Villa Fioravanti in Bellosguardo - Historical and typological notes - 5th draft

Villa Fioravanti in Bellosguardo historical and typological notes

Written by:

Marco Jaff

Work group: Marco Jaff | Serena Jaff | Alessandro Jaff | Andrea Cecconi Lucia Nuvoli | L aura O cchipinti | Federic a Perrotta | Danilo Freguglia

Fig. 1 | Panoramic view

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Jaff Associati Via Maggio 50 50125 Firenze T. +39055280462 www.jaffassociati.it s.jaff@jaffassociati.it a.jaff@jaffassociati.it m.jaffassociati.it P.I. 02315100483

Villa Fioravanti in Bellosguardo historical and typological notes - 5th draft (previous structural investigations on masonry and archive's researches)

INTRODUCTION

"The villa is located on that part of Bellosguardo hills that is closer to Florence. It has above all the stunning view of the city and furthermore the view of the surrounding hills".

This is the description of Villa Fioravanti by Guido Carocci in "The surroundings of Florence" (Florence, 1906 – 1907), second volume. Carocci continues his description adding few informations about the villa's ancient owners. Those informations are confirmed years later by Lensi Orlandi in Le Ville di Firenze, di la 'd'Arno ( Florence's Villas on the left side of the rever),Florence, 1965. Even if, this is one of the larger buildings of Bellosguard's hills, Carocci's

Fig. 2 | Bellosguardo's tower

and Lensi Orlandi's papers are the only published documents to describe it.

OWNERS OF THE VILLA DURING CENTURIES

The Cavalcanti family were probably the first owners. The Cavalcanti in thirteenth hundreds owned many lands in this area out of Florence. Among their properties there was the tower standing on the hill nearby, which later was enlarged by the Marquises Roti Michelozzi, in 1583 and became the famous “Villa of Bellosguardo”.

The Cavalcanti were originally from Volterra. In the late Middle Ages they owned many castles in Val di Cecina (Cecina Valley) and in Val di Pesa (Pesa Valley). In Florence they become one of the most important families

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living inside the city walls, in the most ancient area. They had several houses and a palace in “via de 'Calzaioli” in front of Orsanmichele’s church. They were magnates (tycoons) of the Guelph faction (party) and were among the most powerful members of the “Arte di Calimala”, the richest guild of Florence. Their coat of arms had a silver background, with several red crosses. In 1434, when the “business owners” had the political power in town, in order to maintain their political assignments, they had to renounce to the noble title and became part of the “business owners”, as a necessary requirement to access political assignments.

The most famous member of the Cavalcanti family was Guido. He was a good friend of Dante Alighieri1 and a Dolce Stil Novo-style poet2 .

When Costanza di Filippo Cavalcanti died in 1496, her son, Ludovico di Pagolo Sinibaldi, became the owner of the Villa. Ludovico di Pagolo Sinibaldi was a member of a part of the noble Bardi family, that changed its name in 1393 renouncing to the noble title in order to have political assignments.

The villa remained in the Sinibaldi property until 1606 when it was sold to Caterina de 'Pazzi, daughter of Senator Cosimo and widow of Bernardo Serzelli.

Fig. 3 | Portrait of G. B. Niccolini Fig. 4 | The "Niccolini" theatre in Firenze, titled to the playwright

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1 Dante Alighieri is the most famous poet of Italy 2 Dolce Stil Novo is literally "sweet new style," is the name of a literally movement in Italy of the late middle age

"Another Chevalier, Bernardo Serzelli in 1695 granted it from Marco di Alessandro Quaglini and from his wife Maria Maddalena Dionigi" (Carocci, 1907).

The Serzelli were an ancient florentine family that lived in “Gonfalone 3 del Bue” in Santa Croce area. It's coat of arms had three red cylinders on a silver background.

In the 14th century the Serzelli bought the Altomena castle, in Pelago.

