Villa Peyron, Fiesole
Oh, Villa Peyron! How lovely you are, sitting in your pretty setting high above Florence!
Situated in a beautiful position up in the hills around Fiesole, one can view both Florence and Castel di Poggio from the Villa.
The Villa Peyron is a large complex, with buildings, formal gardens, and the surrounding olive groves. The villa is located in the woods named Il Bosco di Fonte Lucente, named after a spring above the villa.
The spring is said to supply the water necessary to work the many fountains in the garden and park, although I will say that the fountains weren’t working when I was there recently. Even without the fountains, the gardens are beautiful.
It is likely that the villa itself was built on top of Etruscan ruins, traces of which can be seen in the underground chambers and in the immediate surroundings; there are, for example, antique stones in the walls found in the forests around the villa.
The garden is built on three terraces that slope southwards and has a wooded parterre parallel to the villa.
What we see today bears nothing harking back to the Etruscans, but of course the villa has been subjected to a series of renovations and transformations over many centuries.
In the late 19th century, the Florentine architect, Ugo Giovannozzi (1876-1957), gave the villa its current appearance, working for Peyron family members who envisioned a very grand villa.
There’s a lot of statuary placed throughout the villa grounds; these sculptures come from the Venetian villas of the Brenta. These prestigious works were installed to take the place of those which were destroyed during World War II.
In fact, a plaque is installed on a building near the entrance to the villa grounds, which speaks to the horrors of war. During WWII, the villa was requisitioned by the high German command. Later it was occupied by the Allies who also installed a military hospital there. (I can’t help thinking of the film, The English Patient.)
You might say that some of the minor horrors of war were even clearly imprinted on this villa. When Paolo Peyron returned to his home after the war, it was a very bittersweet homecoming: all the objects that Peyron had tried to save by hiding them in a room in the farmhouse were destroyed and scattered in the garden. Paintings and gilded frames were mockingly attached to olive trees; furniture was smashed; rare books, incunabula and prints of Piranesi, inherited from his father’s library, lay on the ground in the open, irremediably spoiled by the rain.
And now I will stop talking and simply place the photos of this beautiful locale on my post. Enjoy!
This gorgeous villa, open for visits, lies just beyond Fiesole. It’s an easy trip by Ataf bus (#7) from Florence to Fiesole, and catch a connecting bus #47. The #47 is unreliable (it has only 3 runs on Sundays, for example, and they are all in the morning). But you can do what I did, and take a taxi to the Villa from Fiesole.
Rehearsal: Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire
Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire rehearsing for Funny Face (1957)
Random pix of beauty
Autumn in Rome
Happy Birthday Sophia Loren!
Stop and think: the handkerchief
Today everyone uses disposable paper tissues and almost all mothers carry them in their handbags for everyone in the family to use.
But, what preceded the lowly “kleenex?”
Well, according to Professor M. Fanfani, the handkerchief was invented in Italy, just like the fork and the napkin. I tend to think that the napkin and handkerchief both were created in various cultures because humans need these objects and surely someone would have thought of a good product solution.
But readers know I love all things Italian and so of course I am going to go along with the professore and accept the fact that while various cultures no doubt had their own objects for cleaning the face and nose, the first rarified version no doubt was of Italian origin. Most good things were. :-)
So, let’s read and consider his thesis on the handkerchief.
The use of the handkerchief, like that of the fork and napkin, was born in Italy and its use had more to do with the prestige of its possession, than its strictly hygienic reasons.
As with so many details about life in Italy, paintings from the period give us a window into the daily life of some Italians.
In the works of Ghirlandaio, an attentive chronicler of the Florentine costume, this delicate accessory is a standout.
Handkerchiefs were rare and expensive; for example, we know that King Henry IV had only five of them in 1594.
We learn that blowing one’s nose with the handkerchief (instead of with your fingers, or with the wide sleeves of a shirt) was a refined sign of nobility or high social standing.
Ghirlandaio often recorded in paint the upper bourgeoisie in Florence. The possession and showing of an embroidered kerchief indicated status.
Who knew?
This text (which I’ve modified in English) appeared on a Facebook post recently
written by Prof. M: Fanfani.
La vendemmia: the grape harvest
It’s that time again! Grape harvest all over the vineyards in Italia!
(And the news is excellent coming from France too:) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/french-champagne-makers-record-harvest-quality-grapes-vintage-wine-a8507911.html
The word “vendemmia” comes from the Latin words “vinum” (wine) and “demere” (take away).
In the past, grapes were picked either directly by hand or with the help of small knifes or scissors. The grapes were put in baskets, made of wicker or wood, and later they were moved into larger wood containers “tini” or vats, which were used for the crushing.
As most Americans will remember, Lucille Ball excelled at stomping grapes when she visited Italy on I Love Lucy.
Indeed, the crushing was done using the feet of the workers or with some special wooden sticks called “ammostatori,” shaped like baseball bats.
The ammostatori were often used in small containers, while for larger and taller vats, ladders were used by workers, descending from the top.
In the common imagination the idea of feet crushing is well rooted, a ritual still done by some wine estate just because it keeps a sort of ancient fascination.
(Foto proveniente dall’archivio privato della famiglia Colombini. -1945, Neutro Martini, guardiacaccia della Fattoria dei Barbi, con un bigonzo di uva in spalla durante la vendemmia nella vigna dei podernovi.)
Personally, I’ve spent some time recently in the rows of grape vines heavy with pendant grapes. What a treat to be in Chianti at the time of la vendemmia!
