissance building, by the way, one of the most beautiful and splendorous of Florence. Besides the proximity, it took long until finally, I decided to visit it. Sometimes closeness and everydayness make us ignore the cultural gems of a city, simply because they are there and one thinks there is plenty of time to enjoy them in the future.…

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Medici villas #4: Villa Medici Roma
Medici Traces

Medici villas #4: Villa Medici Roma

24 julio, 2019 / By:
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The Villa Medici in Rome, together with its garden, it is one of the most majestic of the Medicean villas. Located next to Villa Borghese Park, it was acquired by Ferdinand I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in 1576. Since 1803 the building hosts the French Academy in Rome. It was precisely Ferdinand I de’ Medici who commissioned Bartolomeo Ammannati to complete the structure. It is the first property of the Florentine family in Rome, with which they reaffirmed their permanent presence in the city.…

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Gian Gastone de’ Medici, the last homosexual of the Medici dynasty
Medici Traces

Gian Gastone de’ Medici, the last homosexual of the Medici dynasty

26 junio, 2019 / By:
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The last sovereign ruler of the Medici dynasty, Gian Gastone (1671-1737), Grandson of Ferdinando II, reigned fourteen years – from 1723 to 1737. He was a lonely pubescent man who spent most of his time isolated in the Boboli Garden, concentrated in his studies on flowers and plants and his collection of dainty, delicate objects and things. It is said that because of his homosexuality, he was affected with a deep melancholy. He was the second in the hereditary line since the first soon of the Grand Duke was Ferdinando. When Ferdinando died without heirs in 1713, Gian Gastone inherited the throne. In 1697 and for alliances and dynasties reasons, Gian Gastone was forced to marry a German-Bohemian princess, Anna Maria Franziska. The matrimony was a calamity from the beginning due to the lack of comprehension combined with a high degree of repellency and depressed resignedness on part of Gian Gastone. The marriage had no children thus consequently the option of a Medici heir vanished.

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Historical fictions novels on the Medici family by Christine De Melo
Medici Traces

Historical fictions novels on the Medici family by Christine De Melo

12 diciembre, 2018 / By:
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After obtaining a degree in Art History from UMASS Dartmouth, C. De Melo (Christine) began coordinating educational tours throughout Italy for an American university in 2003. Her love for Tuscany and the Medici family eventually prompted her to become a city and museum guide in Florence. When her first book, SABINA: A Novel Set in the Italian Renaissance, became an Amazon bestseller in 2014, her life changed. Today, she is a full-time author with ten novels on Amazon. SABINA and its sister book, ALLEGRA, are also available at the Galleria degli Uffizi book store. In 2018 she released RUTHLESS: A Novel Set in Gothic Verona, which hit #1 on Amazon (Italian Historical Fiction).
Visit the author’s website: www.cdemelo.com
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The ubiquitous Medici escutcheon in Florence
Medici Traces

The ubiquitous Medici escutcheon in Florence

4 diciembre, 2018 / By:
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Contrary to the legend, the surname Medici has nothing to do with medical ancestors in the family, but with their move from the region of Mugello to Florence, back in the thirteen century, abandoning agriculture to devote themselves to financial life. The six red balls on the golden field of the coat of arms are not pills but bezants, a unit of weight from the Byzantine era used by merchants and medieval bankers to count. The mythical escutcheon is easily recognizable in any corner of Florence and when least expected.…

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