Their family had priors4 and gonfalonieri5 but died out in 1803 and the Bardi family inherited their assets.

According to Lensi Orlandi, in 1823 the villa was sold to Battista di Domenico Niccolini (Marquis of Camugliano's cadet branch). According to other documents in 1850 it was bought by Giovanni Battista (di Ippolito) Niccolini.

Giovanni Battista Niccolini (1782-1861) was a famous poet and writer of the XIX century. He is buried in Santa Croce Church .His monumental tomb is decorated with a famous sculpture that inspired August Bartholdi for his Statue of Liberty.

He wrote the tragedy Mario and the Cimbri in this villa.

The villa was inherited by Marquess Giulia Fioravanti in 1878.

Fioravanti is a noble family of Pistoia (town of Toscany) . His coat of arms is blue with a band, on top three lilies and below three stars with six rays. The family had members in Florence and in many other italian cities. They were an important family since the middle age. They were members of the Guelph party and were allied with Cancellieri family. In 1267 in Pistoia they had a municipal councilor, Fioravante d'Accorso; his son Ranieri was even podestà6. Giovanni di Puccio di Ranieri was one of the bankers of Pope Clement V in Avignon (1305-1314). In Florence, Francesco di Ranieri was “gonfaloniere” of the Republic from 1385 to 1389 and his son Neri was “gonfaloniere” in 1428. Some of their members were Knights of Santo Stefano and Knights of Malta and held important church and military positions. The family still exists today.

In recent times (1970?) the villa was bought by the pasta industrial business man Fioravanti. They were homonymous of the marqueses Fioravanti.

In 2022 Mr. Roland Antony Ooi from Singapore bought the Villa and the

In order: Fig. 5 | Fioravanti's coat of arm located in the south-west living room of the villa Fig. 6 | Cavalcanti's coat of arm Fig. 7 | Sinibaldi's coat of arm Fig. 8 | Serzelli's coat of arm Fig. 9 | Niccolini's coat of arm

3 Gonfalone del Bue” literally means the ward of the Ox. Florence, in the medieval time was an independent Republic (Commune). The town was administrated dividing the area in 4 districts (quartieri) and 16 wards (gonfaloni). Gonfalone del Bue was a ward in the district of Santa Croce.

4 Priors were the prime minister of the Commune/Republic of Florence 5 Gonfalonieri were the minister of justice of the Commune 6 Podestà in medieval Italian communes, the highest judicial and military magistrate

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farmhouses of the propery.

ACCESS TO THE VILLA

Going up through a picturesque road delimited by high stone walls, "MonteRimorchi " (Rimorchi Hill) towards Bellosguardo, near Piazza San Francesco, there is a widening with the entrance to the Villa.

Passing through a "modest access gate", you find the housekeeper's building and a private avenue that goes up the hill with soft curves among the olive trees.

Soon after the first turn on the right the view of the city begins to appear and, once you reach the top hill going around two sides of the villa, finally appears the entrance square with a large garden all around with a magnificent view.

Towards north, the woods cover the mediocre modern buildings of via Domenico Burchiello, so you can enjoy the view of Florence and of the hills of Fiesole; towards the east, is possible to see the Arno valley almost as far as Pontassieve; towards west you have the view of the fields and woods of Monte Oliveto; to the south you can see the Villa dell' Ombrellino, Montauto tower and the other villas of the Bellosguardo hill.

Fig. 10 | The panoramic location of the villa

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Fig. 11 | The access to the state of the villa from via di Bellosguardo Fig. 12 | The entrance square

Fig. 13 | The entrance to the villa from south Fig. 14 | View of the ancient access from south

Villa Fioravanti in Bellosguardo | Historical and typological notes

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Fig. 15 | View of the villa from the olive grove Fig. 16 | Front view of the villa

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Fig. 17 | Panoramic view from the terrace Fig. 18 | View of the stairs in the italian garden locateed to the south

Villa Fioravanti in Bellosguardo | Historical and typological notes

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Fig. 19 | One of the living rooms of the ground floor

Fig. 20 | One of the bedrooms of the first floor

Fig. 21 | The kitchen

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Nowhere in Florence's hills you can enjoy such an extraordinary view.

