Con il patrocinio del Comune di Firenze € 5,00 in bookshops e & Tuscany - In Town enc & lor Aro F und 48 SPECIAL CUISINE & ANTIQUES ISSUE THE NEW DUOMO MUSEUM ANTIQUES & CONTEMPORARY ART IN FLORENCE IN FLORENCE CHIUSI FLORENCE DINING GUIDE AN ANCIENT TUSCAN TOWN FOR CELIACS & BUDGET LUNCHES Volume 26, Number 1/Fall 2015/Spedizione in abbonamento postale Gruppo IV – 70%/Magenta Editrice/Registered in the Court of Florence on March 17, 1989 No. 3816/Distributed free in the Court of Florence on March 17, 1989 No. 2015/Spedizione in abbonamento postale Gruppo IV – 70%/Magenta Editrice/Registered 26, Number 1/Fall Volume www.magentaflorence.com The cover photo of The view of Florence from the Rose Garden, created when the city was capital of Italy, was taken by Guido Cozzi. Direttore Responsabile EXECUTIVE EDITOR Rosanna Cirigliano MUSIC EDITOR Anne Lokken GRAPHIC DESIGN Alessandro Naldi PHOTOGRAPHERS Andrea Pistolesi Guido Cozzi Stefano Amantini Massimo Borchi Lakota Gambill Kate Magovern COPY EDITOR Aubrey Williams CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Rita Kungel Elizabeth Wicks Kate Magovern Ellen Santucci Masi FLORENCE INTERNATIONAL BIENNAL ANTIQUES FAIR Isabella Grezzi TH Shira Burns 29 EDITION PALAZZO CORSINI Sydney Choi Lungarno Corsini, Florence INTERNS Angela Karl Bianca Cockrell Connie Chung Stephanie Ino Giulia Penna OFFICES Borgo degli Albizi, 15 - 50122 Florence (Italy) Phone 055/2342898, Fax 244130 E-mail: [email protected] FROM SEPTEMBER 26 TO OCTOBER 4, 2015 / PREVIEW SEPTEMBER 25, 2015 All editorial and advertising content & graphics © Magenta Editrice 1991 – 2015 with the contribution of main sponsor sponsor partners Blog www.beautifulflorence.blogspot.com Web site www.magentaflorence.com Subscriptions (4 issues, payable in advance): Italy and EU countries € 20 Outside Europe € 40 (airmail) PLATES La Nuova Lito www.biennaleantiquariato.it [email protected] Ph. +39.055.28.26.35 / 28.22.83 PRINTING Nidiaci The essence of an island, a whiff of the sea San Gimignano BIAF15_123X248_VISTA_sponsor.indd 1 08/07/15 11:42 acquadellelba.it opening TUSCANY’S CULTURAL GUIDE opening struction of the new cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, designed by Arnolfo di Cambio. The Opera continued to play a vi- tal role in the centuries following, especial- ly during the construction of Brunelleschi’s Dome, and during the many attempts to build a new façade for the Cathedral. Over 700 years later, the Opera of Santa Maria del Fiore is still actively engaged in conserving the three monuments entrusted to its care: the Cathedral itself, the Baptis- tery, and the Bell Tower. The new museum is the most ambitious undertaking since the cathedral’s façade, which was completed in the 1870s. Adolfo Natalini and Guicciar- dini and Magni Architects, who won the contract in an international competition, designed the 45 million euro project, en- tirely financed by the Opera. The Museum of the Opera del Duomo was originally founded in 1891 on the site of the Opera stoneworks in the cathedral square just behind the dome to house the sculptures from the cathedral complex that were removed for remodelling or that needed to be stored inside in order to con- serve them for posterity. It is home to what has been called “one of the world’s most important collections of sculpture,” as well as many spectacular Medieval and Renais- sance paintings and sacred objects. f Florence is the center of Renaissance art in the world, the Among the more than 750 works dis- Left, the Prophet Jeramiah by Donatello, in the hands of conservators; above, the room of the Cathedral’s old façade; cathedral complex of Santa Maria del Fiore is truly the heart played include Donatello’s marble prophets next page, a rendering of the new Duomo museum AT THE of the art. “Emotion,” “mystery” and “passion“ are the three and his wooden sculpture of the Penitent keywords that the new Duomo Museum is hoping to inspire Magdalene, his and Luca della Robbia’s in 1586-87. restoration project is finished. Iin visitors and residents alike when it opens on October 29. Pope cantorie, the choir galleries originally lo- Forty of the marble statues from the The museum itinerary continues on the Francis will take part in a special blessing of the new museum cated over the cathedral’s sacristy doors, 14th and 15th centuries sculpted for the ground floor, where its works of greatest HEART during his historic visit to Florence on November 10 in conjunc- the original Gates of Paradise and the North cathedral façade by Arnolfo di Cambio, spiritual significance are located. Donatello tion with the National Ecclesiastical Convention, which will be Doors of the Baptistery by Lorenzo Ghiber- Donatello, Nanni di Banco and others will carved his Penitent Mary Magdalene (1453- held in the city from Nov. 9 - 13. ti, as well as Michelangelo’s Florence Pi- be mounted on the giant replica in their 55) to show a woman devoured by years of OF THE But what do the Duomo, the city’s most famous monument, età, which the artist left unfinished. It was original positions. On the opposite side of fasting and material deprivation, her wast- and an obscure industrial building in the little town of Calenzano placed in the Duomo after his death. the room, visitors come face-to-face with ed figure seemingly barely able to stand. between Florence and Prato have in common? Ghiberti’s monumental bronze doors from However, her rapt gaze and outstretched They both shelter some of the world’s most famous medieval THE NEW MUSEUM the baptistery, known as the Gates of Para- hands emanate a spiritual strength sure to ART and Renaissance art treasures created for the Cathedral, Santa n the redesign of the museum, all of these dise. “After 400 years,” says Duomo Muse- enthral the viewer. The Magdalene became Maria del Fiore, and the Baptistery, dedicated to St. John. For the Iworks have been given an entirely new um Director Timothy Verdon, “the Gates of a symbol of the resilience of the Florentine past three years, most of the treasures from the city’s cathedral ambience—but that is just the beginning. Paradise will face the Cathedral facade as it people themselves during times of hard- The story behind Florence’s newly complex have been in storage at Art Defender, a high security art The new museum has more than doubled looked in Ghiberti’s day, re-establishing a ship, especially during the terrible great storage facility in partnership with the art transport firmArteria . the previous exhibition capacity. visual and iconographic harmony that was flood in Florence in 1966. Photographs renovated Opera del Duomo Located in the industrial area of Calenzano, Art Defender is a The itinerary, encompassing 25 rooms on lost for over four centuries.” of the statue covered in mud but having strange cross between a warehouse and a Swiss bank vault. The three floors, begins in a vast space, formerly Another innovation is the installation survived the waters, inspired people from museum, Pope Francis’s visit and the second floor of the building houses an art conservation facility, and a theater (the Teatro degli Intrepidi), which of the newly restored North Doors, the first around the globe to come to the city’s aid. just-restored Baptistery a rotating team of experts have been working there on behalf of measures 36 meters (118 ft.) in length, 15 set of doors designed for the Baptistery by Michelangelo’s Pietà, carved over a peri- the Opera del Duomo for the last three years, restoring everything meters (49 ft.) in width and 20 meters (65 Ghiberti, the conservation of which has od of eight years from 1547 to 1555, was from Luca della Robbia’s Cantoria to statues from the Belltower ft.) high. The enormous room, which is de- been completed just in time for the muse- originally intended by the sculptor for his BY Elizabeth Wicks and paintings and other art treasures from the cathedral and the signed to give one the feeling of standing in um’s opening. The South Doors, the earliest own funerary monument in Santa Croce. PHOTOS courtesy of Opera del Duomo museum. the original nave of the Cathedral, contains set of doors for the Baptistery executed by The aging sculptor, during a period of in- The Opera del Duomo, or Florence Cathedral Works, was a life-sized replica of the original cathedral Andrea Pisano, are still undergoing conser- tense depression following the death of his founded in 1296 by the Florentine Republic to oversee the con- façade as it looked before it was torn down vation and will be mounted here once the friend and muse, poet Vittoria Colonna, 4 5 opening TUSCANY’S CULTURAL GUIDE displays & shows THE NEWLY RESTORED BAPTISTERY hile busy overseeing the conserva- ANTIQUES AMPLIFIED W tion of its art and creating the new Duomo Museum, the Opera has also un- dertaken another ambitious project. The The 2015 Edition of Italy’s Premier Antiques Fair, Including Special Events & almost thousand-year-old Baptistery has Awards, Opens to Modern Art, and New Technology undergone a two-year, two million euro facelift of its exterior, scheduled to be BY Kate Magovern completed by October 20 in time for the nown as a prestigious celebra- museum’s grand opening and the Pope’s tion of Italy’s treasures from visit. the past, the Internation- became dissatisfied with the piece. Ac- as the tools, material and pieces of equip- The white marble panels from the al Biennial Antiques Fair cording to Vasari and other contemporary ment Brunelleschi had to invent in order Apuan Alps, which alternate with the K(BIAF) hints at something new this year. biographers, when a vein in the marble to build his famous dome.