ASSOCIATED HOME

Giotto di Bondone (1266-1336) was one of the great innovators of Italian painting. Active in Florence, Rome, Assisi and Padua, among his splendid works are the most famous frescoes in the Chiesa Superiore di San Francesco in Assisi and the Cappella degli Scrovegni in Padua. Giotto was much admired by his contemporaries and was recalled by Dante as well as Boccaccio, who recognized his great modernity and admired his profound realism.
In the township of Vicchio del Mugello there is what is believed to be, according to common tradition, the home of the great Painter, who was native of this area. Originally it was probably part of a vaster manor.  
The home was restored in 1840, but suffered damage in the late IX century and then again during the 1919 earthquake; then it was left to ruin and considered only an agricultural annex. In 1975 it was purchased by the City and allocated as a museum.
Recently the setup was completely reorganized so that the visitor finds himself along a virtual path through the works of the great painter. For this reason the tour is particularly suitable for didactic purposes. In the museum there are also didactic laboratories on the art of frescoes.

Agnolo Firenzuola was born in Florence in 1493, earned his degree in Perugia and then entered into the Vallombrosian Order. He was often in Rome and befriended some of the major men of letters of that period, among which Pietro Aretino and Annibal Caro. Following several vicissitudes, among which a severe illness, he was released from his vows and returned to Tuscany, where in 1538 he was nominated the “usufructuary and administrator of the monastery” of Vaiano. In this capacity he showed himself diligent and far from the merely speculative spirit that moved some of his predecessors, which had strongly damaged the monastery itself. These were happy and productive years during which he wrote his most well-known works, such as La Prima Veste dei discorsi degli animali and  I Dialoghi delle bellezze delle donne. After two years his title of administrator was removed, but he still remained pensionarius of the Abbey, fact that guaranteed him a life annuity, though modest, until his death in 1543.

Inside the Abbey the apartment that may still be visited is the so-called residence of the Abbot. Among the various books and documents exhibited, there are a few volumes of Agnolo Firenzuola, like the first editions of Prose (1548) and Rime (1549). For the rest the monastery visit is articulated as a path to illustrate the daily life of the monks in past centuries.

It is situated in the beautiful Mondagli Square, surely one of the most beautiful parts of the old town centre of Saluzzo. The building dates back to the Middle Ages and was built just outside the enclosing walls dated 1280. The bearing structure consists of four pointed arches that are fresco decorated. The building was later raised in the 16th century, with the addition of loggias on the top floor, which are now walled up. Another storey was added in the early 19th century: it consisted of a closed loggia with terrace at the same floor of the square, over which the elegant Neo-classical lounge overlooks with its fine and elegant decorations. The famous patriot and writer Silvio Pellico was born on 25th June 1789 in the small apartment on the first floor, and he spent there his childhood. His kept love and thankfulness for his hometown throughout his life: for him it was a literary place of affection and happy memories. Nowadays, after the recent restorations made by the City Hall, his personal objects, his manuscripts and his works are on display in the “House-Museum”.

Situated at the right foot of the Spanish Steps, the Keats-Shelley House was the final resting place of John Keats, who died here in 1821, aged just 25.
From the outside, the eighteenth-century building is almost as it was when Keats arrived in Rome in the vain attempt to stop the fatal effects of tuberculosis. Open to the public in 1909, this house museum contains a generous collection of paintings, sculptures, manuscripts, objects and first editions of volumes by Keats and his fellow Romantics Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron.
The collection also includes a scallop shell with locks of hair of John Milton and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, a wax Carnival mask once belonging to Lord Byron and manuscripts by Jorge Luis Borges, Oscar Wilde, Mary Shelley, Walt Whitman, William Wordsworth, Robert Browning, and Joseph Severn, Keats’ faithful friend and travel companion.
In addition to the exhibition rooms, there are two spacious terraces boasting stunning views, a book and gift shop, and a small cinema room where visitors can watch an exclusive introductory film about the Romantics and the history of the Keats-Shelley House.
Group visits and talks are available by booking, and the rooms of the House and its terraces are also available for private hire by contacting us.

Leonardo da Vinci (Vinci 1452 - Amboise 1519), the natural child of notary Ser Piero da Vinci and of a woman named Caterina, is one of the most celebrated and interesting figures in human history. As a very young man, he started his activity in Florence as an apprentice painter in Andrea del Verrocchio's workshop, one of the most famous masters of 15th century. Leonardo, considered one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance, is also renowned for his studies in the fields of science and technology, in particular for his experiments on the human flight

Only three km from the town of Vinci, at Anchiano, stands the house that is the traditionally recognized as his birth house, set amid the stunning scenery of the Montalbano hills. In 1950, Count Giovanni Rasini di Castelcampo donated the building to the Town of Vinci. The restoration of 2012 has kept with the well-established image of this place, which has become the symbol of the memory of Leonardo, visited by ‘cultural pilgrims’ from all over the world. The new layout, carried out thanks to the most advanced multimedia technologies and to the high-resolution reproductions of Leonardo’s paintings, allows to learn about his life and art in an unusual and fascinating way. The birthplace in Anchiano, together with the Museo Leonardiano and the Biblioteca Leonardiana, is a must-stop destination on an itinerary dedicated to Leonardo in his home town.

The Palazzo takes its name from Francesco di Marco Datini, a merchant of Prato that lived in the late XIV and early XV century. On August 16, 1410 Francesco di Marco Datini died in the house in Prato without leaving heirs, leaving all of his possessions to the Francesco di Marco Home and Cieppo de’ poveri (fund for the poor): “so that forever of its fruits may be fed and nurtured the poor in Jesus Christ.” He left an important testimony of his life made up of account books and correspondence that constitute a substantial foundation today deposited in the Prato State Archive, which is located in that ancient abode.

