Without the Arno, Florence would be like Romolo - The Florentine

18
Thursday 8 February 2007
Culture & CUSTOMS
To whom we owe it all
The legacy of Lady de’ Medici
Carla Bardi (Ed.)
The Little Big Cook Book
by Mary Ann Pinto
Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici
(1667–1743) ought to be one
of the most famous and popular
Florentines of all times, for it
was she who turned Florence into
a cultural mecca. With a stroke of
her pen, she bequeathed the Medici’s
jewels, pictures, sculptures,
manuscripts and buildings to the
city of Florence. Yet she has been
overlooked and neglected for more
than three centuries.
Anna Maria’s father, Grand
Duke Cosimo III, was a weak
and indolent ruler. Educated by a
fanatic theologian, Cosimo became
a gloomy, religious fanatic. He
married the frivolous Margherita
Luisa d’Orleans, who hated both
her husband and Tuscany. From
this unhappy union, three children
were born: Ferdinando in 1663,
Anna Maria Luisa in 1667 and
Giangastone in 1671. Margherita
The English Bookstore in Florence
pp. 976, €15 €12
10% off
with this
coupon*
ANIMALS
The Little Big Book of
Various Authors
The Little Big Book of Animals
Mon thru Sun: 9am–7.30pm
via de’ Neri, 32 r - Florence
(near the Uffizi Gallery)
tel. +39 055 238 24 56
pp. 976, €15 €12
*DISCOUNT APPLIES TO ABOVE TITLES ONLY
had tried to induce a miscarriage
when pregnant with Anna Maria,
by riding horseback at breakneck
speed. She returned to France in
1675.
As a child, Anna Maria spent
much time with her uncle, Cardinal
Leopold de’ Medici, who taught
her to love literature, art and music.
By the age of 16 she had developed
into a witty, attractive girl who
drew and painted, loved music and
had mastered Latin and most of
the modern European languages.
She was her father’s favorite child,
and he wanted to arrange a great
marriage for her. But her parents’
reputations had spread through the
courts of Europe, and because of
this she was refused by the princes
of Spain and Portugal, and by Louis
XIV for the Dauphin of France. On
June 5, 1691 she married the widower
Johann Wilhelm II, Elector
Palatine, and went to live in Duesseldorf.
Anna Maria was a devoted
wife and mourned her husband
when he died in 1716. A year later,
she returned to Florence, bringing
back many paintings that she had
acquired in Germany. She was welcomed
joyously by Cosimo, who
had not seen her for 27 years.
Since none of his children had
produced an heir, Cosimo tried to
resolve the problem of succession
to the Tuscan domain before his
death in 1723, but without success.
In 1731, the matter seemed to be settled
to the satisfaction of the major
powers of Europe. Even Giangastone
was pleased with the choice of
Don Carlos, the second son of Elizabeth
Farnese and King Phillip V of
Spain. The situation then changed,
and Don Carlos received the kingdom
of Naples and Two Sicilies to
rule instead. The state of Lorraine
went to France, and the Duke of
Lorraine, to compensate him for
his loss, was given Tuscany.
Giangastone’s conduct, which
had always been deplorable, continued
to degenerate rapidly. He
Life in Italy
Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici
reinforced himself for his rare public
appearances by drinking heavily
and then often behaved in a
slovenly manner. Anna Maria persuaded
him to repent shortly before
he died in July 1737. He confessed,
was given communion and granted
absolution by the pope.
Three months later, Anna Maria
and the Duke of Lorraine signed a
pact by which the paintings, sculptures,
manuscripts, jewels and
all other precious possessions of
the Medici were to be conserved
as possessions of the State, never
to be taken from Tuscany. They
were to be used for public enjoyment
and to attract foreigner visitors.
Most of the works of art in
the Uffi zi, almost everything in the
Pitti Palace, much of what is in the
Bargello, the Laurentian Library
and the Medici Chapels in the
church of San Lorenzo (including
Michelangelo’s statues) are only
part of Anna Maria’s legacy.
For centuries most Florentines,
historians and tourists have overlooked
the lady who is responsible
for this city’s incredible artistic
patrimony. The only reminders of
her existence were a few meters of
street leading to the Uffi zi along
the Arno and a portrait on the
ground fl oor of the Uffi zi. Then,
in 1945, the then mayor of Florence
Gaetano Pieraccini, a great
admirer of Anna Maria, launched
a contest for a statue of her. Raffaello
Salimbeni won, but he did not
complete the statue until 1971. It
was temporarily placed at the foot
of a back staircase in the Pitti Palace,
awaiting a decision about its
permanent location. Finally the
statue was placed at the base of the
campanile of San Lorenzo (which
Anna Maria had commissioned)
and unveiled on February 18, 1995,
the 252nd anniversary of her death.
While this sounds like a suitable
position, the truth of the matter is
that the market stalls in the street
literally hide the statue. Nor do the
www.thefl orentine.net
bicycles chained to the fence surrounding
it or the trash-bags littering
the ground add to the attraction
of the site. Despite protests from
the sculptor’s widow and a petition
of 1,000 signatures gathered by the
Association of Tourist Guides, the
statue has not been moved.
An exhibition dedicated to Anna
Maria runs from until April 15,
2007 in the Palatine Gallery of the
Pitti Palace, where she lived, and in
the Villa Quiete, where she stayed
during the hottest months of summer.
Hopefully, after this exhibition
Anna Maria will have won the recognition
she deserves.
After spending fi ve vacations as a
guest at the Pensione Pitti Palace,
Mary Ann Pinto moved to Florence
in l971 and married the manager.
She helped him run the hotel until
they retired in October 1991.
Her recollections of those years is
recorded in Diary of an Italian Innkeeper’s
Wife, which she is preparing
for publication.
�����������������������������
�������������������������������
��������������������
���������������������
�������������������