My new apartment is right across due viale from the very handsome Palazzo dei Pittori. The palazzo and I are separated by 2 viale or boulevards and one stream (the Mugnone), and I always admire the facade of the palazzo whenever I gaze across this space. There is nothing blocking my view except some beautiful green trees and a stream, and two grand-scale viali or boulevards. The Palazzo provides a gorgeous backdrop!
Here is a Youtube video about the palazzo and its current iteration.
The building, intended for the studies of artists, has always been called “Palazzo dei Pittori” and located on the southern bank of the Mugnone stream, today Viale Giovanni Milton, at numbers 47 and 49.
The building was commissioned by an English painter named Lemon who was living in Florence. It was designed by the architect and engineer Tito Bellini and built in the 2nd half of the 19th century to host artists of various nationalities including English, German, Russian, Swiss and also Italians, all of whom created art during the time that Florence was the capital of Italy (1860-1865).
The Palazzo dei Pittori itself was built during the “Umbertino period,” with its large spaces and austere decoration.
From its construction to the present day, there have been many well and lesser known artists who have worked in the palace, including the Sicilian sculptor Domenico Trentacoste, the Macchiaiolo painter Egisto Ferroni, Giovanni and Romeo Costetti, the sculptor Giuseppe Graziosi and many others. It was also home to a prestigious school of painting called the “Florentine School of Painting,” directed by professors Giuseppe Rossi and Alberto Zardo.
Other creative artists also worked in this atelier, including poets and writers such as Gabriele D’Annunzio and Mario Luzi.
This is therefore a place that houses an important but forgotten past, vaguely mysterious, waiting to be discovered.
get back, lauretta! 