You could also reach the villa going up a shortcut: a straight staircase that cuts all the curves of the private avenue and lead directly from the lower entrance to villa. This shortcut was probably the ancient access to the first mediaeval building.

PRESENT BUILDING'S SHAPE

Currently, the villa is designed in three sections (north area, central area and corridor) and three floors (basement, ground floor and first floor). Even if it's a diachronic and a compact building, it's quite articulated in the inside.

Inside there are two small courtyards, to bring light the internal areas.

The ground floorplan and first floorplan have approximately a trapezoidal shape, with the short sides approximately 19 and 20 meters wide and the long sides of 26 and 28 meters length. The total area is ​​almost 2000 square meters, basement included.

Three different stairscases connect the ground floor with the first floor, while another straight stair connect the basement and the south garden with the ground floor.

The villa has ten bedrooms and nine living rooms, of which the largest one overlooks the magnificent terrace located in the north-east corner of the

Villa Fioravanti in Bellosguardo | Historical and typological notes

Fig. 22 | The main hall of the ground floor

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building.

A wide kitchen, with a slightly lowered floor, face north with a beautiful view.

The ground floor is mainly used as living area, the first floor is used as sleeping area and the basement as cellars, basement and barns.

The basement consists of two different parts: the main one facing south and a small and lower one facing north, under the kitchen.

CONSTRUCTION PHASES OF THE BUILDING

Initially the building was probably an isolated tower-house of three floors: two floors above ground and one basement. It had thick stone walls (fig.

23, 27, 30) and an external staircase. Built in the thirteen hundreds, correspond with the small basement, the kitchen on the ground floor and the two rooms overlooking Fiesole on the first floor.

The kitchen and the two rooms still maintain the high and symmetrical windows of this ancient tower on the stone walls of the facade. Actually the Fig. 23 | Highlighted the first core of the building

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Construction phases of the building : plans Fig. 24 | Basement 14TH CENTURY Original core

15TH CENTURY 1st phase 2nd phase

Fig. 25 | Groundfloor 14TH CENTURY Original core First addiction Second addiction 15TH CENTURY 1st phase 2nd phase

16TH CENTURY 18TH CENTURY

Fig. 26 | First floor 14TH CENTURY Original core First addiction Second addiction 15TH CENTURY 1st phase 2nd phase

16TH CENTURY 18TH CENTURY 19TH CENTURY

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CONSTRUCTION PHASES OF THE BUILDING : NORTH-EAST VIEW Fig. 27 | The medieval tower-house 14th century - Original core

Fig. 28 | The medieval tower.

14th century - First enlargement

Fig. 29 | The medieval tower.

14th century - Second enlargement

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CONSTRUCTION PHASES OF THE BUILDING : SOUTH-WEST VIEW Fig. 30 | The medieval tower-house 14th century - Original core

Fig. 31 | The medieval tower.

14th century - First enlargement

Fig. 32 | The medieval tower.

14th century - Second enlargement

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height of the windows are now different because the window sills, on the ground floor, were raised in the twentieth century to align them with the other windows of the facade.

It's very likely, that on the east and south side there was a high bastion surrounding the building, in order to protect the tower-house. The access was probably on the south side. There was a straight path going up the hill from south. That path was connected with the road coming out of the city wall, from the Camaldoli door. It now correspond with the south shortcut.

There was a well, that is still working nowadays, which was located not far from the entrance.

This first building probably was the Cavalcanti’s tower mentioned by Lensi Orlandi.

Few years later, it was built another two floors building next to the tower-house on the west side. This building had no basement and it was standing at a slightly higher level than the previous one. Then followed another new addition.

