A fairy tale of art
Daily life in Santa Maria Novella
The complex of Santa Maria Novella offers the opportunity to imagine and reconstruct the life, rules, schedule, and tasks of the Dominican friars of the thirteenth century, while simultaneously appreciating the richness of the masterpieces contained within the convent. It will be possible to personally experience the passage of time in the convent: prayer in the grand church, visually translated in the great works of Giotto, Masaccio, Brunelleschi, or Ghirlandaio; the communal meal in the refectory; the gathering in the Chapter hall; study in the library; silence in the cloister; care and assistance in the infirmary; rest in the dormitories. This allows for an appreciation of the historical and artistic significance of the complex.
At Home with the Medicis in the 15th Century
The palazzo was built as the private residence of the Medici family in the 1440s and was the fulcrum of the family’s life until the move to Palazzo Vecchio in 1540. It was the home of Cosimo the Elder: it was here that Lorenzo and Giuliano passed their days and that Alessandro de’ Medici was made the first Duke of Florence. From the bench along the facade on the street and the original loggia, ‘for the comfort and gathering of citizens’ (but later incorporated into the palace structure), to the elegant inner courtyard and the kitchen garden, later the formal garden, the tour follows the path of an anonymous compiler of inventories who lived in the late 1400s, to explore cellars, private apartments, chapels and scriptoriums, ‘munitiones’, attics and terraces, all to discover, thanks to texts and images but also sounds and scents – ‘fragments of a Medicean discourse’ which still today, quite rightly, is nothing less than ‘magnificent’.
Artmachine
This path is presented as a “journey through time” that starts from today’s world until the first years of the Twentieth century, examining languages, techniques and principles of the Twentieth century’s arts: from the most recent contemporary installations to the classic scenic designs of the Maggio Musicale (Musical May), from the experimental music to the futurist paintings, from the avant-garde design to the most famous paintings, children will be involved in a discovery journey of the numerous artistic forms of the Twentieth century in an animated dialogue between tradition and innovation, ancient and modern, abstract and concrete. Knowing the great artists of the century – among them Emilio Vedova, Lucio Fontana, Bruno Munari, Giorgio De Chirico, Fortunato Depero – and their artworks will be an occasion of personal reinterpretation that will allows children to bring back home a very peculiar “collection” of their own experience
In the atelier: the fresco painting
“Of all the other techniques used by painters, painting a wall is the most skilled and beautiful”. This is how Giorgio Vasari introduces the fresco technique, considered among the most difficult ones because it does not leave room for a change of mind and requires a perfect knowledge of the materials and the pigments used. The atelier allows the visitor to try dealing with the different execution phases of a small fresco that at the end of the activity he/she will bring it home.
The scented story of painted nature
It is difficult to think that Nature has a profound importance in a palace made of stone. And yet, in Palazzo Vecchio Nature is always present, wanted by a Duke and a Duchess who loved so much the land, hunting, fishing, horses and gardens. Here’s a tale that, thanks to the magic of perfumes as well, will give back the memory and the life to the wonderful Nature painted in the rooms of the Palace.
Guided tour by Giorgio Vasari
In 1555 Giorgio Vasari, a painter, architect and writer from Arezzo, author of “Lives of the most excellent painters, writers and architects”, becomes the director of the building site of Palazzo Vecchio and carries out a huge task to turn the building into a luxurious Renaissance palace. While talking with the public, Giorgio Vasari shows the cultural political lines of the Duke Cosimo, the one and only commissioner of the renovations, and the expertise of the Fabbrica Medicea to recreate, in record time, the new ducal residence.
Special tour of the Palace
Palazzo Vecchio is the heart of Florence, a symbol of the city since medieval times to the modern days. Made in 1299 in which it acted as a seat for the governing of citizens, the building started its golden age the moment when the Medici family moved into the Palazzo, transforming it into the beautiful palace of extraordinary richness that it is today. The guided visit pulls you into the imense wealth, extraordinary decorations, masterpieces and even an access to a secret passage through the beautiful camerino of Bianca Cappello, second wife of the Granduke Francesco I de’Medici.