(1) PALAZZO VECCHIO - Salone dei Cinquecento
Piazza della Signoria, 1st floor
Palazzo Vecchio is the City Hall of Florence and it overlooks the Piazza della Signoria with its copy of Michelangelo’s David as well as the gallery of antique and Renaissance statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi. Palazzo Vecchio, or Palazzo della Signoria, has been the symbol of the civic power of Florence for over seven centuries. Built between the end of the 13th century − by Arnolfo di Cambio, the architect of the Duomo and the church of Santa Croce − and the beginning of the 14th century to house the city’s supreme governing body, the Priori delle Arti and the Gonfalonier of Justice.
The solid, massive building is enhanced by the simple tower with its clock, called Tower of Arnolfo, and over time it has been subject to a series of extensions and transformations.
Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici moved his official seat to the Palazzo della Signoria in May 1540, signalling the security of Medici power in Florence. When Cosimo later moved to Palazzo Pitti, he officially renamed his former palace the Palazzo Vecchio, the “Old Palace”. Cosimo commissioned Giorgio Vasari to build an above-ground walkway to join the two palaces, the Vasari corridor, from the Palazzo Vecchio, through the Uffizi, over the Ponte Vecchio to the Palazzo Pitti. From 1865 to 1871 it was the seat of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy − when Florence was the Capital city − while today it houses the Mayor of Florence and various municipal offices.
The Salone dei Cinquecento is an imposing hall with a length of 52 m and 23 m broad. It was built in 1494 by Simone del Pollaiolo, on commission of Girolamo Savonarola who, replacing the Medici after their exile as the spiritual leader of the Republic, wanted it as a seat of the Grand Council (Consiglio Maggiore) consisting of 500 members. Later the hall was enlarged by Giorgio Vasari so that Grand Duke Cosimo I could hold his court in this chamber. During this transformation famous (but unfinished) works were lost, including the two frescoes representing the Battle of Cascina by Michelangelo, and the Battle of Anghiari by Leonardo da Vinci. Tha Salone is decorated by a large number of statues by Renaissance masters, including the original “Genius of Victory” by Michelangelo (c. 1532); the famous frescoes made between 1555 and 1572 by Giorgio Vasari and his workshop to celebrate Florence victories over Pisa and Siena, decorate the upper part of the walls.
Date: 21 JANUARY 2019
Time: 10:30-12:30
Event: PLENARY OPENING SESSION
(2) SAN GALLO / FENZI - Palazzo Fenzi-Marucelli
Via San Gallo 10
The Palazzo Fenzi-Marucelli is currently home to the Department of History, Archaeology, Geography, Fine and Performing Arts of the University of Florence (SAGAS).
It was built in the 16th century for the Castelli family by Gherardo Silvani − an Italian architect and sculptor, active mainly in Florence and other sites in Tuscany during the Baroque period − and it was later enlarged by the Marucelli family. In 1829 it was bought by Emanuele Fenzi in order to house his bank and his family. He was Senator of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and later of the Kingdom of Italy, a leading Italian banker, iron producer, concessionaire of the Livorno-Florence railway (Strada Ferrata Leopolda) and other railway enterprises, merchant for exportation of Tuscan products, and landowner. Among many other Baroque architectural features such as ornate ceilings and marble sculptures, the Palazzo Fenzi has a wide variety of frescoes, some of which by the painter Sebastiano Ricci (1659-1734). The series of frescoes on allegorical and mythological themes, on the ground floor of Palazzo Fenzi, were executed during his stay in Florence from 1706 to 1707 and are considered among his masterpieces.
The large ballroom on the first floor, the present-day “Aula Magna”, was completely renovated by the architect Giuseppe Martelli and adorned by Vincenzo Marinelli with mythological friezes on the upper part of the walls and was a soughtafter venue for Florentine, Italian and international nobility during the second half of the 19th century.
Date: 21-25 JANUARY 2019
Time: see ICHAJ 14 PROGRAM
Event: ICHAJ 14 ACADEMIC PROGRAM / WORKSHOPS
NB: Publisher stands & Poster Session are located between Aula Parva and Aula Magna
(3) CAPPONI - Palazzina de’ Servi
Via Gino Capponi 9
The also called “Palazzo dei Servi” or “Palazzina de’ Servi” is currently home to the Department of History, Archaeology, Geography, Fine and Performing Arts of the University of Florence (SAGAS).
It is located between the fourteenth century complex of the Convent of Santissima Annunziata and the Botanical Garden of the University of Florence (founded in the 16th century and it can be considered the third oldest in the world). The Palazzina was designed by Niccolò Tribolo in the mid-16th century and extensive renovations through the centuries have made architectural changes to the original structure. Its history is therefore intertwined with that of these two historical institutions, the former religious, the latter botanical. It was built as an annex to the convent and in 1810 was transformed in neo-classical style by the architect Luigi De Cambray Digny to accommodate the new bishopric.
