Palazzo Caccini Explained

Palazzo Caccini
Coordinates:43.7734°N 11.2631°W
Status:In use
Building Type:Palace
Architectural Style:Mannerist
Location:Florence, Toscana, Italy
Address:31 via Borgo Pinti
Start Date:15th century

Palazzo Caccini (also known as Palazzo del Corona) is located in Florence at Borgo Pinti 31–33, on the corner of Via Nuova dei Caccini.

History and description

In the 15th century this was the home of the Ferrantini family, known for having been chosen – evidently because of the nobility and spaciousness of the rooms – to host the Patriarch of Constantinople and the twenty-three Orthodox bishops during the Council of Florence of 1439.

Passed down through hereditary lineage to the Caccini, it was progressively enlarged by them (during the years of prior Francesco Domenico), until a unitary renovation was carried out that literature places between 1561 and 1564 circa and refers to Giovanni Caccini, an intimate of the Medici family (but not to be confused with the architect Giovanni Battista Caccini of Montopoli in Val d'Arno), however assisted by Giorgio Vasari.[1] All that remains of Caccini are the initials G. C. A. [rchitect or Alexandri (son of Alexander)] F.[iorentino or fecit]. carved on some architraves on the ground floor.

The portal (later transformed) is attributed to Bartolomeo Ammannati, but has no relation[2] with the 18th-century relief by Ferdinando Ruggieri that refers to the Palazzo del Cavalier Vernaccia, at the time owner and united to the Caccini by marriage ties.Restoration of the façade in 2022 revealed that the portal of house no. 31 is in the Ammannatesque style, and that the drawing[3] of the portal of house no. 33 is attributable to Pasqui, when he redesigned the façade.The façade, with its slightly broken lines, organised on three floors plus a mezzanine for no less than thirteen axes, is the result of restoration work carried out by the architect Leopoldo Pasqui around 1843, as attested by Federico Fantozzi.

Behind the palace, thanks to Matteo Caccini, a large garden was developed in the early 17th century, known for the rare and exotic plants cultivated (including the first onions, the tuberi della patata), and especially for the flowering plants with species from all the then known world, which for a long time made the garden more famous than the palazzo itself. All that remains of the garden today is a green area, which borders the back of the Teatro della Pergola. After the Caccinis, the palazzo passed to the del Vernaccia family, to the Riccardi and, in the 19th century, to the Del Corona family, the Pasqui Cartoni family and then to the Geddes da Filicaia. Arthur Schopenhauer lived here for a time. The current ownership of the palazzo, divided into flats, is divided between many parties.

«The uninterrupted series of windows in the two upper orders of the façade contributes to the harmony of the façade and helps, together with the slightly curved position and the contrast with the narrowness of the old village, to give a simple yet grandiose appearance to the whole. Passing through the central doorway, one enters the graceful five-light ground-floor loggia overlooking the garden, which has four singularly shaped windows with large volutes on the upper sides and interesting frescoes with grotesques and allegorical figures that revolve around the theme of the liberal arts, while in the centre delicate putti hold the coat of arms of the Da Filicaia».[4]

On Via Nuova de' Caccini (house numbers 7–21), the building has a modern addition, added by the architect Rolando Pagnini and built in the early 1970s, despite attempts to oppose the project by Italia Nostra and the momentary closure of the building site in July 1971.

See also

Bibliography

Italian sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Calafati
  2. Papi, andreapapi: Il vero portale di Bartolomeo Ammannati
  3. Present in the Historical City Archive of Florence
  4. Adsi, 2003

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