American coffee break in Italy
It seems like more than enough that Starbucks opened their first store in Italy recently: Starbucks in Milan. https://news.starbucks.com/press-releases/starbucks-arrives-in-milan-italy-roastery
But then I saw this coffee for sale in Esselunga, just outside Florence this week!
American style coffee everywhere!
Fortezza da Basso, Firenze
The Fortezza da basso is a key Florentine monument, but it is almost always overlooked because, let’s face it, it ain’t pretty. Loving the history of Florence, I jumped at a recent opportunity to tour the inside of the fortress. I’ll talk about that below.
The fort’s purpose was not to enchant or entertain, as were so many key monuments built from the medieval period moving forward. The fort’s purpose was to protect the city by blocking and intimidating any evil-doers who might be planning to take Florence in a coup of some sort. And this meant both from without and from within the city.
The fort served these functions well, and Florence was never attacked after it was built. Of course, the fort wasn’t the only reason Florence was left alone. But the huge benefit of that fact is that the fort is largely intact for us to study and admire.
Today the imposing fort has a much softer, more elegant use; I’ll talk about that later.
In the following picture, you see one of the fort’s 5 entrances, the Porta Sta. Maria Novella, which is where I entered to begin my guided tour.
The official name is Fortezza di San Giovanni Battista (Saint John the Baptist, who was/is the patron saint of Florence). The more common name, Fortezza da basso, means in English “the fortress from below,” which indicates that the fort has a counterpart higher up. And, indeed it does: the Forte di Belvedere (fort with a beautiful view) sits high up on a hill to the south of Florence. You can see the location and relationship of both forts here:
The fort is a very impressive military construction with tall, thick and strong walls, dominated by a gloomy, massive tower. The tower here is not like those that are found on other major Florentine buildings. Towers were usually quite tall, and the fort’s tower is relatively short and squat.
The Fortezza appears like a cyclopic building with powerful bastions bristling with turrets, and full of narrow walkways, parapet walks and secret passages. The massive, extensive walls surrounding the fort are occasionally relieved with projecting stone ashlars, some of which are accented with round discs.
It is theorized that these discs might be a reference to the Medici coat-of-arms, with the 5 balls.
The sophisticated military construction of the fort is a splendid example of the celebrated fortresses built by the Sangallo family. Florence’s Fortezza da Basso was built in record time in 1534, after the return to power in Florence of the Medici family after the dramatic seige of 1529-30.
The Fortezza was designed by Antonio da Sangallo the younger, with the help of Pierfranceco da Viterbo, for Alessandro de’ Medici, the Duke of Florence. And, while it might not be the most beautiful structure in Florence, it is the largest historical monument in the city.
Duke Alessandro de’ Medici
The Fortress, which was inserted into the 14th-century walls of Florence, was built under the growing threat of turbulent political upheavals. It was one of the very first Italian “citadels” and seems rather to have been built as a protection against the city’s inhabitants than from its external enemies.
View of the bastions of the Fortezza da Basso
Here are some of my pictures from within the walls of the fortress and leading up to the watch tower on the south side of the former military base:
Below are the stairs that lead up to the watch tower:
The next 3 pictures are taken from inside the tower:
And here are the views of Florence as seen from inside the watch tower:
Once again, I was struck by just how small the city really is. It is so obvious from way up high (not that this tower is that tall); the domes of San Lorenzo and the Duomo seem just a stone’s throw away.
The guided tour of the tower was an incredible treat, but perhaps even more amazing was the fact that we also got to go under the fortifications of the south wall. This Florentine fortress has its secrets and its curiosities. The most important ‘mystery’, yet to be verified and fully discovered, is a gallery which allegedly runs along the perimeter. There is also the tunnel in a state of partial abandonment, which was used by defenders to counter enemy attacks. Legend has it that there is a secret passage from the gallery of Fortezza da Basso that crosses the city underground and leads to the Forte di Belvedere. Who knows, but I find that idea to be ludicrous.
As a part of my guided tour, we got to visit the tunnels below. This is an amazing fact; almost no one in the general public has seen this area. Here are my photos from our tour down below:
The next 2 pix are looking up from the tunnel to light shafts:
Another interesting curiosity about the fortress has to do with the later Grand Duke, Pietro Leopoldo, who knew about the American scientist, Benjamin Franklin, and his theories. This duke and Franklin were contemporaries. Franklin’s studies made a huge contribution to the study of meteorology and electricity, and his invention of the lightning rod was noted by the duke. Not surprisingly, the Grand Duke wanted to protect his buildings in Europe, and in particular those with major stores of gunpowder. So he used Franklin’s recommendations and installed lightening rods.
Since 1967, Fortezza da Basso has been used as an exhibition center and, as such, it hosts a large number of Florence trade shows and conferences. The former military base is spread out over about 100,000 square meters, and about half of them are covered.
Nowadays the Fortress is used for all of the most important Florentine exhibitions and fairs (from Pitti Immagine to the International Exchange of Congress Tourism, Florence Gift Mart to Eurocamper, the International Exhibition of Crafts to Prato Expo, etc.).
Built on three floors, the modern pavilion that is usually used for these events was designed by architect Pierluigi Spadolini and inaugurated in 1977. Standing in the center of the great square inside the Fortress, the Pavilion is surrounded by ancient buildings that are gradually being restored: the Theatrino Lorenese, the Palazzo delle Nazioni, the Arsenal. Also, ever since the 1966 flood, the large buildings on the southern side have hosted the restoration Laboratories of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure.
get back, lauretta! 
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