Villa del Poggio Imperiale
Villa di Poggio Imperiale is a 18th century grand ducal Villa to the south of the Firenze in Tuscany.
Early History
The Villa was once the property of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany - the Medici. However, the documented history begins in the 16th century when a small villa on the site known as "villa di Poggio Baroncelli", named after the family who had built it, was sold to the Salviati family in 1548. The Salviati were an ancient Florentine Ducal family In 1565 the Salviati's property was confiscated by Cosimo I who gave the villa to his daughter Isabella de' Medici and her husband Paul Orsini. Following Isabella's murder by her husband the Villa passed to her son Don Virginio Orsini.
In 1618 the Villa was purchased from the Orsini by Maria Magdalena of Austria wife of the future Grand Duke Cosimo II and was completely rebuilt between 1622 and 1625 to the design of the architect Giulio Parigi, the villa was doubled in size with a large corps de logis flanked by two canted lower wings. The interior of the villa was decorated to the Grand Duchess' requirements by the artist Matteo Rosselli. It was at this time that the villa was linked to the city by a monumental tree lined avenue and given its "Imperial" title - Maria Magdalena was the sister of the Holy Roman Emperor.
In 1659 the estate was acquired by Ferdinand II and his wife Vittoria Della Rovere who had the Villa further enlarged and embellished with marbles and intarsica. However it was to be under the successors to the Medici the house of House of Habsburg-Lorraine that the Villa was to reach its zenith.
Rebuilding
The Villa was again redesigned and renovated in 1776 by Gaspare Maria Paoletti for Leopold II. The work was prolonged over 15 years and included much stucco and plaster work to the interiors to the interior. Extra wings were created and various secondary facades were redesigned in the Neoclassical style; only the principal facade remained unaltered.
The Villa was always a secondary home for the Tuscany's ruling families, favoured during Spring and Autumn while conveniently close to the court resident at the Palazzo Pitti surrounded by its 17 farms it was seemingly a rural retreat from the city. However, it was always only one of several villas and palaces available to the Grand Ducal family and its popularity and use often ebbed and waned. At the end of the 18th century Grand DukeFerdinand III leased the villa to King Charles Emanuel IV of Sardinia. Charles Emanuel lived here for just a month from 17 January 1799.
The present monumental principal facade was created in 1807 for the newly created Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Elisa Bonaparte. The architect chosen was Giuseppe Cacialli who designed the great facade using drawings by Paoletti's admirer and imitator Pasquale Poccianti, an architect better known for his later work in Livorno
Neoclassicism was a style which evolved as a contrasting reaction to the more ornate Baroque and Rococco styles which preceded it. It was not a trend to make pastiches of classical designs but a force creating a new form of architecture based on simple but rational forms with clear and ordered plans. Milan became the centre of Italy's neoclassical architecture [1]. The works of Leopoldo Pollak, in particular his Villa Belgioioso, and Giuseppe Piermarini being similar of the neoclassicism found fom London to Munich. However, in Italy, outside Milan these new ideals were often more pronounced and more severe than in northern Europe. Florence, for once, the birth place of a new architectural form and the facades of the Villa di Poggio Imperiale are austere even by the standards of Italian neoclassicism.
The facade is severe and plain. The only variation and ornament being the five bayed projecting central block. This block has a rusticated ground floor pierced by five arches leading to the inner courtyard. On the first floor is a glazed loggia also of five bays. This block of only two floors crowned by a low pediment is flanked by two symmetrical wings of even greater severity. Each of two floors with a low mezzanine above are the same height as the central pedimented block, which is given extra prominence by raised parapet behind the pediment.
Following the unification of Italy, Florence in 1865, for a brief period, became the Italian capital and the Palazzo Pitti the Italian Royal Palace. The King of Italy with many palaces at his disposal and a need to travel Italy in the interests of the unification had little need for a second large palace so close to the Palazzo Pitti. As a consequence in 1865 the mansion was transformed to become a girls school, known as the "Collegio della Santissima Annunziata", now known as "L'Istituto Statale della Ss. Annunziata". Only the reception rooms with historical frescoes by Matteo Rosselli and others are open to the public. The chapel is frescoed by Francesco Curradi.
History of the Ss. Annunziata Boarding School
It was the first female boarding school in Florence, started for the daughters of Marquis Gino Capponi, then widowed owner of Poggio Imperiale. The Institute was born in 1823, to educate aristocratic, and noble girls, thanks to the Granduchi Maria Anna Carolina di Sassonia and Leopold II, (inaugurated in 1825). The original building was in via della Scala, Florence. It was transferred in 1865 to the Medici Villa del Poggio Imperiale, overlooking Florence where it is still today. It has a Brother School in Prato, Collegio Cicognini where individuals such as Curzio Malaparte and D'Annunzio attended.
The school is subdivided into a mixed Elementary, Middle, and Upper School. The Elementary school is an Italo-Deustch school, teaching children in Italian, German and English. The Middle school teaches children predominantly in Italian and English, with the introduction of Latin and the option of Ancient Greek. The Upper School which is five years, is subdivided into Scientific, Linguistic, and European Classic schools. Students start at 14 and are expected to finish at 19 years. The Linguists, focused on German, Italian and English as well as the core subjects. The Scientific, focuses more on the sciences; Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Philosophy, History. The European Classic, focuses more into Law, Economics, Italian, German, Ancient Greek and Latin. The boarding is still private but follows the more demanding state curriculum. Boarding is reserved for only for approximately 80 girls, as rooms are limited within the Medici house. Girls come predominantly from all over Italy but nevertheless, there are few international students. Girls are called "Poggioline".
Notes
- ^ dal Largo, p. 144
References
dal Lago, Adalbert. Villas and Palaces of Europe. Paul Hamlyn. 1969. SBN 600012352