At least the scaffolding has been erected on Ammannati’s sculptural monument.
Italy
Fountain of Neptune, Florence, 1574
Ammannati’s huge white marble statue of Neptune, surrounded by rearing seahorses and frolicking bronze satyrs, towers over visitors to Piazza della Signoria. Despite its imposing character and lavish design, Bartolomeo Ammannati’s Fountain of Neptune has not always been well received. Almost as soon as it was unveiled on December 10, 1574, it was criticised by Florentines as a waste of marble: “Ammannato Ammannato, quanto marmo hai sciupato!” residents are said to have chanted.
Now, however, 1.5 million euro was being spent to restore the fountain, once considered barely worth the raw materials used to create it. The money, donated by Salvatore Ferragamo SpA thanks to the Italian Art Bonus legislation that promotes cultural patronage through tax breaks, will finance a new pump system, allowing water to circulate through the fountain for the first time in years. The donation also goes towards repairing the damaged marble, returning it to its original white brilliance. The restoration project is set to take just over two years; the plan is to unveil the fountain anew on December 10, 2018, the same day it was originally unveiled in 1574.
In 1559, Cosimo I de’ Medici launched a competition to design the first public fountain in Florence. This followed technical innovations in the water systems of the city and the construction of a new aqueduct. The figure of Neptune, god of the sea, is likely to have been chosen to symbolise Florence’s maritime prowess at the time. It was said that the sculpted Neptune’s face, fierce and bearded, actually resembled that of the Grand Duke Cosimo himself.
Baccio Bandinelli, who had recently worked on the Hercules and Cacus statue also in Piazza della Signoria, was chosen for the commission, but managed to complete only the design before he died. Ammannati was drafted in to take over the job, much to the annoyance of competitor Benvenuto Cellini, who wrote a satirical poem expressing his pity for the marble in Ammannati’s hands.
It was hoped that the fountain would be completed in time for the wedding procession of Francesco I de’ Medici and Joanna of Austria in 1565, which was to pass through the piazza, but a series of unfortunate events—“porcherie” as Ammannati described them in his letters to the Duke—delayed the completion date again and again. The arrival of the marble, from the quarries of Seravezza and Carrara, was postponed many times; when it finally did arrive, the marble cutter damaged it so much that it could not be used. As a result, for the wedding ceremony Ammannati had to cobble together the horses and river gods out of painted stucco, which promptly disintegrated in the water.
When the statue was completed in 1574, it was greeted by Florentines with a mixture of amusement and bewilderment. It certainly wasn’t the fearsome emblem of Florentine might that had been intended. The statue of Neptune was swiftly dubbed Il Biancone (“the white giant”), a nickname still used now with a certain affection. Residents decided to wash clothes and inkpots in the basin almost as soon as the fountain was unveiled, and still today we can read the plaque dated 1720 on the wall of the Palazzo Vecchio, which forbids such irreverent activities. The sculptures have been vandalised many times over the years, most recently in 2005.
Perhaps the new restoration project for the Fountain of Neptune will bring with it a fresh respect for this late Renaissance monument. Let’s hope these works do not face the same delays as those of the poor Ammannati, and that the fountain will be ready for our appraisal by the end of 2018.
This article is largely taken from:
http://www.theflorentine.net/art-culture/2016/07/new-life-neptune-fountain/
I live in the house where Bartolomeo Ammannati lived and died.
You must pardon my astonishment, but my mind is blown!
Bartolomeo Ammannati (1511 – 1592), was the Italian architect and sculptor, who is perhaps best known today for his giant Fontana del Nettuno on the Piazza della Signoria in Florence. Ammannati was born at Settignano, near Florence, and studied with Baccio Bandinelli and Jacopo Sansovino. He carved statues for various Italian cities during the 1530s and 40s.
