Meeting of art historians and experts in Tuscan historic gardens in Villa le Barone

Villa Guicciardini Corsi Salviati Sesto Fiorentino Tuscany

A Meeting of art historians and experts in Tuscan historic gardens was held at Villa le Barone to take stock of their research on the historic Villa Guicciardini Corsi Salviati in Sesto Fiorentino, near Florence. Villa le Barone is indeed an ideal place to organize small group meetings.

12 art historians and experts from historic gardens gathered at Villa le Barone at the end of October to present the state of their research on the historic garden of Villa Guicciardini Corsi Salviati, on the statues that adorn it and on the frescoes and paintings inside the Villa. Luisa Capodieci, lecturer in the history of modern art at the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and Maria Grazia Messina, Professor of History of Contemporary Art at the University of Florence, coordinate this team of researchers whose goal is to write a monograph on various aspects of the Villa and its garden.

The results of this work will, among other things, make it possible to highlight, on the basis of the case of Villa Corsi Salviati, the problems related to the restoration and conservation of properties that are part of the Association of Italian Historic Residences (ADSI, Associazione Dimore Storiche Italiane) and prepare a monograph on the history of the Villa and its garden which will also be a manual of means of action for the use of garden owners and historic properties. Andrea Todorow, advisor of ADSI (Tuscany), indicated the support of ADSI for this project.

Grotesque Studiolo Villa Guicciardini Corsi Salviati Sesto Fiorentino Tuscany

Piero Tiano, researcher at the National Research Center and Alberto Cosciani presented their work, a light restoration of some garden statues, without using biocides.

Giorgio Galletti, responsible for the conservation and restoration of many Italian historical gardens (Boboli, Poggio a Caiano, Castello …) pointed out that many artists in the service of Cosimo de Medici have worked in the garden. This one was later transformed by Bardo Corsi, then Giulio Guicciardini Corsi Salviati at the end of the 19th century.

Claudia Bucelli (Professor at the New York University in Florence) detailed and illustrated this role in her presentation and photographic projections.
Botanist Cristina Giordano spoke about the friendship between the famous botanist and ethnologist Odoardo Beccari and Bardo Corsi, Giulio’s father, at the end of the 19th century. Bardo has created at Villa de Sesto one of the first horticultural establishments of exotic pantes in Tuscany and won various awards in international exhibitions.

Luisa Capodieci then presented his work on the grotesques of the sixteenth century, with Eros and Psyche represented in the center of the vault, which adorn the studiolo of the Villa.

Stefania Petrillo, Professor at the University of Perugia, presented the state of his research on the frescoes of the 19th century representing the 4 elements, realized in the big living room of the Villa by Eugenio Agneni, painter friend of the Corsi Salviati family.

Laura Santi, PhD student in History of Photography at the University of Florence, presented the albums that contain the 9000 photographs of Giulio Guiccardini Corsi Salviati, which testify to life in Sesto and in the Maremma where Giulio had a property.

Finally, Antonio Mazzinghi, head of the family archives, recalls the importance of the links between the Villa and the “Fattorie”, farms that depended on the Villa and operated on the model of sharecropping.

In conclusion, the experts and researchers decided to present the further progress of this research during a study day to be held at the French Institute of Florence on February 9, 2018.