TREASURES OF ITALY AND UN ES CO TREASURES OF ITALY One of UNESCO’s main objectives is identifying, protecting, safeguarding, and transmitting the world’s cultural and natural heritage to future generations. AND UN ES CO Since the adoption of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 1972, to date, UNESCO has recognised 1073 world heritage sites 832 cultural, 206 natural and 35 mixed properties) in 167 countries. S Italy is the country with the largest amount of sites included in the World Heritage List and the “Treasures of Italy and UNESCO” collection takes readers on a journey Y to admire its inimitable treasures of nature, art and architecture. N E Rock Drawings in Valcamonica Padula N Church and Dominican convent of Historic Centre of Urbino Santa Maria delle Grazie with “The Archaeological Areas and the Patriarchal D Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci Basilica of Aquileia Historic Centre of Florence Villa Adriana (Tivoli) A R Venice and its Lagoon Aeolian Islands Piazza del Duomo, Pisa Assisi, the Basilica of San Francesco C Historic Centre of San Gimignano and other Franciscan Sites A Y The Sassi and the Park of the City of Verona N A S G Rupestrian Churches of Matera Villa d’Este (Tivoli) C S City of Vicenza and the Palladian Late Baroque towns of the Val di Noto U T Villas of the Veneto Monte San Giorgio N I D Historic Centre of Siena U Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy S N Historic Centre of Naples E Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri D Crespi d’Adda and Tarquinia R N T A Ferrara, City of the Renaissance Val d’Orcia G and its Po Delta D Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of N A Castel del Monte Pantalica A S The Trulli of Alberobello Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system A L L N Early Christian Monuments of the Palazzi dei Rolli I S V of Ravenna Mantua and Sabbioneta I I C Historic Centre of the city of Pienza Rhaetian Railway in the Albula/Bernina I D E 18th Century Royal Palace at Caserta Landscapes A with the Park, the Aqueduct of The Dolomites M Vanvitelli and the San Leucio Complex The Longobards in Italy. Places of the L Residences of the Royal House Power (568-774 A.D.) of Savoy Prehistoric Pile dwellings L Botanical Garden, Padua around the Alps I Portovenere, Cinque Terre and the Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto) Mount Etna V Cathedral, Torre Civica and Piazza Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Grande, Modena Langhe-Roero and Monferrato I Archaeological Areas of Pompei, Arab-NormanPalermo and the Cathedral Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata Churches of Cefalù and Monreale C Costiera Amalfitana I Archaeological Areas of Agrigento Villa Romana del Casale di Piazza Armerina D Su Nuraxi di Barumini E Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park with the Archeological Sites of Paestum and Velia and the Certosa di euro 4,90 (i.i.) M THE TREASURES OF ITALY AND THE UN ES CO MEDICI VILLAS AND GARDENS IN TUSCANY This work has been published under the patronage of the Italian National Commission UNESCO, founded in Paris on 4 th November 1945, is a for UNESCO United Nations organisation which deals with culture, education, sciences , and the arts . With its headquarters in Paris, UNESCO currently has 165 member states . UNESCO has two basic objectives: to promote the dialogue between the cultures of the member states and develop them, and to preserve the cultural and natural heritage of humanity . The former objective is extremely significant in the organisation’s activities, as the body itself was built on the conviction that only Tuscany Region constant intercultural dialogue and development of Directorate for Culture and Research culture, arts, sciences and education systems can Director : Roberto Ferrari encourage cooperation between nations, Department of Cultural Heritage, UNESCO sites, Contemporary Art and Memory Manager : Alessandro Compagnino, understanding between populations economic Partecipating Staff members : Enrica Buccioni, Lisa Covelli progress, social justice and world peace . Scientific coordination : Enrica Buccioni UNESCO pursues the latter goal by identifying, General coordination : Francesca Chiocci, Fondazione Sistema Toscana protecting, safeguarding and transmitting the world’s cultural and natural assets to future generations . Based on an international treaty (the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage ) UNESCO has recognised by now 1073 world heritage sites (832 Project financed by funds cultural , 206 natural and 35 mixed properties) in 167 Law no. 77 of 20 February 2006 countries . “Special measures for the protection and the fruition of Italian cultural, landscape and According to the Convention, cultural heritage means natural sites, inscribed on the “World Heritage List”, under the protection of UNESCO” a monument , a group of buildings or a site of historical, aesthetic, archaeological, scientific, ethnological or anthropological value . Texts: Natural heritage, on the other hand, indicates Emanuela Benedetti (Villa of Cafaggiolo), Lorenzo Scaretti (Villa of