Culture and charity at Palazzo Tornabuoni

Culture and charity at Palazzo Tornabuoni

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Tue 26 Jun 2018 11:46 AM

Jack and Marianne Ferraro are Florence-loving members of Palazzo Tornabuoni, the city’s only private residence club. Saddened at seeing a dirty tabernacle from the windows of their apartment, the couple decided to do something about it.

 

 

Marianne and Jack Ferraro at Palazzo Tornabuoni

 

 

-Jack Ferraro: We bought our modest one-bedroom apartment in this building, which looks out at one of the walls of the church of San Michele e Gaetano. We were looking down at this dirty tabernacle, which looked awful.

-Marianne Ferraro: The glass was filthy. You could barely see what was behind it, except there were some pastel colours. I said, “Let’s see if we can help out” because it’s a crucifix…

-Jack: Yes, my grandmother’s name was Crocifissa. I went over to the church and started speaking to the deacon and said we really would like to help, see what we can do and he said “We’ll see”. This was at the end of 2013, because we were finalizing the purchase of the apartment. The first steps of the restoration were the replacement of the glass and the repair of the overhanging lantern and, of course, the removal of the painting.

-Marianne: We said that we would help to clean the painting, but then while we were in America they discovered that it was by a renowned Renaissance painter, Giovanni Battista Naldini, who had been at the Ospedale degli Innocenti under Pontormo’s tutelage. So then they said, “We’ll take care of it.” Indeed, SACI took care of the restoration as part of a course for their PhD students.

-Jack: We realized that it meant that the painting was never going to go back into the tabernacle. One evening here at Palazzo Tornabuoni we got talking to the well-known Florentine photographer Massimo Listri and said to him, “Would you like to do something pro bono for us?” He very graciously said, “Certo!” A year later, this was done.

-Marianne: What’s in the tabernacle now is actually a photo by Massimo Listri. There is also a plaque honouring Jack’s grandmother next to the tabernacle, of which Jack is very proud.

-Jack: Now we look down from the window of our apartment and we know what’s there…

 

 

Marianne and Jack Ferraro talk with The Florentine’s Helen Farrell at Palazzo Tornabuoni

 

 

-Marianne: In 2016, our son and daughter came over for the Christmas holidays, and we had a special little ceremony with the priest (who began in 2015) blessing the tabernacle. There were flowers and candles, and our children stood upstairs and took videos of the occasion. Massimo was very nice because he made a smaller photo for us to take home.

-Jack: Which we have in our kitchen! It’s a beautiful photo of a beautiful painting.

-Marianne: We also feel like we’ve been gifted with another life. We were in Santa Croce a few feet away from the Spanish tourist who died so tragically last year.

-Jack: We were visiting with two Australian friends and had all been standing where he was about 90 seconds earlier. He’d stopped to read about the Bonaparte family.

-Marianne: We’ll never forget it as long as we live. We were so close! So, now we embrace every second of our time in Florence.

-Jack: We don’t have a bucket list for Florence, but we have this little book with interesting anecdotes, which inspires us. We especially love Florence in the fall; we try to spend three months here then. 

-Marianne: We always meet lots of fascinating people at the Palazzo. Jeremy Irons was really interesting as was Justice Kennedy.

-Jack: We also truly enjoyed speaking rather extensively with James Ivory when he was here in the fall. Gabrielle Maria Taylor, our attaché, does a wonderful job of bringing a very diverse program to the Palazzo. It’s one of the most attractive aspects of living here, knowing that there are three or four events going on every week. Elaine Ruffolo recently spoke about the history of portraiture and we felt like we’d really learned something at the end of the night.

-Marianne: Given its history, you’re always discovering something new about Florence. We’ve taken the time to learn a fair amount about the history of the Renaissance and that makes living here an even richer experience.

 

 

 

This month’s events at Palazzo Tornabuoni

 

 

This month at Palazzo Tornabuoni included a Private Members’ Dinner at Borgo San Jacopo with Michelin-Starred Chef Peter Brunel, a Piano Recital in the Sala delle Muse with Concert Pianist Gaia Caporiccio and a Formal Guided Wine Tasting with the Owners of Querceto di Castellina, as well as two special events in collaboration with The Florentine.

 

 

 

Culture and charity

 

30 years of Room With a View at Palazzo Tornabuoni

 

Palazzo Tornabuoni stands at the centre of Florence’s contemporary culture, welcoming guest speakers and artistic residencies to inspire the Florence of tomorrow. Once home to the Medici, the recently restored Palazzo is a magnificent Private Residence Club adorned with museum-quality frescoes, friezes and statuary, which proudly opens its doors to charitable activities, including fundraising events by the Fiorenzo Fratini Association, Friends of Florence, Friends of the Uffizi, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and Fondazione ANT and Associazione Passignano to name a few.

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