Florence by Richard J. Goy

Author:Richard J. Goy
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-3002-0987-7
Publisher: Yale University Press

5 SAN MARCO, THE ACCADEMIA AND VICINITY

Another compact area, bounded by the Galleria dell’Accademia and other museums to the SE, the Corte d’Appello and San Marco to the N and Sant’Apollonia to the W. Most of the significant buildings surround Piazza San Marco. The attractive tree-planted square is also a busy bus terminus; buses to Fiesole, Settignano, etc. leave from here. In the centre: monument to General Manfredo Fanti by Pio Fedi, 1873.

On the NW side, no. 51, corner of Via degli Arazzieri: the Palazzina or Casinò della Livia, formerly attributed to Buontalenti, but now given to Bernardo Fallani (143), 1775, and thus an unusual example of late cinquecento revival. Once the seat of public offices, but in 1786 was given by Pietro Leopoldo to the ballerina Livia Malfatti Raimondi, and became her home. The short main (E) façade has three bays and two orders; rusticated quoins and a heavy cornice; a central pedimented portal flanked by pedimented windows. Above the flanking windows: roundels with dolphin decoration. The upper order: three pedimented windows, the central one with a balcony. The flank to Via degli Arazzieri, also of three bays, is more restrained.

On the SE side of the piazza, no. 4 is the Università degli Studi, the headquarters of the university; once the grand ducal stables. It originated with the Studium Generale founded by the republic in 1321, and in 1364 became the Università Imperiale under Emperor Charles VII. The university was transferred to Pisa by the Medici in 1473, although it returned here (1497–1515), after which it was again transferred to Pisa. It was permanently re-established in Florence after 1859, although the title of university was regained only in 1923.

South of the junction with Via Cesare Battisti, façade to Via Ricasoli, is the Galleria dell’Accademia. The Galleria, together with the adjacent institutions of the Accademia itself, the Conservatorio Musicale, the Opificio delle Pietre Dure and the Museo degli Strumenti Musicali Antichi, all occupy the former Ospedale di San Matteo and the Ospedale di San Niccolò di Cafaggio.

The oldest element is the front loggia, 1388–1410, within which are three portals, each surmounted by a terracotta lunette by the della Robbia. The teaching academy was founded by Cosimo I in 1563, but in 1784 was transferred to the Palazzo dell’Arte dei Beccai, when Pietro Leopoldo established the galleries here. The entrance is at no. 58 Via Ricasoli. It was radically reorganised in 1980, after a number of works had been transferred to Palazzo Pitti and the new Museo di San Marco. The Galleria is world-famous for its works by Michelangelo. The entrance leads first to the Sala dell’Anticolosso, then the Sala del Colosso. The latter contains early sixteenth-century paintings by Fra Bartolomeo, Perugino and Filippino Lippi. In the centre is the full-size gesso model for Giambologna’s Rape of the Sabines, in the Loggia dei Lanzi. From here (left) we reach the main gallery, in which the principal works are Michelangelo’s four massively impressive Prisoners or Slaves (circa 1530), intended for the base of the mausoleum of Pope Julius II in St Peter’s, Rome.

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