Lia Bernini is an art historiana tour guide for three decades, knows every corner of her Florence where she was born and raised and today accompanies us on a passionate feminine journey, on the trail of four women who in different eras have made the Tuscan capital bright. «I usually accompany groups on immersive itineraries, but I often receive individual requests from curious women who wish to grasp the feminine soul of the city» Lia tells us.
Ponte Vecchio and a section of the Vasari Corridor, Florence.
The exhibition Eleonora di Toledo and the invention of the Medici court in Florenceongoing at Palazzo Pitti until 14 May, gives us the opportunity to discover the first of the women on our itinerary, Eleonora di Toledo (Alba de Tormes, 1522-Pisa, 1562) 500 years after her birth. «Entrepreneurial foresight, taste for art and patronage are the assets of the wife of Cosimo I de’ Medici, one of the most elegant and influential female characters that Florence has ever had» explains Lia.
The portraits of Eleonora, who was the first to introduce the concept of the court, importing it from the Spanish one where she grew up as the daughter of the viceroy of Naples, are exhibited in the spaces of the Treasury of the Grand Dukes on the ground floor of the palace of Palazzo Pitti, which in 1549-1550 Eleonora bought from Buonaccorso Pitti. She considered the Oltrarno to be healthier due to her frail health than the narrow streets of the center where her residence of Palazzo Vecchio stood out, which she herself had bought ten years earlier and decorated with works by the most eminent artists of the Tuscan Renaissance.
The exhibition at Pitti displays over 100 works, including paintings, drawings, tapestries, jewels which tell of its life and its cultural impact on Florence. Eleonora also owes the purchase of the Boboli Gardens dotted with rare floral species, which with its admirable architectural and landscape layout represents one of the most virtuous examples of Italian gardens. This park was equally viscerally loved by another Medici, Anna Maria Luisa (1667-1743).
The Medici family treasure secured
The portrait of Eleonora da Toledo (detail) by Agnolo Bronzino in Palazzo Pitti, Florence.
Lia Bernini’s historical account is not long in coming: «If Eleonora was the patron of precious works and bought gifts and residences for the Medici family, Anna Maria Luisa preserved the heritage, rooting it in the city. Known as the Electress Palatine because she married Giovanni Guglielmo von Platz-Neuburg Wittelsbach, Electress Palatine (1658-1716) in 1691, she is responsible for one of the most farsighted conventions of Roman law: in 1837 she signed the Family Pact, an act which the death of his brother Gian Gastone, the last Medici heir, regulated the passage of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany to the new Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty.
The deed guaranteed that the artistic and cultural treasures of the family could never be transferred or sold but that they were kept in Tuscany. A gesture of love for his land and his family, thanks to which the region still holds priceless assets. An incomparable example of protection of the artistic heritage».
the cloister of the church of San Lorenzo, Florence.
A patron of artists, his apartment in the Palazzo Pitti was furnished with sumptuous furniture and contained a valuable collection of Chinese porcelain. Her jewels belonged to her, now kept in the Museum of the Treasury of the Grand Dukes in Palazzo Pitti. He carried out the restoration of the complex of San Lorenzo, where the Medici are buried, entrusting it to Ferdinando Ruggieri, who built the bell tower, and to Vincenzo Meucci, who frescoed the dome.
The statue of Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici in Palazzo Pitti, Florence.
The poet in love with love
The visit continues. «Just walk 200 meters from Palazzo Pitti to take a flight of fancy into the nineteenth-century romanticism that also pervaded the Florentine salons» suggests Bernini. «Here a British poet of great fame, Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-61) moved, wrote and died there. She had arrived from London because she was opposed in her love with her spouse Robert Browning».
Theirs was an austere resistance, located in Piazza San Felice 8. The spouses lived there until her death. The main floor of the house is now used as a museum. Barrett Browning was a friend of Cavour and adhered to the ideals of the Italian Risorgimento, to which she dedicated two poems. The romantic breath that Elisabeth brought to Florence can also be seen in the English Cemetery, where her tomb is kept »adds our guide.