It is still unknown whether the distributive system of this complex was the same as it is today, but the volumes shouldn’t have been too different from now (fig. 28 - 32).

The building had presumably an imponent surrounding wall with a walkway to the west (to protect the entrance). That walkway was supported by sturdy stone corbels connected by brick arches, some of which are still visible nowadays. (fig. 33, 35).

CONSTRUCTION PHASES OF THE BUILDING : NORTH-EAST VIEW Fig. 33 | Building in the 15th century (with south addiction)

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In the 15th century, the Cavalcanti family built the southern block and the massive eastern terrace. During the time five large volumes cross-vaulted were built one next to the other . In plan they form an "L" shape that around the pre-existing building, leaning against the bastion and the surrounding wall built previously. Those volumes are now the basement and the dining rooms.

So far, it is not certain the temporal sequence of this “L” shaped construction. A probable sequence could be that the first block was built was the south-west corner, partially incorporating the surrounding wall. Then it was built the eastern block and a straight run stair as long as the entire width of the new building. This staircase connect the building with the basement and the south garden, which was at that time a simple field. Later, in order to reach the upper floor, it was built a new volume further inside the complex, which not only contained the staircase but was also used as a new entrance. Then, two more blocks were added beside: the last one was raised above a pre-existing cistern covered by a barrel vault (fig. 36).

These four southern volumes were built with wooden floors and stone walls.

The fifth volume, in the north-east corner, was the last one to be built: this is demonstrated by a visible large shelf in sandstone (similar to those that sustained the previous walkway facing south) which remained embedded in a subsequent enlargement. This last volume, too large to be covered by a single cross vault, was divided in four parts articulated around a very sturdy central

CONSTRUCTION PHASES OF THE BUILDING : SOUTH-WEST VIEW Fig. 34 | Building in the 15th century (with south addiction)

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pillar.

It's just one level high, in order to form the ground floor of the very vast terrace that guarantees a beautiful look towards Florence (fig. 43, 45).

The fourteenth-century bastion that enclose the courtyard to the east was closed off by this new construction, forming a sort of big ditch.

The entrance hall which contained the staircase leading to the first floor, at that time also included the space of the small courtyard currently used as a winter garden.

Observing the shape and the orientations of the windows and doors,we can assume that there was an open space. (fig. 40).

Between the two main buildings, the fourteenth-century one and the fifteenth century one, there was an empty space that was an open-air courtyard with a large terrace overlooking the city on the north-east side (fig. 33 - 34).

In the sixteenth century the empty space between the two buildings was covered, creating a long corridor (only two small courtyards were left uncovered to bring light and air to the internal areas). A proper entrance with a portico was built on the west side and above all was built the main living room that overlooks the large terrace, with the smaller living room that completes the construction towards the north side (fig. 43 - 45).

Fig. 35 | Stone corbels Fig. 36 | Cistern room

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The main living room is decorated with a remarcable painted frieze along the four walls. On the east side, three large french windows overlooked the magnificent terrace.

The whole complex assumed a mature unity of shapes and volumes.

An approximate representation of the building, in the forms it had assumed at that time, can be seen in the hall of Clement VII in Palazzo Vecchio.

This room was decorated between 1552 and 1556 with frescoes by Stradano (cartoons by Giorgio Vasari) which show the “Siege of Florence" (1529-1530).

It shows the view from above of the city of Florence: at the top left of the painting the outline of the villa can be clearly distinguished, also marked by a yellow and red banner which denotes the there was a Carlo V’ s captain settlement in the building (fig. 37 - 38).

Vasari's view is from “Pian de 'giullari”7. Unfortunately, from that position he could barely glimpse only the profile of the hill and the villa that dominated it, and in fact the representation of the villa, even if plausible, is not Fig. 37 | Detail of the "Siege of Florence" showing the villa

7 Vasari represented the southern side of the Villa, even if he wrote in his essay that: "...

I draw it from the highest place I was able to reach, even on the roof of a house, to see, besides the nearby places, those of S. Giorgio, S. Miniato, S. Gaggio and Monte Oliveto ... ". From that place (Pian de'Giullari) is not possible to represent the southern side of the villa Fig. 38 | The "Siege of Florence": in highlight the location of the villa

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geometrically correct.

