Ahead of the Corsini Gardens Cultural Walk for readers of The Florentine on June 5, it’s a pleasure to write a few lines about this secret walled garden tucked away in the heart of Florence and the striking sixteenth-century loggia designed by the extraordinary artist Bernardo Buontalenti, which forms a masterpiece to the rear of the palazzo that has been my family’s home since 1834.
Seven generations of children have played among the flowerbeds and statues with their friends, conjured up magical worlds among the trees. My siblings Duccio, Fiona, Nencia and I spent entire afternoons playing hide and seek, counting the hundreds of turtles, riding our bikes among the potted citruses, and I myself learned to drive a car along this avenue under the watchful and sometimes worried gaze of the gardener. For all intents and purposes, the garden is an extension of the palazzo, an outdoor room.
Talking about this late Renaissance garden, the palazzo and the loggia means traversing the history of Florence. In 1591, Alessandro Acciaiuoli, having purchased a plot of land on the Prato d’Ognissanti, asked Bernardo Buontalenti to design a “pleasure pavilion” with a large garden. Buontalenti created the complex hydraulic system to supply the fountains with water, pathways outlined by rare and sumptuous cedar hedges, the loggia and the large kneeling windows that we can still see today. At that time, the famous “four seasons” statues were in the garden, now at each corner of the Ponte Santa Trinita, as well as Giambologna’s Bacchus, now at the Bargello.
The property was purchased in 1620 by my ancestors Filippo and Maddalena Corsini, following the bankruptcy of the Acciaiuoli family. They entrusted Gherardo Silvani with the task of completing the pavilion and he also intervened on the layout of the garden. Silvani’s work can be discerned in certain details of the ground-floor spaces, such as the decorations in the architectural moldings.
However, the proto-Baroque taste of the architect and his penchant for scenography are most apparent in the Italian garden, bordered by the large lemon houses, elegant geometric flowerbeds, boxwood hedges, potted lemon trees and the central avenue lined with statues. To accentuate the impression of length and depth of the avenue for the palace’s residents, he employed the device of placing the statues and their pedestals at decreasing heights, establishing the main viewpoint from the rear loggia of the building toward via della Scala, as demonstrated by the putto and the two lions above the gate and the lateral pillars facing inward.
In 1834, the residence was designated as the home of Don Neri Corsini and his wife, Eleonora Rinuccini, who commissioned a series of architectural and decorative works. The roof was raised, a new well staircase was built, a large family coat of arms flanked by two hippocamps was placed on the façade of the palace, and several rooms were frescoed. Among the artists involved were Ulisse Faldi, Gaetano Baccani, Luigi Giovannozzi, and painters Giuseppe Gherardi, Gasparo Martellini and Pasquale Salviotti. In the same years, the garden underwent modifications in a romantic style— groves, a small hill and a pond were created—a transformation that is still visible today in the two woods that frame the garden like two green wings. The most recent intervention occurred in the early twentieth century when Vincenzo Micheli was commissioned to build a new Renaissance-style building next to the old palace.
The garden, as we see it today, with its spring bloom of pink and red rock roses, lavender, peonies and cherry blossoms, was restored by my auntie, Oliva di Collobiano. In addition to the two geometric parterres, the garden features the lemon houses with earthen floors, large wooden shutters and wide stone walls to support the citrus pots, as well as a lawn with centuries-old linden trees.
The central avenue runs up to the loggia, which was built in 1591 according to a design by Bernardo Buontalenti. It consists of four pillars that support three vaulted ceilings with a square plan, above which is the terrace. The loggia is elevated above the garden on a raised base and is accessed by stone staircases, two on the sides and one in the centre.
The Abbraccia la Loggia del Buontalenti fundraising campaign will contribute towards starting the necessary restoration and conservation interventions for the loggia, in accordance with the Superintendence for Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of the Metropolitan City of Florence and the provinces of Pistoia and Prato, after ongoing diagnostic investigations, which have revealed a superficial state of decline in all the materials and the need for careful evaluation to safeguard the foundations, columns, arches, vaults and the fountain itself.
On completion of the works, the Corsini Gardens will be accessible to the public free of charge (according to an agreement that will be signed at a later date with the relevant authorities) and all those who have generously contributed to the restoration will be commemorated on a special plaque placed under the loggia itself. As a gift, they will also receive one of the limited-edition snow globes created by Norwegian artist Magnus Gjoen.
Every month, the Corsini Gardens blossoms with different flowers, colours and aromas, sometimes extravagant and surprising, always designed to amaze our guests. We are happy to share the June blooms with the readers of The Florentine!
Don’t miss the Corsini Gardens Cultural Walk at 6pm on June 5 with Sabina Corsini and Neri Torrigiani, including an aperitivo of Principe Corsini wine. Minimum required donation 100 euro, which will go directly towards restoring the Loggia del Buontalenti. Reservation required by May 26.
Book your spot: info@artigianatoepalazzo.it or +39 055 2654588
Donations can also be made by PayPal: www.paypal.me/ARTIGIANATOEPALAZZO