Curiosity is a lot and so we walk towards Piazzale Donatello, about thirty minutes on foot. And we immediately aim for Barrett’s sarcophagus. The natural setting of the irises is also romantic. Before ending this female journey through time, Lia Bernini reveals a more unprecedented aspect of the city, the contemporary one, condensed into the 14 itineraries of the guide she edited: Florence. Itineraries of the twentieth century (Nardini). The eye falls on an unconventional Florentine, Maria Luigia Guaita, who in the 1950s, after a trip to Scotland, discovered the art of lithography, transforming her graphic arts printing house into a forge for artists such as Soffici, Carrà, Severini, Picasso, Guttuso. Last stop of the tour, then, at Il Bisonte (via San Niccolò 24 red): this is how she called her temple. The nephew welcomes us and tells the “deeds” of Maria Luigia, a woman of the Florentine resistance. During the disastrous flood of 1966, Guaita risked his life to save her precious heritage.
Close to the warm heart of the Earth
The territory of the Biancane Park.
From the priceless heritage of Florence to that of the Metalliferous Hills National Park (Parcocollinemetallifere.it), entered in 2010 in the world network of Unesco Geoparks. Two hours by car from Florence, crossing sinuous hills and lands with shades of ocher, and you arrive in Gavorrano, in the province of Grosseto, one of the gates of the Parco delle Colline Metallifere: in each of the seven municipal areas in which the geopark, there are one or more “Doors to the Park” which are reception centres, information points, documentation centers and museums. From here we set out on an itinerary immersed in uncontaminated nature, surrounded by archaeological remains of the Etruscan past and metal waste, an integral part of the geological fabric.
To guide us in this naturalistic monument with one of the oldest mining history in Europe, still a passionate woman, Alessandra Casini, director of the Park since 2010, mining archaeologist by profession. «We encourage “slow” tourism in the Park, thanks to which traces of the mines and work in the subsoil can be rediscovered, so as not to lose the history of mining and metallurgy that have taken place in this place over the millennia» says Casini. “Among extraordinary geodiversity and biodiversity, the geothermal itinerary is certainly the most touristic, also designed in terms of safety” advises the director. «Also known as Via delle Terre Calde the itinerary can be followed from Monterotondo Marittimo (Grosseto) towards Sasso Pisano (Pisa) and is well signposted.
Along the way you come across interesting geological and mineralogical emergencies, jets of steam, boiling lakes, thermal springs. A landscape, unheard of for many travellers, white, yellow, red, where a sulphurous smell wafts and the air is warm. Here the earth’s crust is thinner and the heat of the magma, which is seven kilometers below the surface, is felt. The soil can reach 100°C and the emotion is given by the contact with this hot surface» continues the director.
A curiosity: every mineral has been transformed into a georesource and has made it possible to produce electricity since the early twentieth century. «It is no coincidence that in 1904 Prince Ginori Conti managed to light five light bulbs with the energy of the heat of this land» concludes the director proudly. The circular route is well marked and equipped.
Trekking to the Biancane Park, Monterotondo Marittimo. (Photo by Claudio Ciabochi/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Where to sleep in Florence
Palazzo Portinari Salviati
via del Corso, 6. Charming palace dating back to the 15th century, which belonged to the Portinari family, then acquired by the Salviati family, related to the Medici. In the residence you can see period frescoes. On the ground floor it houses the starred restaurant Chic Nonna and the bistro Salotto Portinari, open all day, led by chef Vito Mollica. Double from 500 euros. ldchotelsitaly.com/en/palazzoPortinariSalviati-florence
Lordship residence
via dei Tavolini, 8. You can breathe the allure of the Renaissance in this 1400s boutique hotel, whose features are the warmth of hospitality, the elegance and comfort of the rooms. Rich breakfast on the noble floor, with a 360-degree view of Piazza della Signoria. Double from 245 euros. boutiquehotelinpiazza.com
What to see in the Metalliferous Hills
MUBIA (Geomuseum of the biancane)
Monterotondo Marittimo, Locality Lagoni (Grosseto).
Here you can embark on an extraordinary interactive and educational journey “crossing” virtually all the geological features of the Park. mubia.it
Beer vapours
via dei Lagoni 25, Location Sasso Pisano Castelnuovo Val di Cecina (Pisa).
Savor a beer made with park vapors? You can in this craft brewery that uses geothermal energy to produce beers with evocative names such as Sulfurea (weiss) or Magma (amber ale). vaporidibirra.it
INFO
feelflorence.it
parcocollinemetallifere.it
visittuscany.com
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