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Florence - Culture

Florence, like no other European city, epitomizes the spirit of the Renaissance. From the 14th to 16th centuries, what was considered "cutting edge" in the arts, science and architecture found its greatest expression here. The artists Giotto, Brunelleschi, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Botticelli, the political philosopher Machiavelli, the scientist Galileo and the writers Dante and Petrarch made Florence, at one time or another, their home.

Santa Croce has traditionally always been used for important civic and religious events because it is large enough to contain crowds of people. This is where the Franciscan preachers, as well as St. Bernardino of Siena, during the plague of 1437, addressed the population. This was also where Carnival and May Day festivities were celebrated, as well as tournaments, jousting and carousels, especially during the

Renaissance with the enthusiastic participation of the younger members of the Florentine aristocracy: such events included the famous jousts described by Pulci (1469) and Poliziano (1475), with Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici among the principal protagonists.

The Basilica of Santa Croce dominates the entire square. Constructed between 1295 and 1443 on the site of an earlier and smaller Franciscan oratory, built in around 1225-26, when the Saint was still alive, it was subsequently enlarged in 1252. Arnolfo di Cambio, the brilliant head architect of the City Council was entrusted with the new project and, almost immediately afterwards, the city also commissioned him to construct the new Cathedral and Palazzo della Signoria.

Leaving Porta San Niccolò to your rear, you come to Piazza dei Mozzi after only a short walk from Piazza Poggi along Lungarno Serristori or Via San Niccolò in the direction of the city centre; here you can find the Bardini Museum, one of the less important Florentine museums which, however, possesses a fascination that is all its own. It was originally the house and warehouse of antiquarian and art collector Stefano Bardini (1836-1922) who left it and all its contents to the City Council.

The Uffizi Gallery, founded in Florence in 1581, by the De Medici family, is one of the oldest museums in the world. Many important works of Italian and other schools, dating from between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries, are kept here, including the largest existing collection of Tuscan Renaissance paintings. The Web guide contains pictures, comments, biographies and a glossary of artistic movements and techniques.

Piero Pananti founded the Pananti Gallery, located few yards away from one of the most beautiful cathedrals, in Piazza Santa Croce, in 1968 when the painter Mino Maccari stood as its godfather by giving a personal exposition for the occasion. In time the gallery has become a meeting place for literates, poets, painters and critics and has given a number of expositions of the most important italian artists such as Annigoni, Rosai, De Pisis, Morlotti, Guidi, Marcucci, Maccari, Tirinnanzi, Venturi, Faraoni, Capocchini, Scatizzi, Ceccotti, Francesconi, Fazzini, Pincherle, De Chirico, Manzu', Greco and many others. Today the Pananti gallery is the sole agent for several pieces of many of those artists. The Pananti Gallery is also a publishing house: it publishes art catalogues, monographers, fiction and literary series.

Inside its wide and beautiful renaissance rooms have recently taken place very important commemorating expositions of Fattori, Rosai and De Pisis, two of which under the patronage of the President of the Italian Republic. The Pananti Gallery has also received several awards, among which the Librex - Guggenheim "Eugenio Montale for poetry" aword in 1983 with the book "Memorie, racconti, poemetti in prosa".

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