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. |
Via del Leone
|
As early as the 11th century, the activity of goldsmiths
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.
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.
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,
cross-roads of the old streets where the ethos and mentality is still that
of the traditional Florentine artisan.
Wood carving
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 dominated
by the mass of this imposing Florentine palazzo in pietra forte.
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.
Finishing up a print
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.
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 paint-ed "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.
Taking Via Maggio in the 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 "show-cases
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. |
The work of the bronze worker
|
Boboli
The palazzo of Bianca Cappello
 |
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". |
Oltrarno, the historical center on the other side
of the Arno, has not yet been discovered by most of the many Italian and
foreign tourists who come to Florence every year.
This brochure suggests their itineraries to help
the visitor with a bit more time, with a bit more awareness of the immense
wealth of art and monuments to be found in the Oltrarno, savour the genuine
and finest of Florentine artisan traditions in the labyrinth of lanes and
small piazzas so typical of this part of the city. |