With the annexation of Tuscany to the Kingdom of Italy, the northern part of the monastery of Santissima Annunziata and the “Giardino dei Semplici” (that means “garden with plants with medicinal virtues”) passed under the management of the municipality, while during the period when Florence was capital of Italy (1865-1871) the Palazzina dei Servi was occupied by the State for use of the War Department. These offices were vacated in the 1870s and passed to the University who set up laboratories for the faculty of Chemistry, Physics and Physiology. The National Museum of Anthropology was also sited there.
On the initiative of Hugo Schiff (1834-1915), founder of the modern academic structure of the University chemistry section, extensions to the building to enable a more modern arrangement of chemistry laboratories and a new form of educational experimentation were planned. During the course of these changes it was decided instead that the building should house the faculties of History of Art and the Performing Arts, with the aim of conserving every trace of the rich historical stratigraphy of the building thus restoring dignity to the whole architectural complex.
The recent restoration of all these characteristic elements allowed a return to a comprehensive vision of the architectural space and the renovation of corridors, the vestibule and the monumental staircase brought unity to the whole building.
Date: 21-25 JANUARY 2019
Time: see ICHAJ 14 PROGRAM
Event: ICHAJ 14 ACADEMIC PROGRAM / ITALIAN MISSIONS EXHIBITION
(4) UNIVERSITY OF FLORENCE RECTORATE BUILDING - Aula Magna
Piazza San Marco 4
The headquarters of the University of Florence is located in a building formerly used as a grand-ducal stable with the buildings of the Natural History Museum, belonging to the University itself, in particular the Museum of Botany and the Museum of Geology and Paleontology.
Here in the 15th century some lion cages had been moved at the expense of the Florentine Republic and after 1429 the construction of a “Collegio della Sapienza" − a school to welcome fifty young people, half foreigners and half Florentines − commissioned by Niccolò da Uzzano, a politician of the supreme court of Florence, and under the patronage of the Arte dei Mercatanti (Guild of Merchants) was started. The building was designed by the painter Lorenzo di Bicci (1350-1427), but the work did not see the light soon, as many of the money left by Niccolò were diverted by the Republic to finance wars and other needs.
In the 19th century it belonged to the army, which then sold it to the University of Florence.
In the building today are located the rectorate, the main hall, the administrative services department and a secretariat. A bust with a plaque on the façade in Piazza San Marco recalls Cesare Battisti (1875-1916), a graduate of the Florentine University and a famous patriot, journalist, geographer, Italian socialist and irredentist politician.
The building has two courtyards, in the main one there is a small garden and in the secondary one there is the entrance to the Museum of Mineralogy. Among the monumental environments stand out, in addition to the auditorium decorated with frescoes of the period of Florence as Capital city, the staircase in neoclassical style, the hall of the university Senate and the small historical library.
Date: 25 JANUARY 2019
Time: 12:00-14:00
Event: PLENARY CLOSING SESSION
(5) ISTITUTO DEGLI INNOCENTI - Salone Brunelleschi
Piazza della Santissima Annunziata 12
The Istituto degli Innocenti in Florence has worked uninterruptedly for over six centuries, to help children and families: founded at the beginning of the 15th century, it was the first secular institution dedicated to taking in orphaned children.
The old hospital, “Spedale degli Innocenti”, was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and enriched over time with works of art by many other famous artists.
The architectural complexes were commissioned and financed by the Arte della Lana (WooI Guild). The refectory, cloisters, dormitories, infirmary, nurses, rooms and porticoes were purposely balanced by Brunelleschi to create a harmonious and rational hospital architecture. Later, they were enlarged and decorated with frescoes, thus documenting the on-going activities of the institution and the favour of the reigning dynasty of the Medici.
The “Spedale degli Innocenti” is more than an architectural milestone. Today the Institute’s activities include establishing and testing educational and social services, studying the condition of children and promoting children’s rights and culture,
in line with the UN Convention on the rights of the child. The commitment to protect children and their rights, updated as culture and society develop, has always been supported by donations from private citizens, associations and companies, confirming a widespread participation in the Institute’s mission.
Today this precious historical and monumental complex is also the home of the Museo degli Innocenti, a museum that houses works, among others, by Botticelli and Ghirlandaio (www.museodeglinnocenti.it).
Date: 23 JANUARY 2019
Time: 20:30-23:30
Event: ICHAJ 14 GALA
(6) TEATRO DELLA COMPAGNIA
via Cavour 50
It is an historical building now turned into a theater. The architectural project, commissioned to Adolfo Natalini by the Fondiaria − an Italian insurance company − in 1984, involved the transformation of the pre-existing cinema “Modernissimo” (created in 1921) into a theater hall to be used as a permanent venue for the Teatro Regionale Toscano (regional theater of Tuscany). The works ended in 1987 and they were characterized by the respect of the original building and its historical stratifications, giving emphasis to the pre-existing architectural elements, as for example the longitudinal axis of the boundary wall of the former garden of Palazzo Bastogi − a 18th century palace. Thanks to the Tuscany Region the theater reopened in 2006 as “Cinema La Compagnia” and became the home of short films and Florentine cinema festivals.
Date: 24 JANUARY 2019
Time: 10:30-13:00
Event: ICHAJ 14 SPECIAL EVENT Culture in Crisis Affected Countries