Although he is best known to us as a sculptor, during his lifetime he was more known for his architecture. He was called to Rome in 1550 by Pope Julius III on the advice of fellow-Florentine, the architect and art historian, Giorgio Vasari. Ammannati’s most important work in Rome was in collaboration with Vasari and Giacomo da Vignola on the villa of Pope Julius, the Villa Giulia (begun 1551).
He also worked in Lucca. We know he assisted Jacopo Sansovino on the design of the Biblioteca Marciana, in Venice, which closely imitated the style of Michelangelo.
Cosimo de’ Medici (Cosimo I) brought Ammannati back to Florence in 1555; he was to spend almost all of his remaining career in service to the Medicis. His first commission was to finish the Laurentian Library, begun by Michelangelo. Ammannati interpreted a clay model sent him by Michelangelo in 1558 to produce the especially impressive staircase, leading from the vestibule into the library proper.
Ammannati’s masterpiece in Florence is the Palazzo Pitti, where, beginning in 1560 (and through 1570), he enlarged the basic structure by Filippo Brunelleschi, designing a courtyard and facade opening onto the Boboli Gardens. The facade overlooking the courtyard is very unusual in its heavily rusticated (rough-hewn) treatment of successive levels of Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian attached columns. At the Pitti Palace, this rustication provides an appropriately rural yet impressive backdrop for the gardens.
Garden entrance of the Ammannati Courtyard in the Pitti Palace.
Ammannati was named Consul of Academia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence, which was founded by the Duke Cosimo I in 1563.
In 1569, Ammanati was commissioned to build the Ponte Santa Trinita, a bridge over the Arno River.
The bridge’s three arches are elliptic, and though very light and elegant, it has survived even when floods had damaged other Arno bridges at different times. Santa Trinita was destroyed in 1944, during World War II, and rebuilt in 1957.
Ammannati designed what is considered a prototypic mannerist sculptural ensemble in the Fountain of Neptune (Fontana del Nettuno), prominently located in the Piazza della Signoria in the center of Florence. The commission was originally given to the aged Bartolommeo Bandinelli; however when Bandinelli died, Ammannati’s design bested the submissions of Benvenuto Cellini and Vincenzo Danti and Ammannati was awarded the commission.
From 1563 and 1565, Ammannati and his assistants, among them Giambologna, sculpted the block of marble that had been chosen by Bandinelli. He took Grand Duke Cosimo I as model for Neptune’s face. The statue was meant to highlight Cosimo’s goal of establishing a Florentine Naval force. When the work on the ungainly sea god was finished, and sited at the other corner of the Palazzo Vecchio of Michelangelo David statue, the then 87-year-old irascible elder sculptor, is said to have scoffed at Ammannati that he had ruined a beautiful piece of marble, with the ditty: “Ammannati, Ammanato, che bel marmo hai rovinato!”
Ammannati continued work on this fountain for a decade, adding around the perimeter a cornucopia of demigod figures: bronze reclining river gods, laughing satyrs and marble sea horses emerging from the water.
In 1550 Ammannati married Laura Battiferri, an elegant poet and an accomplished woman. In his old age, Ammannati was strongly influenced by the Counter-Reformation philosophy of the Jesuits. He repudiated his earlier nude sculptures as lustful, and he designed several austere buildings for the Jesuits.
He died in Florence in 1592. In my apartment!!
Giardino Torrigiani, Firenze, 4 Marzo 2017
Gardens, with their shady trees, fragrant flowers, and peaceful lanes, have always served as a counterpoint to the narrow, crowded streets of Florence’s city center. During the Renaissance, a new form of garden-design arose, heavily influenced by classical models from Roman villas. Florence, and its surrounding area, is a garden-enthusiasts’ paradise, boasting numerous Renaissance-style gardens, along with examples of 16th-century and English-style designs.
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Hidden behind a set of high Oltrarno walls, is the Torrigiani garden, the largest private garden within city walls in Italy.
A small entrance to a secret garden
Originally planted by the founder of the Italian Botanical Society – the world’s oldest – the garden still has an uncommonly wide variety of trees, especially exotic species, in keeping with its 19th century “English Landscape” style.
