The Loggia del Grano is a 17th-century rectangular building with an open ground floor arcade, located on Piazzetta del Grano, at the corner of via de' Neri and via de' Castellani, just southeast of the Palazzo Vecchio, in Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy; the portico served as the marketplace for grains while the upper stories were used for storage.
The loggia was commissioned in 1619 by Grand Duke Cosimo II de'Medici from the architect Giulio Parigi, pupil of Bernardo Buontalenti. The bust of the Grand Duke stands on the facade on Via del Neri. In the 19th century, the upper structure was converted into a theater, [1] later into a cinema.
On the Northwest corner is a small marble fountain, Fontana del Mascherone, with a grotesque face, designed and sculpted by Chiarissimo Fancelli, inspired by the Fontana dello Sprone in Oltrarno that had been built by Bernardo Buontalenti. Fancelli also was the author of the bust of Cosimo II. [2]
Bartolomeo Ammannati was an Italian architect and sculptor, born at Settignano, near Florence. He studied under Baccio Bandinelli and Jacopo Sansovino and closely imitated the style of Michelangelo.
The Uffizi Gallery is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of the largest and best known in the world and holds a collection of priceless works, particularly from the period of the Italian Renaissance.
Giambologna — — was a Flemish sculptor based in Italy, celebrated for his marble and bronze statuary in a late Renaissance or Mannerist style.
The Boboli Gardens is a historical park of the city of Florence that was opened to the public in 1766. Originally designed for the Medici, it represents one of the first and most important examples of the Italian garden, which later served as inspiration for many European courts. The large green area is a real open-air museum with statues of various styles and periods, ancient and Renaissance that are distributed throughout the garden. It also has large fountains and caves, among them the splendid Buontalenti grotto built by the artist, architect and sculptor Bernardo Buontalenti between 1536 and 1608.
The Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence, Italy. It overlooks the Piazza della Signoria, which holds a copy of Michelangelo's David statue, and the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi.
The Palazzo Pitti, in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present palazzo dates from 1458 and was originally the town residence of Luca Pitti, an ambitious Florentine banker.
Bernardo Buontalenti, byname of Bernardo Delle Girandole, was an Italian stage designer, architect, theatrical designer, military engineer and artist.
Piazza della Signoria is an L-shaped square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. It was named after the Palazzo della Signoria, also called Palazzo Vecchio. It is the main point of the origin and history of the Florentine Republic and still maintains its reputation as the political focus of the city. It is the meeting place of Florentines as well as the numerous tourists, located near Palazzo Vecchio and Piazza del Duomo and gateway to Uffizi Gallery.
The Loggia dei Lanzi, also called the Loggia della Signoria, is a building on a corner of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy, adjoining the Uffizi Gallery. It consists of wide arches open to the street. The arches rest on clustered pilasters with Corinthian capitals. The wide arches appealed so much to the Florentines that Michelangelo proposed that they should be continued all around the Piazza della Signoria.
Niccolò di Raffaello di Niccolò dei Pericoli, called "Il Tribolo" was an Italian Mannerist artist in the service of Cosimo I de' Medici in his natal city of Florence.
Giovanni Battista (Giambattista) Foggini was an Italian sculptor active in Florence, renowned mainly for small bronze statuary.
Giulio Parigi (1571–1635) was an Italian architect and designer.
Pier Francesco Silvani (1620–1685) was an Italian architect and designer, active during the Baroque period, in Florence and other sites in Tuscany.
Chiarissimo d'Antonio Fancelli was an Italian sculptor and architect of the late-Mannerist and Baroque periods, mainly active in Tuscany. Domenico Pieratti and Giovanni Battista Pieratti were his pupils. It is unclear how he fits into the large pedigree of Tuscan sculptors including Cosimo and Luca Fancelli.
The Villa di Castello, near the hills bordering Florence, Tuscany, central Italy, was the country residence of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1519-1574). The gardens, filled with fountains, statuary, and a grotto, became famous throughout Europe. The villa also housed some of the great art treasures of Florence, including Sandro Botticelli's Renaissance masterpieces The Birth of Venus and Primavera. The gardens of the Villa had a profound influence upon the design of the Italian Renaissance garden and the later French formal garden.
Villa La Petraia is one of the Medici villas in Castello, Florence, Tuscany, central Italy. It has a distinctive 19th century belvedere on the upper east terrace on axis with the view of Florence.
The Pucci family has been a prominent noble family in Florence over the course of many centuries. A recent notable member of this family was Emilio Pucci, an Italian fashion designer who founded a clothing company after World War II.
Alessandro Pieroni was an Italian architect and painter. He was active mainly in a Mannerist style, working for the courts of Grandukes Francesco I and Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.
The Fountain dello Sprone, or Fontana dello Sprone, also called the Fontana del Buontalenti is an early 17th-century Mannerist-style public fountain found at the corner of via dello Sprone and Borgo San Jacopo, in the quarter of Oltrarno in the city of Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy.
The Fioravanti family were a noble family originating in Pistoia in Tuscany and active in Florence and other Italian towns. They were Guelf in their politics and naturally allied with the Cancellieri family and adversaries of the Ghibelline Panciatichi family. An early record dates to 1267, when Fioravanti d'Accorso was a member of the town council. In 1310 Ranieri, his son, was Mayor of the Pistoia. In 1319 Simone di Ranieri was a member of the elders. Giovanni di Puccio di Ranieri Fioravanti was a banker active at the court of Pope Clement V (1305-1314) in Avignon. Andrea di Simone di Baldo Fioravanti was elected Capitano della Montagna Superiore, June 17, 1354. Francesco di Rinieri was the Gonfaloniere of the Florentine Republic in the years 1385 and 1389: Neri his son was also Gonfaloniere in 1428; Fioravanti di Piero was the Cavalry Captain in Flanders in 1510 and then for Pope Alessandro VI, commissioner at Assedius of Faenza: Vincenzo di Cipriano one of the first to be elected knight of Santo Stefano, in 1576, shortly after the establishment of that military order, and later Chancellor of the Order: Fabio of Cipriano, was Cavalry Captain in the Netherlands: Alberto di Fioravanti Knight of Malta in 1590, and Commendatore in 1610: Niccolao di Fioravanti captain in the emperor Ferdinand II against the King of Sweden in 1636, and in 1643 in Tuscany for the Grand Duke against the Barberini.