At that time, the villa belonged to the Sinibaldi and, even if in the fresco it is represented slightly rotated, it’s clear that it had already assumed the complete configuration we still see today.

In the following three centuries, while in Serzelli’ s property, nothing notable seems to have disturbed the balance achieved by the building, except for an important structural consolidation on the south facade to contrast the thrust of the great vaults of the cellar floor. Probably in the eighteenth century, were built six stone buttresses jointed with elegant bricks arches. This structure sustain a narrow balcony extended to the entire length of the facade and ending with a helical-shaped masonry staircase leading to the garden below (fig. 41- 42, 48 - 49).

Also the Niccolini family, who owned the villa from 1823 to 1878, seems to have brought changes to the building.

Fig. 39 |The sturdy pillar supporting the terrace Fig. 40 | The doors located in the entrance hall

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In the early years of the last century, when the neo-Gothic style was in vogue, the Fioravanti marquises, gave the building a decisive restyling.

Inside, restauration works consisted mainly in providing facilities, heating system, electric plants and services, restyling the distribution of the bedrooms, and of the main stairs. The entrance hall gained a dramatic connotation, through a scenographic use of the stone corbels connected by an arch made of bricks (residual materials of the previous fourteenth-century configuration), and through the insertion of an octagonal stone pillar and a pointed arch window.

The plaster was completely removed from the facades and the windows were framed with a fake ashlar and pointed arches shaped. Two narrow balconies and a bow-window supported by excessive corbels in stone were added in order to have another stunning point of view and to emphasize the medieval appearance of the building.

To simulate a medieval tower was raised an addiction in the north-west Fig. 41 | The balcony on the south facade Fig. 42 | The helical-shaped stairs

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Construction phases of the building : north-east view Fig. 43 | Building in the 16th century (Construction of a new long corridor and of the main livingroom)

Fig. 44 | Building in the 20th century (Neo-gothic style)

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Construction phases of the building : south-west view Fig. 45 | Building in the 16th century (Construction of a new long corridor and of the main livingroom)

Fig. 46 | Building in the 18th century (Construction of stone buttresses jointed with bricks arches)

Fig. 47 | Building in the 20th century (Neo-gothic style)

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corner of the building.

It was also added a narrow spiral stone staircase of fine quality to connect the hallway of the kitchen with the first floor.

Only some parts of the villa avoided these modernizations: the cellars, the rooms on the ground floor, the portico entrance (which remained plastered with its beautiful pair of stone ashlar windows) and few sections of the other facades.

The intricate complex of the roofs shows the long story of the building from the medieval tower house to an imposing monumental villa.

The park, with its Italian-style gardens and paths in the woods, is described in a specific separate report.

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Fig. 48 | One of the stone buttresses

MARCO JAFF

Fig. 49 | The south facade of the villa

Firenze, 29/03/22

Fig. 50 | The bow-window Fig. 51 | Neo-gothic tower

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Giorgio Vasari, Delle vite de'più eccellenti pittori, scultori, architettori, Firenze 1568 Emanuele Repetti, "Bellosguardo" entry in Dizionario geografico fisico storico della Toscana, Firenze 1833 Guido Crocci, I Dintorni di Firenze, vol.II, Firenze 1907-1907 Francesco Lumachi, Firenze e dintorni, Firenze 1928 Giulio Cesare Lensi Orlandi, Le Ville di Firenze, di la' d'Arno, Firenze 1965 About Florentine families in the Middle Ages: Ricard Davidsohn, Storia di Firenze, Firenze 1956 Ceramelli Papiani, Raccolta Ceramelli Papiani, fund kept in the "Archivio di Stato di Firenze", available online.

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