It is a collection of documents from the low medieval era produced by a group of businesses connected with Datini in the years between 1363 and 1410. The papers testify to the very intense activity of Francesco di Marco and his vast interests in many European cities. While constituting an extraordinarily important documentation for reconstructing the economic history of the period, they also contain annotations about customs and about various members of humankind. Their interest is also due to the fact that through the course of the centuries they have come to us practically intact or with very few gaps.

Over the years the palazzo has been subjected to some modification and has been restored in the middle of the XX century. The building is three stories high. On the principal façade that holds traces of the early XV century frescoes are the doors that open onto the State Archive and the late IV century portal which leads to a courtyard with well, portico and two galleries above; the courtyard and the rooms on the ground floor are decorated with frescoes by various artists, among which Niccolò di Pietro Gerini, who also did the S. Christopher at the foot of the stairs that lead to the upper floor. 

The lateral façade holds a loggia high up added in the XVII century; also dating to this period is the raising in height of the adjacent building, originally a warehouse and now destined to the deposit of documentary materials.

The Primo Conti Foundation is based in the fifteenth century Villa “Le Coste” which was the Maestro Primo Conti’s (Florence, 1900-Fiesole, 1988) home for many years. Bought in 1945, the villa became the Foundation’s head-quarters when it was instituted as the Centre for Documentation and Research of the Historic Avant-garde Movements, in 1980. The centre represents the realisation of a long-cherished dream of Primo Conti “to preserve the record and testimony of the most important innovating movements of the twentieth century”.
The Foundation is divided into two sections: the Museum of the works of Primo Conti and the Archive.
The Museum and the Archive collectively represent a unique centre in Italy for scientifically retracing and reconstructing the activities of the historic Avant-garde movement which came to characterise so deeply the literary and artistic movements of so much of the century. The specific objective of the Foundation is, in fact, the study, promotion and sharing of the artistic and literary heritage linked to the figure of the Maestro Primo Conti, together with promotion of the artistic, literary and musical heritage associated with the whole period of the historic Avant-garde movements. The Museum of the Primo Conti Foundation has brought together sixty three paintings and one hundred and sixty three drawings by the Florentine artist. The works cover a time span starting from 1911, the year of his artistic debut with the self-portrait of surprising beauty and “maturity” of expression, through to 1985. The Museum makes it possible, through the works of Primo Conti, to study the development of the twentieth century artistic cycles in Italy and in Europe. From the momentous turning points in which this century is so rich, the Maestro drew his inspiration. The Museum’s rooms display the progression from his early studies of the human form, to his precocious interest in “fauvist” art, the prelude to a brilliant Futurist career. Conti was able to interpret the most vivid and fertile moods of Futurism bringing to life an anti-academic artistic form which is fresh and rich in poetry. Thereafter, always from positions of earnest and constructive debate the painter kept pace with modern art in its recovery of form and expressive technique. Ever youthful and willing to question the meaning of his works, Conti was an artist who anticipated and lived to the full the artistic and literary spirit of his time. Accordingly the last years of his life were characterised by vivid and lyrical paintings.

Benvenuto Cellini (1500 - 1571), sculptor of the Perseus in the Loggia degli Uffizi in Florence and of the famous salt-cellar (known as Saliera) made for Francis I, speaks of the home and farm purchased in Vicchio in his autobiographical memoirs.

They narrate about his sojourn in Vicchio that, during his stay in the locality, Cellini was invited to dinner by Pier Maria d'Anterigoli, called "Sbietta", and that on this occasion he was offered poisoned food whose effects he had to cure for a whole year. Apart from the biography by Cellini himself, there are few sources regarding his sojourn in Vicchio. The home inhabited by Benvenuto Cellini is located inside the band of walls erected by the Florentines in 1324 to contain the Castrum Vichii, and therefore it is presumable to believe that the building was constructed during this same period.

Today the premises, completely restored, are used by the office for promoting the area (Pro Loco) that also performs the function of tourist information point. The floors upstairs are used for small exhibits of artistic and artisan objects. The planned definitive orientation is to open a professional training course for goldsmiths and for working precious metals.

Enrico Caruso, born in Naples, was one of the greatest tenors of our times. He sang in Egypt, Argentina, and Russia, but his greatest successes came in the United States. In 1906 the tenor purchased the large sixteenth century Villa di Bellosguardo once owned by the Pucci family. It was told that the purchase occurred after a promenade with his lover Ada Giachetti: both of them were struck by the magnificent view and the monumental and scenic park. In 1912 was built the gallery to connect the villa to the adjacent farm. The villa is today property of the City of Lastra a Signa and it is best known for its two gardens, both sloping and adorned with pools, fountains and statues. They constitute a typical example of Italian ornamental gardens with cypress, oak trees, and exotic plants such as the Lebanon cedars. The museum Enrico Caruso is founded on the idea the visitor should live a direct meeting with the artist, in the place of his “spiritual recreation” and displays an extraordinary collection of mementos and relics, donated by the Associazione Museo Enrico Caruso-Centro Studi Carusiani di Milano.

The Palazzo degli Oddi, previously the residence Marini Clarelli, now the House Museum, is located in the heart of Perugia, an area of the city occupied by the family as early as medieval times. Today, it is still one of the most important streets leading to Perugia’s main square. The Palace was built around the middle of the 16th century and was inhabited until 1942. The last owner, the Marchioness Barbara Marini Clarelli (Perugia 1929-2007), a painter, restorer and local historian, declared in her will the desire to establish a foundation that would combine his name with that of her beloved husband, a celebrated art historian, Francesco Santi (Perugia 1914-1993). Her vision was to ensure the Palace remained accessible an a place to study for the history of the degli Oddi family, one of the oldest Italian noble families that had a significant influence on the history of Perugia.