Palazzo de'Rossi. Una storia pistoiese

ustico quant’altri mai, lasciando che i protagonisti siano i rappresentanti del mondo agreste.
Un terzo cartone che ha le stesse dimensioni in altezza, lo stesso sfondo neutro, che usa
identica carta e identica tecnica, fa pensare a un progetto di affresco leggermente più ampio
rispetto a quello realizzato: rappresenta due figure femminili borghesi, madre e figlia, che
assistono alla scena in disparte, senza potervi partecipare direttamente (fig. 17). Una sottolineatura
plateale dell’estraneità del mondo rispetto a un evento che è soltanto per gli ultimi. Tra
l’altro, per fornire un ulteriore supporto a questa ipotesi, si può aggiungere che la presenza
di queste figure, con l’ampliamento della scena, collocherebbe al centro la cesta col bambino,
come sarebbe del tutto naturale nella rappresentazione 35 .
Sorveglia religiosamente l’evento, posto sul piano di un mobile d’epoca, L’artista e il suo angelo
custode dello scultore pesciatino Libero Andreotti.
Tutto il lato ovest è rimasto a lungo completamente privo di opere. La splendida galleria, con
il suo lungo soffitto a padiglione, è un tripudio di colori e decori, grottesche, figure mitologiche
e rappresentazioni metaforiche. Nella stanza successiva, adibita adesso a Vicepresidenza,
sono riemersi con il restauro finti tendaggi che coprono l’intera superficie delle pareti; la
saletta che precede la Sala delle Assemblee è interamente saturata da cornici e dipinti. Sui
soffitti gli affreschi di Nicola Monti. Era assolutamente impensabile aggiungere qualcosa, per
impossibilità e per inopportunità. Solo la galleria, per quanto decoratissima, presenta pareti
libere, ma il restauro ha restituito loro una colorazione rossa molto forte, impegnativa, per
cui a suo tempo venne del tutto naturale il totale rispetto degli spazi. Solo di recente, con l’acquisizione
delle note fotografie di Aurelio Amendola che ritraggono Alberto Burri durante le
sue Combustioni, si è avuto il coraggio di riempire la parete che guarda verso via de’ Rossi (fig.
18). Il contrasto netto tra vecchio e nuovo, tra decoro pittorico e fotografia, sembra funzionare
alla perfezione, ed è l’ultimo tassello del lavoro svolto al primo piano.
Molto meno impegnativo l’allestimento di secondo e terzo piano; sia per una presenza di
decori ancora importante ma completamente diversa da quella del piano sottostante, sia per
18. Aurelio Amendola, Combustioni – Galleria
17. Pietro Bugiani, cartone con due figure femminili
unchallenged, like in many other works of his. Though it may appear paradoxical, given that the sign
is identical, it is almost like being before two completely different art works. We are still in the painter’s
“good” years, insofar as the phase devoted to the frescoes already represents a lapse compared to
the linear and magical purity of the late 1920s. Reflecting on the subject matter and on the realisation,
reminds us of Gianfranco Contini’s definition of Pascoli’s poetry: humble rustic epos 31 . The painting
by Bugiani is its pictorial equivalent, insofar as someone at times – most understandably – might have
instead identified a lyrical quality there: nothing more epic than Mulino della Bure, which depicts a
house and a river, giving them a perspective that magnifies; then the modest haystack of Casa rosa, as
large as mountains from other backgrounds, without any regard for perspective; or even the various
Madonnas in prayer, with that red mantel that cannot but exalt them, detaching them from the background
like an apparition. It can be taken each time as a vein of twilight lyricism 32 , but it is basically an
epic exaltation: humble and rustic, of course.“Time is a colour dimension” 33 , Contini says elsewhere
again about Pascoli’s poetry; we could say the same thing about every painting by Bugiani. Here,
early twentieth century shepherds drop down in what is a twenty century-old event, a crystallised,
immobile, eternal moment. The episode is not epic in itself, but it is the composed spirituality of the
protagonists. The scene is all for the humble shepherds who adore the child 34 . There is no room even
for the parents, nor for the usual ox and ass; a strong and clear choice. The child himself, plump and
wearing a bonnet, disappears inside a basket that is too small, not a rustic object like others, allowing
the protagonists alone to represent that world. A third cartoon with the same height, the same
neutral background, using the same paper and technique, points to a fresco slightly larger than that
realised: it represents two middle class female figures, mother and daughter, who watch the scene
from the side, without being able to take part in it directly (fig. 17). A clear emphasis of the world’s
removal from an event that is only for the latter. Moreover, further supporting this idea, we can add
that the presence of these figures, with the expansion of the scene, would put the basket with the
child in the centre, as would be completely normal in such a representation 35 .
Religiously watching the event, and placed on the surface of a piece of period furniture,
L’artista e il suo angelo custode by the Pescia-born sculptor Libero Andreotti.
The whole west side was completely devoid of art works for a long time. The splendid gallery, with
its long pavilion ceiling, is a triumph of colours and decorations, grotesques, mythological figures
and metaphorical representations. Restoration work in the next room, now used as the office of
the Vice Presidency, revealed mock covering the entire surface of the walls; the room preceding the
Meeting Room is completely saturated with mouldings and paintings. On the ceilings, frescoes
by Nicola Monti. To add anything else was absolutely unthinkable, it being both impossible and
unsuitable. Only the gallery, though highly decorated, has bare walls, which restoration returned
to their original strong red colour, and it came naturally at the time to fully respect those spaces.
Only recently, with the acquisition of the well-known photographs by Aurelio Amendola portraying
Alberto Burri during his Combustioni, was the courage found to fill the wall facing Via de’ Rossi
(fig. 18). The stark contrast between old and new, between painted decoration and photography,
seems to work perfectly, and it is the final chapter in the work carried out on the first floor.
The display layout of the second and third floor is a lot less challenging; due both to the presence
of decorations, which are still important but completely different from those on the
floor below, as well as to the fact that both levels are used as offices, and as such are cluttered
with the relative equipment and different kind of furnishings. The size of the spaces, however,
is such to allow for the display of many works, which we must look at far more quickly
than those on the piano nobile, but nonetheless giving them full account.
The transition to the second floor presents the finest point of the great staircase, with the
statue of Mercury guarding the two flights; while the actual workmanship might be of little
value, knowing the statue came from the family, that it was the de’ Rossi who bought it and
placed it there 36 , means that, also thanks to the classic elegance of the figure, it can be viewed
with a certain regard (fig. 19). In any case, the staircase is truly impressive, having far more
light than the stairs leading to the first floor and in particular a breathtaking ceiling completely
decorated in stucco. To find the collection, one must pass the landing, right, towards the east
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