OLTRARNO (itinerary 3) in Florence
Oltrarno Itineraries 1 | Oltrarno Itineraries 2
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| Quarter of Santo Spirito - Between Santa Felicita
e San Felice - Antico Gonfalone del Nicchio
Originally this Gonfalone included the populations of the parishes of San Jacopo Soprarno and part of Santa Felicita and San Frediano. The boundaries reached from Piazza Frescobaldi to Ponte Vecchio, then from Piazza Santa Felicita moved up towards Costa de Magnoli and Costa San Giorgio all the way to the Belvedere Fort. On the boundary with the Boboli Gardens it moved down as far as Via Guicciardini and the Sdrucciolo de' Pitti. From here it turned along the Presto di San Martino until it was back in Piazza Frescobaldi. Our itinerary does not include the climb from Piazza Santa Felicita to the Belvedere Fort along Costa San Giorgio, but anyone who wants to enjoy the most enchanting panorama of the whole city from the top of the bastions of the Medici fort is strongly encouraged to do so. The walk begins at the center of Ponte Vecchio with sweeping views upstream and downstream from the only bridge that escaped the destructive fury of the war and of the muddy waters of the flooding Arno. Ever since the 14th century, one of the most famous bridges in the world, which has become a symbol of the city, has housed the famous "workshops", once of butchers and greengrocers, now of goldsmiths and jewelers. As early as the 11th century, the activity of goldsmiths Quarter of Santo Spirito Between Santa Felicita e San Felice Antico Gonfalone del Nicchio Via del Leone (M. Materassi) was documented in Florence. They belonged to the Silk Guild, or of Por Santa Maria, with rigid regulations which guaranteed the quality. Refined masterpieces of religious art and precious jewellery, documented in famous paintings, give us an idea of the extraordinary skill of the Florentine goldsmiths, codified in Cellini's famous treatise on goldwork.
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After passing the Mannelli tower, around which Vasari's
Corridor moves on high, cross Piazzetta dei Rossi where the
remains of medieval towers next to modern buildings bear
witness to the destruction of the war in August 1944. Elegant
specialized shops entice the visitor with a wide range of
merchandise, from gloves, leather objects, and footwear to
clothing before reaching the small square of Santa Felicita
where a column commemorates the religious conflicts of the
13th century between heretics and the followers of Saint
Peter Martyr. The church of Santa
Felicita, built on the site of a late 4th-century
early Christian basilica, was continuously rebuilt, and
eventually became the church of the Medici and the Lorraine,
who participated in the religious services from Vasari's "coretto" above the
portico on the facade. In 1736 Ferdinando Ruggieri gave it
its present limpid forms. In the first chapel on the right
the bizarre Mannerist painter Jacopo Pontormo painted the "Deposition" for
the Capponi family. Dating to between 1526 and 1528, it
is a triumph of metaphysical luminosity and vivid colors.
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 Continuing along Via Guicciardini towards Piazza Pitti,
you will often be tempted to stop and look at the show
cases of the shops and the palazzi rebuilt after the war
with inner courtyards communicating with Via Barbadori
and Vicolo dei Ramaglianti. The great Niccolò Machiavelli
died in one of the houses marked by a plaque, while on
the opposite side of the street, in Palazzo Benizi then
Guicciardini, San Filippo Benizi and the historian Francesco
Guicciardini were born. Follow the first stretch of Via
dello Sprone to the small square
known as of the "Passera", in the heart of the district,
crossroads of the old streets where the ethos and mentality
is still that of the traditional Florentine artisan. In the
adjacent lanes the world of the frame guilders, restorers
of objects in metal, smiths, wrought-iron workers can be
explored. And for an unforgettable experience halfway between
fable and reality enter one of the shops of the wood carvers.
