DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19776#0115
VILLA I COLLAZZI,
GALLUZZO, FLORENCE.
ALONG drive from Florence, up into the
mountains, past the huge, straggling pile
of the Certosa, poised upon its eminence,
up, until the country changes and the
greater number of villas lie below, the pine woods
begin, and all around, as far as eye can reach, the
mountains lie in undulating waves, no accentuated
ups and downs, but gently tossing fold over fold,
till it is almost possible to imagine that it really
is a distant sea upon which we look. At last,
boldlv planted on a sharp ridge, approached through
a black cypress avenue, we reach the most splendid
and stately of all the Florentine villas. The impres-
sion made at once is different from that of any
other. The whole effect is one of austere majesty.
The quality Michael Angelo could impart to all
his work is present here, the breadth, the simplicity,
the purity. As we stand in front of that lofty,
two-storied arcade, which is built round three sides
of a raised stone-flaked terrace and enclosed by a
majestic balustrade and double stairway, guarded
by two black stone lions, bearing shields, we
breathe freely. The lines of the building give a sense
of nobility and elevation ; the master mind that
designed it knew nothing of the frivolous or the
paltry. Absolute proof that he was the architect
may be lacking, but the spirit of Michael Angelo
speaks to us louder than any contract. Tradition,
indeed, gives it to him. He is known to have been
an intimate friend of that Agostino Dini for whom
the villa was built in the sixteenth century, on the
site where once stood a castle of the Buondelmonte.
The Dini papers have unluckily been destroyed, but
Baldinucci tells us that Santi di Tito, a pupil of
the schools of Bronzino and Vasari, " worked
for Agostino Dini at Giogoli . . . for the
same Agostino he also painted one of his finest
pictures." It is, of course, quite possible that
he carried out the work from the design of the
greater master. The picture, " A Marriage in
Cana," is still in the chapel—it is, in fact,
painted upon the panelled wall, and it is evident
that the master turned his head and drew the long
arcade, which met his eyes in the courtyard beyond
the chapel window. The court has a fine old well-
head of stone and ironwork, and opposite it is an
ancient stone cistern. One of the wings of the
house has never been finished, but the effect is to
give a variety which is rather good than otherwise.
It is fortunate that the villa is quite unspoilt.
The high, gently-vaulted saloons still retain their
heavy walnut doors, with brass mountings, and
their Renaissance chimney-pieces, and though in
the eighteenth century some attempt was made
to redecorate, it is very slight, and consists in
a few very charming frescoes by Menucci and
Boti, and sundry painted doors. The central
saloon opens out at the back upon a circular
perron of worn stone, a double flight of steps
curving down into the garden. On this side, the
plainness of the walls is relieved by pediments
and consoles, and by a singularly beautiful loggia
with slender double columns. The stone setting
of the doorway, surmounted by a carved escutcheon,
has the same quality of stately simplicity. The
terrace surrounding the house is enclosed in a
low parapet, built upon high bastioned walls,
over which you lean and look into the valley
below. From the front of the villa the
landscape is sunny and the country thickly popu-
lated with gleaming villas, while down in the
valley, beyond the shoulder of a far-off" wooded
curve, the brown dome and the slender shaft of
Giotto's tower are just visible. At the back the
outlook is much wilder. The cypresses climb the
hill on the other side of the deep fall in the ground.
It is such a hillside as Benozzo Gozzoli loved to
paint, and we could fancy we saw his brilliant
youths in broidered surcoats, winding in gay pro-
cession along the country-side. Beyond, the hills
are dark with pine woods, which stretch away fold
on fold as far as Montelupo. To the right lie the
mountains behind Pistoia, and the domes and towers
of both that city and Prato in the plain beneath
are plainly visible upon a clear day. The Dini
named their splendid villa I Collazzi, the hillocks or
mounts, because of these undulating hills which flow
all round it. Immediately under the wall, at the
back of the house, is the giardino segreto, and here the
old Italian fashion has been adhered to ; there are
few flowers, and the chief adornment consists of fine
lemon trees in huge terra-cotta vases, symmetrically
arranged. The ground falls away below so abruptly
as to afford little scope for flower-gardening.
It is a villa with little history. The Dini
family lived in it till about sixty years ago, when
it passed into the hands of the Bombicci-Pomi,
who live here nearly all the year round. Perhaps
it was too far off the beaten track to be fashionable
and far enough to escape perils. It seems always
to have been, what it is to-day, a beautiful and
well-loved home.
