Houses of Memory: Remembering Florence’s Greats

 

This coming weekend, 142 houses in 19 Italian regions will open their doors to visitors as part of the initiative of the National Association of Houses of Memory. The two days will be dedicated to the places that guard the memory and legacy of great personalities who once lived in Florence. After three editions dedicated to the House Museums on Italian soil, the Association has extended its range by launching the International Days of the Houses of Memory and Museums of Famous Personalities, which will be held on Saturday April 5 and Sunday, 6, with Casa Guidi being open Monday, April 7. Among the venues in Florence participating in the Open Days with free or reduced admission are Villa La Pietra – New York University (Sir Harold Acton), Casa Buonarotti, Casa Guidi, the Spadolini Nuova Antologia Foundation, and the Cimitero degli Inglesi (“English Cemetery”) and Cimitero Evangelico agli Allori (Allori Protestant Cemetery). 

Villa La Pietra, New York University (Sir Harold Acton)

This museum will be offering three guided tours on Saturday, April 5 that will shed further light on the personality of Sir Harold Acton, the last owner of the mansion and the family collection. Harold Acton was born in the Villa, but lived in England and Paris in the 1920s, and in the China in the 1930s before moving back to Italy.

The proposed activity focuses not only on his home, but also New York University’s commitment to sharing his legacy to the public. The special guided tours will allow visitors to view the temporary exhibition on Harold Acton in the 1920s and to learn about his passion for literature, art, and history. They will also include some historical rooms of the House Museum and the Garden spaces. 

Via Bolognese 120, NYU Florence. Tours happening at 10 am, 2 pm, and 3:30 pm. Free entrance.

Casa Buonarroti (Michelangelo)

This museum and monument commemorate the genius of Michelangelo Buonarroti, one of the most celebrated artists of the Renaissance, who purchased the building for his relatives. When the artist died in Rome in 1564, his works were scattered in various places and owned by dukes, popes and noblemen. His nephew Leonardo collected drawings and papers in Rome to return to the people the masterpieces.

Grandnephew Michelangelo the Younger constructed the Casa Buonarroti dedicated to his famous granduncle and spared no expense to recover many drawings and works. The 17th century museum, with Baroque design, contains famous marble reliefs “The Madonna of the Stairs” and “Battle of Centaurs” as well are more than 100 of the artist’s drawings and papers.

Via Ghibellina, 70, Florence. Hours: 10 am – 4:30 pm. Admission: €8

Casa Guidi (the Brownings)

Casa Guidi is a suite of eight rooms situated on the piano nobile of Palazzo Guidi. The corner house was built by the Ridolfi family, who wanted a residence near the Pitti, which was then bought by Count Camillo Guidi. The adjoining house was given to Count Guidi’s nephew, and in the early 1840s, the family divided the grand state rooms on the piano nobile into two apartments. 

Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning leased one of these apartments in 1847, which became their home for the remaining 14 years of their married life. During these years, the poets wrote some of their best-known works, including Elizabeth’s Casa Guidi Windows and Aurora Leigh. Robert wrote Men and Women. 

The house was turned into a lasting memorial to the couple in 1995. The rooms open to the public are the dining room, the bedroom, the salon, and Robert’s study. The walls and ceilings in the living room and bedroom and the ceiling of the poet’s study have been restored in the original colours of the time. All the doors and fireplaces are original. 

Casa Guidi, Piazza San Felice, 3. Hours: 3 – 6 pm on April 7. Free entrance.

Spadolini Nuova Antologia Foundation (Giovanni Spadolini)

Built in the 1960s and better known as the House of Books, the villa nestled in the Florentine hills, houses the library with its antique volumes, collections of Napoleonic and Risorgimento relics, and collections of Tuscan artists, Guido Spadolini, Ottone Rosai, and Ardegno Soffici, and those from the rest of Italy, such as Giorgio Morandi, Nino Caffé and others. 

Visitors will be accompanied room by room with an accurate illustration of the rooms and their artistic, historical and cultural heritage, bearing witness to the life and interests of the late Italian Senator Giovanni Spadolini. They will be able to appreciate the halls, corridors, and rooms that have remained unaltered since the time when the Florentine professor walked through them, preserved just as he experienced them from 1978 to 1994. 

Pian de’ Giullari. Guided tours 3 – 5 pm on both days. Entrance is free, but reservation is required on 0552336071 or fondazione@nuovaantologia.it 

Cimitero degli Inglesi (English Cemetery)

The English Cemetery, built in 1827, results from the law that non-Catholics could not be buried in the city’s cemeteries. As the 18th and 19th centuries drew many non-Italians to the city for its cultural and artistic opportunities, the site, developed by the Swiss Reformed Church, was constructed for the burial of many foreigners, all non-Catholics. Its 1400 tombs, holding remains of residents from more than 16 countries, architecture by Giuseppe Poggi and gruesome sculptures, attract visitors to stroll through the oval site set in a busy traffic circle. Among the tombs one can find the tombs of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, American abolitionist preacher Reverend Theodor Parker and Nadezhda De Santis, a Nubian slave brought to Florence from Africa at the age of 14.

Piazzale Donatello, 38, Florence. Free entrance.

(Mina Lozanova/additional reporting by Rita Kungel)