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Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici 1667-1743
She gave all the Medici assets to the Tuscan state As you probably know, the Medici family were very prominent in Renaissance Florence. They began with the wool trade in the 13th and 14th centuries and in the 15th century Giovanni started the Medici Bank which became the largest in Europe at that time. His son Cosimo (1389-1464) was a humanist and patron of the arts and culture. His grandson followed in his footsteps and became known as Lorenzo the Magnificent. The next generation wasn’t as successful and they were exiled in 1494. Lorenzo’s second son became Pope Leo X and they returned to Florence in 1512.
Later generations were also patrons of the arts with Cosimo II supporting the work of Galileo. The family eventually died out in 1737 when there were no male heirs.
Why do I tell you all of this? Because on Sunday Ian and I went to the Medici Chapels and the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi while Bev had a rest day. To make it three in one day we also visited the Basilica de San Lorenzo. The chapels and the Basilica are all in the same building complex. It was also great because the queues weren’t very long.
The entry to the chapels brings
you into the crypt first where the reliquaries are held In ornate gold and silver containers. A beautiful bronze statue of Anna Luisa de’ Medici (1667-1743) greets visitors as they enter. She left all the Medici assets to the Tuscan Sate on the proviso that they never left. The remains of a number of Medicis are marked with plaques on the floor.
Upstairs are two chapels completely different in decoration. The first is a large domed round room, the Prince's Chapel, with walls of blue grey and brown marble and spectacular paintings within the dome. The dome is quite large and from the outside looks as if it is part of the Basilica. Halfway up the walls are large sarcophagi containing the remains of more important Medicis including one of the Cosimos. I couldn't work out which one! The paintings in the dome are beautiful mainly because they are done in the same blue hues as the marble.
(The 5.30 bells are ringing again. It must be wine time!)
Finding the New Sacristy, where the Michelangelo sculptures are was a bit of a mission down a very narrow nondescript corridor.
This smaller, monochromatic chapel contains three
sarcophagi which all have a Michelangelo sculpture on top. Lorenzo the Magnificent has a sculpture of the
Madonna and Child while two dukes have sculptures showing the passing of time,
Dawn and Dusk, and
Night and Day. Michelangelo designed the white dome the same as the Pantheon in Rome.
(6 0'clock bells now. I have drunk a glass of Limoncello but not written much)
The Medici Riccardi Palazzo was the first Medici palace before they moved to the Palazzo del Signoria, followed by the Pitti Palace. At this point the Palazzo del Signoria was renamed Palazzo Vecchio meaning Old Palace. But it did contain an amazing tiny chapel which only 10 people at a time were allowed to enter - the chapel of the Magi.
Again the photos will tell this story as will those for the Basilica San Lorenzo.
The Basilica looks really ugly still being in its original brown stone construction, but inside its beauty is in its simplicity. Again the blue hues. The remains of Botticelli are here in a small side chapel. Two bronze Donatello pulpits on either side of the aisle stand out.
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