( 102 )
GALLUZZO, FLORENCE.
ALONG drive from Florence, up into the
mountains, past the huge, straggling pile
of the Certosa, poised upon its eminence,
up, until the country changes and the
greater number of villas lie below, the pine woods
begin, and all around, as far as eye can reach, the
mountains lie in undulating waves, no accentuated
ups and downs, but gently tossing fold over fold,
till it is almost possible to imagine that it really
is a distant sea upon which we look. At last,
boldlv planted on a sharp ridge, approached through
a black cypress avenue, we reach the most splendid
and stately of all the Florentine villas. The impres-
sion made at once is different from that of any
other. The whole effect is one of austere majesty.
The quality Michael Angelo could impart to all
his work is present here, the breadth, the simplicity,
the purity. As we stand in front of that lofty,
two-storied arcade, which is built round three sides
of a raised stone-flaked terrace and enclosed by a
majestic balustrade and double stairway, guarded
by two black stone lions, bearing shields, we
breathe freely. The lines of the building give a sense
of nobility and elevation ; the master mind that
designed it knew nothing of the frivolous or the
paltry. Absolute proof that he was the architect
may be lacking, but the spirit of Michael Angelo
speaks to us louder than any contract. Tradition,
indeed, gives it to him. He is known to have been
an intimate friend of that Agostino Dini for whom
the villa was built in the sixteenth century, on the
site where once stood a castle of the Buondelmonte.
The Dini papers have unluckily been destroyed, but
Baldinucci tells us that Santi di Tito, a pupil of
the schools of Bronzino and Vasari, " worked
for Agostino Dini at Giogoli . . . for the
same Agostino he also painted one of his finest
pictures." It is, of course, quite possible that
he carried out the work from the design of the
greater master. The picture, " A Marriage in
Cana," is still in the chapel—it is, in fact,
painted upon the panelled wall, and it is evident
that the master turned his head and drew the long
arcade, which met his eyes in the courtyard beyond
the chapel window. The court has a fine old well-
head of stone and ironwork, and opposite it is an
ancient stone cistern. One of the wings of the
house has never been finished, but the effect is to
give a variety which is rather good than otherwise.
It is fortunate that the villa is quite unspoilt.
The high, gently-vaulted saloons still retain their
heavy walnut doors, with brass mountings, and
their Renaissance chimney-pieces, and though in
the eighteenth century some attempt was made
to redecorate, it is very slight, and consists in
a few very charming frescoes by Menucci and
Boti, and sundry painted doors. The central
saloon opens out at the back upon a circular
perron of worn stone, a double flight of steps
curving down into the garden. On this side, the
plainness of the walls is relieved by pediments
and consoles, and by a singularly beautiful loggia
with slender double columns. The stone setting
of the doorway, surmounted by a carved escutcheon,
has the same quality of stately simplicity. The
terrace surrounding the house is enclosed in a
low parapet, built upon high bastioned walls,
over which you lean and look into the valley
below. From the front of the villa the
landscape is sunny and the country thickly popu-
lated with gleaming villas, while down in the
valley, beyond the shoulder of a far-off" wooded
curve, the brown dome and the slender shaft of
Giotto's tower are just visible. At the back the
outlook is much wilder. The cypresses climb the
hill on the other side of the deep fall in the ground.
It is such a hillside as Benozzo Gozzoli loved to
paint, and we could fancy we saw his brilliant
youths in broidered surcoats, winding in gay pro-
cession along the country-side. Beyond, the hills
are dark with pine woods, which stretch away fold
on fold as far as Montelupo. To the right lie the
mountains behind Pistoia, and the domes and towers
of both that city and Prato in the plain beneath
are plainly visible upon a clear day. The Dini
named their splendid villa I Collazzi, the hillocks or
mounts, because of these undulating hills which flow
all round it. Immediately under the wall, at the
back of the house, is the giardino segreto, and here the
old Italian fashion has been adhered to ; there are
few flowers, and the chief adornment consists of fine
lemon trees in huge terra-cotta vases, symmetrically
arranged. The ground falls away below so abruptly
as to afford little scope for flower-gardening.
It is a villa with little history. The Dini
family lived in it till about sixty years ago, when
it passed into the hands of the Bombicci-Pomi,
who live here nearly all the year round. Perhaps
it was too far off the beaten track to be fashionable
and far enough to escape perils. It seems always
to have been, what it is to-day, a beautiful and
well-loved home.
( 102 )