One of the several palazzi on the property
Rose bushes surrounded by clipped box
Even in early spring, shrubs were blooming.
Many small vignettes fill the garden as well
Giardino Torrigiani feels somewhat mysterious, and was, in fact, laid out as an initiation path with secret Masonic symbolism. It includes Gothic follies and the recurring theme of research and enquiry. There is no secret, however, in the dedication to the art and sciences, which are still the owners’ guiding principles, as the Torrigiani garden encloses a successful commercial nursery and regularly hosts lectures on the arts and gardening.
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Lovely camellias
Shots of bright yellow and neon coral spiced the garden yesterday, as the mimosa and quince shrubs were in full bloom.
A few hearty narcissi nodded their happy, yellow heads in the spring sunlight.
Magnificent urns filled with sculptural aloe graced one section of buildings.
There were many spots to hone in on, but this door, topped with a wisteria vine, was my favorite.
I hope to return to the garden later this spring when the wisteria is in bloom.
Yes, there is a bamboo grove.
The piece de resistance, the tower:
Florence in pink and white
Giardino Torrigiani, Firenze
Diane von Furstenberg: first wrap dress made in Florence.
Fiesole in la primavera!
Bella Fiesole!
For there below us Florence was laid out like a glittering carpet of gold, wrought by
a thousand Persian infidels. The Duomo was now no tiger sentinel, but a warm
copper bell, the Arno a twisting ribbon of gilt. A city of fable and
infinite beauty in the brand-new light of the day. **
Fiesole was well established as an Etruscan stronghold in the 8th century BC, until the Romans were finally able to dominate, building a thriving town of their own over the remains.
For centuries it existed as a powerful rival to Florence, until once again it was subdued and its ruling nobles were forced to take up residence within the walls of the conquering city. In the 14th century, it became known as the new living quarters for the rich and famous Florentines looking for new territory to build their villas surrounded by cypress trees and spectacular gardens.
The hillside looms 295 meters above Florence, offering a special and stunning panorama of the Renaissance city. The city contains its historical museums, gardens & villas, picturesque streets, churches, trails and parks.
The Roman Theatre
Built into the natural rocks of one of the Fiesole’s hills, the Roman theatre has been extensively restored and still remains one of the best preserved buildings in Fiesole. It was built shortly after the reoccupation of the site in the first century BC and was situated along the Cardo, one of the Roman town’s main streets that led to the forum.
The best seats in the house, situated near the orchestra and tribunalia arcades were reached by a series of vaulted passages that ran under the cavea or rows of seats. Several flights of stairs that ran up through the cavea could be used for seating elsewhere. Each stairway consisted of three flights of ten steps. The original rightside staircase of the theatre are still visible today.
Only the foundations of the frons scenae or stage area remained. These are sufficient to show the three doors, actors used to access the stage. The most interesting area of the backstage is a semi circular room that would have been used to operate the mechanism that opened the theatre’s curtain.
The theatre was redecorated in the third century AD. Only a few fragments of the ornamentation of the multicoloured orchestra mosaics remains as well as marble reliefs of mythical scenes and deities, preserved in the site’s museum.
The mystical beauty of Fiesole, less than 10 km outside of Florence, encompasses centuries of history and it is amazing well preserved. Largely unknown by many, this small town hides a wealth of surprises: the massive stones that make up the Etruscan walls, the remains of Roman baths, the green hilltop where Leonardo da Vinci first experimented with the concept of flight, and the Roman amphitheater that still serves as a stage for the EstateFiesolana summer events. The small city center is home to a wide range of historical sites, churches and parks.
**Fiorato, Marina (2010-03-30). The Botticelli Secret (Reading Group Gold) (Kindle Locations 799-801). St. Martin’s Press. Kindle Edition.
Palazzo Medici in early spring.
ly 
A gorgeous, warm, spring day in Florence
Do you see a theme?
My mind automatically goes to horticulture on nice spring days.
get back, lauretta! 
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