Continuing along Via Toscanella, named after the family of
the mathematician Paolo Dal Pozzo Toscanelli, we find the
charm of the down-to-earth Florence of Giovanni Boccaccio and
Ottone Rosai still intact. The Sdrucciolo
de' Pitti then leads to the regal piazza dom
inated by the mass of this imposing Florentine palazzo
in pietra forte. |
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The 15th-century residence first built for Luca Pitti
was enlarged in the following centuries to become the palace
for the Medici, the Lorraine and the Savoy rulers. It is
now one of the most important exhibition premises in the
city and contains numerous world renowned museums for the
visitor to choose from: the splendid picture gallery of
the Palatine Gallery joined to the sumptuously furnished
Appartamenti Monumentali (State Apartments), the Museo
degli Argenti with goldwork, gems, ivories from the Medici
and Lorraine collections, the prestigious Gallery of Modern
Art, the Andito degli Angiolini used for thematic exhibitions,
the apartments of the Duchess of Aosta and the Prince of
Naples, the Coach Museum, the Contini-Bonacossi Collection
and the Costume Museum in the Palazzina della Meridiana.
Numerous workshops face out on the square opposite Palazzo
Pitti. Some of them are of old Florentine tradition, where
marbled paper and pietre dure mosaics and intarsias are
made by hand, bookshops, cafés,
antique shops. Depending on how much time you have, you
can continue towards Piazza San Felice
and Via Romana and the Museo della Specola.
Otherwise it might be best to take a walk through the Medici Boboli
Gardens, a true paradise of marvelous architecture
covering an area of 28 hectares, famous then as now for
Buontalenti's Grotto, the amphitheater, the Kaffeehaus
or pavilion, the Porcelain Museum with the Giardino del
Cavaliere and the Oceanus Fountain that stands as centerpiece
in the "Little
Island" or Isolotto. |
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The Museo della Specola is
located on Via Romana. The curious name is derived from
the astronomical observatory set up by Grand Duke Pietro
Leopoldo of Lorraine. Leopoldo II had Galileo's "Tribune" built
on the first floor of the palazzo. The stupendous zoological
collections and the invaluable collections of anatomical
models in wax made by Gaetano Zumbo and Clemente Susini
are on exhibit on the upper floor. Continuing, you reach
the church
of San Felice in Piazza, documented as
early as 1066. It belonged to the Benedictines, the Camaldolites,
who had it rebuilt in the 15th century by Michelozzo, and
finally to the Dominican monks of San Piero Martire. Inside
there are noteworthy works of art including a large painted "Cross" attributed
to Giotto's workshop. A column which Cosimo I had set up
to commemorate his victory at Marciano now once more stands
at the center of the piazza. At No. 8 on the square a marble
plaque informs the world that this is where Elizabeth Barrett
Browning died in 1861.
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Taking Via Maggio inthe direction of Ponte di Santa Trinita will
take you back to Ponte Vecchio via Borgo San Jacopo. In
the midst of monumental patrician residences and a long
row of "showcases
of the past", the setting offers noteworthy examples of
art and architecture. The palazzo of Bianca Cappello, mistress
and then wife of Francesco I, is decorated with grotesques
by Bernardino Poccetti, and is one of the most elegant
buildings on one of the loveliest streets in Florence. Borgo
San Jacopo, one of the oldest streets in
the Oltrarno and finally a pedestrian "drawing room" for
foreigners and Florentines alike, begins at the corner
of Via dello Sprone, with a charming fountain with a gargoyle
and a lovely little balcony. World War II somehow spared
many of the medieval towers which lend it such charm as
they rise proudly along this stretch. On the right is the Torre
dei Marsili with an "Annunciation" in Della
Robbia terracotta on the facade and a bit further on a spot
of green interrupts the dark ocher color of the frowning
13th-century towers of the Belfredelli and the Ramaglianti.
On the other side of the street is the church of San Jacopo
Soprarno, parish of the Gonfalone Nicchio, Romanesque in
origin and often renovated both outside and in. The loggia
in front of the facade comes from San Donato in Scopeto and
was placed here in 1575. The apse of the church and the 17th-century
bell tower are reflected in the Arno together with the adjacent
original structures. Next to the Barbadori tower a small
square faces out onto Ponte Vecchio, from which one can see
the buildings built after the war and flanking both sides
of the Arno, "pretentious buildings imitating the old, evocative
overhanging houses". |
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Oltrarno Itineraries 1 | Oltrarno Itineraries 2
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