ecoexplore_tuscany

In 1764 Cesare Beccaria wrote the "dei delitti e delle pene" essay as a denounce to the fact the state, which was condemning the homicide in its judicature, was using itself as a punishment. With this essay, Cesare Beccaria was condemning the death penalty.

Twentytwo years later Grand Duke Peter Leopold of Lorraine, Grand Duke of Tuscany following Beccaria's ideal abolished the death penalty in Tuscany. It was the 30 of November 1786, and Tuscany was the first state ever to cancel this cruelty.

Since then, 30 of November is considered Tuscany's day.

16th of November 1945 the UNESCO was founded.

Sins December 1982 the historical centre of Florence is part of it and I'm proud to show you guys how beautiful it is from the tower of Palazzo Vecchio 😍

In the middle of all those poetic colours while hiking in Tuscany it's easy to find stones like this. They're signing the border between a territories called micro-regions since the Roman period and during the whole medieval ages. This one it's in my micro-region, Mugello. 😉

Didyou know the wine windows? They're all over the tuscany. In Florence in the historical center there are 145, but who knows in the 1500s how many there were 🤔

Today they are all, or almost (then I'll explain), closed.

The wine makers had them built on the side of their houses doors, or at least near them, to sell the wine, sometimes the unsold one, to the wanderers and passers-by for a few coins. But how did the sale work? Cause today as you know we go to a winery, in Chianti (Chianti classico wine), or in val d'Orcia (Brunello wine), or to Rufina (Chianti Rufina) and we get explained the aging, the conservation, the color, the aftertaste, you look at the year, the shape of the soil, the type of barrel in which it has been aged, how many years, or months, various accompaniments, and so on cause I'm finishing the characters (for the most refined) , then someone goes to the supermarket and looks at the price.

In the 1500s, however, the aforementioned wanderer took the fiasco from home and had it filled, without much pretensions.

According to some historians, however, these windows started a real parallel market. Leftover meals were also sold trough them and in some it was also possible to make offers to be distributed later to the poors.

As I said, almost all of them are closed. There are those who have walled them leaving just the shape on the wall, those who have used them to put the door bell in it and those who have put the post box. But there are those who still use them 😉

Hello there! I'd like to introduce you Venus Italica 😌

This beauty,made by Antonio Canova os housed in the Pitti Palace, in Florence of course.

But why do we have it here?

Everything started when Napoleon invaded Tuscany in the very first yeas of the nineteenth century. He took another Venus, the one called "Venere dei Medici" a greek wonderful statue acquired by cardinal Ferdinando de Medici to decorate the family villa in Rome.

Napoleon wanted to compensate Tuscany by giving us a brand new Venus and he commissioned to Canova a Venus which should have been identical to the one he stolen. Antonio Canova, conscious of his value refused to make a copy of someone else's work, that's why he made a completely different one, but following the myth of "Venus pudica".

You should see it in person to realise how beautiful it is!

Tuscany? Yes!

Tuscany is more than Florence, more than Siena, more than the leaning tower of Pisa and way more than Michelangelo's David.

Here for you one of the oldest monasteries of this unique region.

Vallombrosa monastery, it has its origins in the far 1008 and the Benedictine monks are still taking care of it. Plus, it is in one of the most natural protected areas of the region.

Perfect if you like to hike and dip your self in nature 😉

Yesterday I proposed you this magnificent statue in the stories and as most of you asked to know more about it here we go, I'll tell you a bit more about our Giant.

The statue it's situated in the Demidoff park, just outside Florence. Once the property was occupied by a beautiful renaissance villa belonging to the Medici family, later destroyed by Peter Leopold of Lorena as the maintenance costs were extremely high and the gran ducate of Tuscany wasn't able afford it.

The giant instead was built right in front of the villa (nowadays the villa doesn't exist anymore as said before) was like a private shelter for Francis I de Medici Who commissioned it to Gianbologna (Jean de Boulogne) in 1580 Who once he finished it, has realised that it was too beautiful for the place it was built in.

Today it can still be visited. It can be reached by bus from Florence and it's certainly a "must" if you visit Florence for more days and want to see a place that's off the touristic tracks 😉

Awesome panoramic visit by night 😎

Exploring Florence 💚🧡

Today I want to tell you something interesting about The Tondo Doni, the only depicted work of Michelangelo we still have. And no, I will not tell you the pictorial technique, the typical historical events that was made for the birth of the daughter... (I already got bored) I leave the boring details for those who want to hear them when I make a lead some visits at the Uffizi gallery 😌

But I'm going to tell you an anecdote about the payment of this painting.

It is said that one day Agnolo Doni introduced himself to Michelangiolo and asked him for a painting representing the family. Miky accepts (not so willingly as he preferred to work chisel, not brush) they agree on the price and Michelangelo starts to think on something.

Michelangiolo then takes a sheet, a charcoal, he starts to realize what he had in mind. Finished, satisfied with the work goes to the "old market" , the one which was demolished together with the ghetto to leave the place to piazza della repubblica (there is also a painting of Telemaco Signorini if you are curious to see what it was like. The painting is entitled "Mercato vecchio") buys poplar boards , starts to work on it with resin and hacksaw, put them together to form a round and copies on it what he had done before on paper.

After the work is finished, he wraps it well in wool cloths and entrusts it to a boy who takes it to Agnolo Doni. This, however, only gave the boy half of what he had agreed with the Buonarroti at the beginning.

When the boy returns, Michelangelo gets furious and so angry goes to the Doni, brings the money back to him and takes back the painting. He also tells him that if he wants it now the price is double the amount agreed at the beginning.

A few days after, Agnolo Doni, stingy but not foolish, goes with his tail between his legs in Michelangelo's parlor and pays The Buonarroti twice the price they had agreed because he knew so much that having a work of that value was a once on a lifetime occasion.

But then the family portraits (him and his wife) were commissioned to Raphael... Who knows why? 🤔

Did you know this anecdote?

Annibale Carracci mixing divine and profane in one painting, you guys should really see it personally 🤔

Today I wanted to visit an old friend, probably you have no idea who I am talking about and if I tell you , if you have visited Florence you'll probably recall Giotto’s Bell Tower.

Yeah, that tower standing next to our majestic cathedral, the one decorated with white, green and red marbles and many statues, some of them made by Donatello.

Giotto was born in the Tuscan countryside in 1267, in a small village called Vespignano and that's where I was this morning, plus I live very close so I might consider him my neighbour.

He bacame famous with his frescoes and paintings as was the first one who gave an expression to his characters and made for the first time a sort of perspective. But probably his most famous work is the bell tower of our cathedral beginned in 1298.

Would be a pity to don't visit his home or seeing some of his masterpieces in your next trip to Tuscany 😉 @ Vespignano

Rainy day so no hiking or visits around Florence.
Although it's a good day for reading something 😉