Photo by ArtTrav
Restoration of the Sala degli Elementi inside Palazzo Vecchio, begun in 2017, is set to be completed by the spring, though the work has already revealed some of the original colours and details on the walls. The restoration was made possible thanks to a contribution of over 800,000 euro by the non-profit Fondazione Giulio e Giovanna Sacchetti and is part of the Florence I Care project, which involves receiving funding from private entities for the restoration of civic cultural heritage.
The restoration was carried out in two phases: the walls were completed first (at a cost of 475,000 euro), before attention was turned to the ceiling (costing 345,000 euro). The operation included a cleaning, stucco work, mending cracks and flaking materials and recovering the original colours and decorations of the wooden elements.
In a press release, mayor of Florence Dario Nardella commented, “We are finally about to restore the original beauty of this majestic and priceless room, the first in the Apartments of the Elements and overlooking the Terrazza di Saturno.”
Ph. Comune di Firenze
The Apartments of the Elements comprises five large rooms and two loggias. It was designed upon the request of Cosimo I de’ Medici and overseen by Battista del Tasso and later Giorgio Vasari. Within the apartments, the allegorical frescoes on the walls of the Sala degli Elementi depict the elements of water (The Birth of Venus), fire (Vulcan’s Forge) and earth (The First Fruits of the Earth Offered to Saturn), while the ceiling is decorated with the allegory of air, showing The Mutilation of Uranus by Saturn.
