Day 14, Sun 29 September

Day 14, Sun 29 September

In the morning we will drive to the small town of Pistoia to see the beautifully restored façade of the Ospedale del Ceppo hospital, with its 16th century polychrome terracotta frieze and roundels, its Romanesque cathedral, and the pulpit in the small church of Sant’Andrea, a masterpiece by the sculptor Giovanni Pisano.

From Pistoia onward the tour’s themes of Renaissance rivalry and art patronage will focus more especially on the Medici family. We will drive to Poggio a Caiano to visit Lorenzo il Magnifico de’ Medici’s villa.

Another short drive brings us to Villa di Castello, once the country residence of Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, most famous for its ornate gardens.

 

Total drive time today: 2 hours 15.

Accommodation: 3rd night at Hotel Ilaria, Lucca.

Meals included: breakfast.

Gallery
Ospedale del Ceppo hospital (founded 13-14th C), with its 16th century polychrome terracotta frieze of Seven Works of Mercy, 1514-25 and 1584-86; Cardinal and Theological Virtues; and roundels with Annunciation, Visitation and Assumption; and coats of arms of hospital, city and Medici
Giovanni Pisano, c. 1297- 1300, Pulpit, Sant'Andrea, Pistoia
Giovanni Pisano, c.1297-1300, Massacre of the Innocents, Pulpit, Sant' Andrea Pistoia
Giuliano da Sangallo, Villa Medicea di Poggio a Caiano, 1480-85 (near Florence). Commissioned by Lorenzo il Magnifico de’ Medici through a competition. A working dairy farm and a country villa based on antiquity (especially Vitruvius’s Ten Books on Architecture, 46-30 BC) idea of living the active and contemplative life, also following ideas on villas from Alberti’s treatise on architecture. Raised on a platform, Roman temple portico, symmetry, order, decorum in the use of spaces.
Villa di Castello, Orangerie, purchased by Medici 1477, reconstructed by Giorgio Vasari, gardens designed by Niccolò Tribolo for Duke Cosimo I in 16th C