Trebbio), Enrica Buccioni (Villa of Careggi) Donata Mazzini (Villa Medici in Fiesole), Marco Mozzo physical, biological , and geological features, in (Garden of Castello - Villa La Petraia), Hosea Scelza (Villa of Castello), Lorenzo Sbaraglio addition to the habitat of threatened species of (Villa Poggio of Caiano), Bianca Maria Landi (Boboli Gardens), Cristina Gnoni (Villa of animals and plants and areas of outstanding universal Cerreto Guidi), Andrea Tenerini (Palazzo in Seravezza), Rossana Biagioni (Garden of value from the aesthetic or scientific point of view . Pratolino), Claudia Cappellini (Villa La Magia), Claudia Cataldo (Villa of Artimino), Heritage represents the inheritance of the past that we Cinzia Palumbo (Villa of Poggio Imperiale) all benefit from and transmit to future generations . Our cultural and natural heritages are an irreplaceable Translation: Alex Gillan source of life and inspiration. Unique and diverse places such as the wild stretches of the Serengeti National Park in Eastern Africa, Editorial coordination : Alessandro Avanzino the Pyramids in Egypt, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Baroque Accounting : Paola Ciocca Bianchi cathedrals of Latin American make up our World Heritage . Editing : Titti Motta It is the universal application that makes the concept of World Heritage truly Graphics and page layout : Gabriella Zanobini Ravazzolo exceptional . World Heritage Sites belong to the population of the world, beyond the borders where they are located . © 2018 Sagep Editori www.sagep.it ISBN 978-88-6373-508-6 www.unesco.org 4 5 he result of the serial site “Medici Villas and Gardens of Tuscany” becoming part of the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2013, although T eagerly awaited, was anything but straightforward. For several years, UNESCO has imposed severe restrictions for new entries in response to a global strategy that aims, with a view to balancing the list, to encourage new sites in categories of properties and geographical areas of the world that are still poorly represented, as opposed to Italy which today boasts a good 53 sites. Despite this, the decision of the 37 th World Heritage Committee rewarded some complex work which, like all successful nominations, required a considerable deployment of time and resources on the part of many of the subjects involved, and is a demonstration of how cooperation between various institutions (MiBACT, the Tuscany Region, assorted provinces and municipalities), accompanied by subsidiarity and coordination, can lead to positive results for the whole of Italy on the global stage. Solidarity is the key value behind the site, technically called “serial”, i.e. made up of a certain number of component parts that are distinct but inextricably linked, to contribute to that intrinsic outstanding universal value which lies at the foundation of UNESCO recognition, each according to its own specific circumstances but in relation to the whole. The components of the site are 14, all carefully selected within the context of an expansive Medicean heritage. They represent important landmarks with respect to stages, events, or characteristics that were particularly significant in developing the model of the noble suburban residence, and for their high degree of compliance with the indispensable requirements of authenticity and integrity. Another fundamental aspect that influenced the listing was the drawing up of inter-institutional agreements for the coordinated management of the site. To this end, two Memoranda of Understanding were signed in which the institutions involved formalized their mutual commitment to managing the UNESCO site as a joint enterprise, despite their dissimilar geographical locations, properties, and intended usage. Great emphasis was laid on issues of protection and conservation, enhancement of the serial system, and agreement over certain priority actions. The latter included some editorial initiatives, such as this one, as a tool to bolster cultural promotion of the serial system. Francesca Riccio Contact person for the serial site “Medici Villas and Gardens of Tuscany” at the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism General Secretariat UNESCO Coordination Office 6 7 Criterion (II) The Criterion (IV) The association with their and artistic 2013 Medici Villas and Medici baronial rural environment, patronage developed Medici Villas and Gardens Gardens in Tuscany residences provide giving rise to a by the Medici. They are testimony to a eminent examples of landscape taste form a series of key in Tuscany synthesis of the the rural aristocratic specific to Humanism locations for the aristocratic rural villa dedicated to and the Renaissance. emergence of the residence, at the end leisure, the arts and ideals and tastes of of the Middle Ages, knowledge. Over a Criterion (VI) The the Italian which embodied a period spanning villas and gardens, Renaissance followed he serial site princely residence series of new political, almost three together with the by their diffusion “Medici Villas in the country economic and centuries, the Medici Tuscan landscapes of throughout Europe.