Villa di San Francesco di Paola
The Villa di San Francesco di Paola is a former Paulaner monastery in the south of Florence , Italy.
Founding of a monastery
The monastery was founded in 1575 by Bianca Cappello , who had a monastery built by the order he founded in honor of Franz von Paola . With the financial support of Francesco I de 'Medici, the Paulans built a Renaissance church with an attached monastery above the Arno on the slope of the hill San Donato a Scopeto by 1583 . The property was owned by the Strozzi family and given to the monastery by Alexander Strozzi. The building and garden are privately owned and can be viewed by prior arrangement on the basis of an agreement with the Associazione Dimore Storiche Italiane . From the Belvedere in the garden you have an outstanding view of the city of Florence.
Later use
The monastery was closed in 1783 and became the private property of the Federighi family. From around 1825 the villa was sold several times and in 1874 it briefly became the seat of the administration of Galluzzo , which was an independent municipality from 1881 to 1928 and is now part of the 3rd district (Quartier 3: Gavinana / Galluzzo) of Florence.
In 1874, the German sculptor Adolf von Hildebrand bought the villa with an advance on his father's inheritance and, with the support of his patron Konrad Fiedler, had a studio set up for himself and his friend, painter Hans von Marées . Marées moved out in 1875 after a dispute. The villa was the seat of the von Hildebrand family of artists for around 30 years, until Adolf von Hildebrand finally moved to the Hildebrandhaus in Munich, which he himself built in 1898 . During this time, Hildebrand had two monastery cells merged into one larger room, built another studio on the second floor and created two salons. The house is still owned by the family, the family name changed to Brewster through marriage.
Since it was taken over by the Hildebrand family, the villa has been the focus of a community of cosmopolitans who were looking for the culture of Italy and who either permanently or temporarily preferred the climate in Florence to their home countries. The short-term or long-term guests in the villa included Richard and Cosima Wagner , Clara Schumann , Ethel Smyth , Henry James , William Ewart Gladstone and Bernard Berenson . Other guests were Franz Liszt , Arnold Böcklin , Joseph Joachim , Johannes Brahms , Hermann von Helmholtz , Werner von Siemens , Eleonora Duse and, last but not least, Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary .
The house was mainly furnished by Hildebrand's wife Irene, née Koppel-Schäufelen. She came from a wealthy family and had the means to buy old Italian furniture, which was sparingly distributed in the spacious rooms. Hildebrand furnished ceilings and walls, and in some cases also the outer walls, with reliefs.
Building description
Today's villa, the former monastery, adjoins the church of San Francesco di Paola to the south . The entrance is on the east side and is opened by a large door with double wings and a skylight, above which a balcony with a wrought iron grille with a layer of rough stone protrudes. The Renaissance loggia on the west facade is supported by stone pillars. The ground floor is twice the height of the two upper floors and consists mainly of two large halls that were originally used as a reception hall and refectory . The artists later set up their studios there.
The two upper floors have an almost identical floor plan with a full length central corridor and monastery cells on both sides. The plastered façade of the upper floors with strips, pilasters and pearl ornaments indicates the 18th century and was probably designed by the Federighi family.
On the facade there are several reliefs by Adolf von Hildebrand, in the loggia there are three statues from his hand. In the garden near the entrance there is a statue of Franz von Paola, which Giuseppe Piamontini made in 1695 on behalf of Cosimo III. de 'Medici created. The garden itself is characterized by cypresses that Irene Hildebrand planted on the land previously used for agriculture by the monastery.
There are several outbuildings on the site that were built at different times. Including the former barn, which author and cosmopolitan Harry Brewster (1910–1999) and grandson of Adolf von Hildebrand had converted into a house.
literature
- Harry Brewster: Out of Florence - from the world of San Francesco di Paola . Ratcliff 2000, ISBN 978-1-86064-543-3
Web links
- Florence monument authority: Villa di San Francesco di Paola (Italian) - building description, history and access options, as of December 17, 2010
Individual evidence
- ↑ Christine Hoh-Slodczyk: The house of the artist in the 19th century. Prestel 1985, ISBN 3-7913-0734-7 , p. 169
- ^ Harry Brewster: Out of Florence - from the world of San Francesco di Paola . Ratcliff 2000, ISBN 978-1-86064-543-3
- ↑ Wolfgang Kehr, Ernst Rebel: Between Worlds: Adolf von Hildebrand (1847 to 1921) - person, house and effect . A1 Verlag 1998, ISBN 3-927743-39-9 p. 13 f.
- ↑ Enno Burmeister, Christine Hoh-Slodczyk: The Hildebrandhaus in Munich: Its builder - its residents . Hugendubel 1981, ISBN 3-88034-066-8 , p. 67 f.
- ↑ Jonathan Keates: Obituary: Harry Brewster . In: The Independent , July 13, 1999
Coordinates: 43 ° 45 ′ 53 ″ N , 11 ° 14 ′ 13 ″ E