DOI Kapitel:
I. Florentine villas
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61216#0083
FLORENTINE VILLAS
beyond the Certosa of Vai d’Ema, and looks from its
lofty ridge across the plain toward Pistoia and the
Apennines. This villa, called Ai Collazzi (now Bom-
bicci), from the wooded hills which surround it, was
built for the Dini family in the sixteenth century, and,
as tradition avers, by no less a hand than Michelangelo’s.
He is known to have been a close friend of the Dini,
and is likely to have worked for them ; and if, as some
experts think, certain details of the design, as well as the
actual construction of the villa, are due to Santi di Tito,
it is impossible not to feel that its general conception
must have originated with a greater artist.
The Villa Bombicci has in fact the Michelangelesque
quality: the austerity, the breadth, the peculiar majesty
which he imparted to his slightest creations. The house
is built about three sides of a raised stone-flagged ter-
race, the enclosing elevation consisting of a two-storied
open arcade roofed by widely projecting eaves. The
wings are solid, with the exception of the sides toward
the arcade, and the windows, with their heavy pedi-
ments and consoles, are set far apart in true Tuscan
fashion. A majestic double flight of steps, flanked by
shield-bearing lions, leads up to the terrace about which
the house is built. Within is a high central saloon
opening at the back on a stone perron, with another
double flight of steps which descend in a curve to the
garden. On this side of the house there is, on the upper
floor, an open loggia of great beauty, consisting of three
5
53
beyond the Certosa of Vai d’Ema, and looks from its
lofty ridge across the plain toward Pistoia and the
Apennines. This villa, called Ai Collazzi (now Bom-
bicci), from the wooded hills which surround it, was
built for the Dini family in the sixteenth century, and,
as tradition avers, by no less a hand than Michelangelo’s.
He is known to have been a close friend of the Dini,
and is likely to have worked for them ; and if, as some
experts think, certain details of the design, as well as the
actual construction of the villa, are due to Santi di Tito,
it is impossible not to feel that its general conception
must have originated with a greater artist.
The Villa Bombicci has in fact the Michelangelesque
quality: the austerity, the breadth, the peculiar majesty
which he imparted to his slightest creations. The house
is built about three sides of a raised stone-flagged ter-
race, the enclosing elevation consisting of a two-storied
open arcade roofed by widely projecting eaves. The
wings are solid, with the exception of the sides toward
the arcade, and the windows, with their heavy pedi-
ments and consoles, are set far apart in true Tuscan
fashion. A majestic double flight of steps, flanked by
shield-bearing lions, leads up to the terrace about which
the house is built. Within is a high central saloon
opening at the back on a stone perron, with another
double flight of steps which descend in a curve to the
garden. On this side of the house there is, on the upper
floor, an open loggia of great beauty, consisting of three
5
53