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Bernardo Buontalenti
Bernardo Timante Buonacorsi ( – June 1608), known as Bernardo Buontalenti () and sometimes by the nickname "Bernardo delle Girandole", was an Italian Scenic design, stage designer, architect, theatrical designer, Military engineering, military engineer and artist. Biography Buontalenti was born in Florence . He entered the service of the Medici as a youth and remained with them the rest of his life. He is said to have been instructed in painting by Francesco de' Rossi (Il Salviati), Salviati and Bronzino, in sculpture by Michelangelo, in architecture by Giorgio Vasari, and in miniature painting under Giulio Clovio. He executed a number of miniatures for Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Francesco, the son of Cosimo I. More than a painter, he was celebrated as an architect; in this role he was much employed in the design of fortifications, villas, and gardens and is considered one of the most important architects of the Mannerist period. He was also a great mechanic, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence was a centre of Middle Ages, medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of that era. It is considered by many academics to have been the birthplace of the Renaissance, becoming a major artistic, cultural, commercial, political, economic and financial center. During this time, Florence rose to a position of enormous influence in Italy, Europe, and beyond. Its turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful House of Medici, Medici family and numerous religious and republican revolutions. From 1865 to 1871 the city served as the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. The Florentine dialect forms the base of Italian language, standard Italian and it became the language of culture throughout Italy due to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giulio Clovio
Juraj Julije Klović (; 1498 – 5 January 1578) was a Croatian-Italian illuminator, miniaturist, and painter born in the Kingdom of Croatia, who was mostly active in Renaissance Italy. He is considered the greatest illuminator of the Italian High Renaissance, and arguably the last very notable artist in the long tradition of the illuminated manuscript, before some modern revivals. Biography Giulio Clovio was born in Grižane, a village in Kingdom of Croatia (today's Croatia).The Life and Works of Giorgio Giulio Clovio, Miniaturist: with notices of his contemporaries, and of the art of decoration in the Sixteenth Century - by John William Bradley – 1891 He came from a Croatian family, Bradley, 2004 (reprint), pp. 368–369 and he is known as ''Clovio Croata.'' It is not known where he had his early training, but he may have studied art with monks at Rijeka of Novi Bazar when he was young. He moved to Italy at age 18 and entered the household of Cardinal Marino Grimani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of Naples, province-level municipality is the third most populous Metropolitan cities of Italy, metropolitan city in Italy with a population of 2,958,410 residents, and the List of urban areas in the European Union, eighth most populous in the European Union. Naples metropolitan area, Its metropolitan area stretches beyond the boundaries of the city wall for approximately . Naples also plays a key role in international diplomacy, since it is home to NATO's Allied Joint Force Command Naples and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean. Founded by Greeks in the 1st millennium BC, first millennium BC, Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited urban areas in the world. In the eighth century BC, a colony known as Parthenope () was e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portoferraio
Portoferraio () is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Livorno, on the edge of the eponymous harbour of the island of Elba. It is the island's largest town. Because of its terrain, many of its buildings are situated on the slopes of a tiny hill bordered on three sides by the sea. History It was founded by Cosimo I de' Medici, List of rulers of Tuscany, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in 1548, with the name of ''Cosmopoli'' ("Cosimo's City"), to balance the presence of the Spanish citadel in Porto Azzurro. It had three forts (Forte Stella, Forte Falcone, and Forte Inglese) and a massive line of walls, all still visible today. The name evolved from Ferraia in Etruscan civilization, Etruscan times, Fabricia with Romans and Ferraio with Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The city remained attached to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until the late 18th century, when, due to its strategic position, it came into contention with France, United Kingdom, Great Britain, and Habsburg monarchy, Austria. A Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prato
Prato ( ; ) is a city and municipality (''comune'') in Tuscany, Italy, and is the capital of the province of Prato. The city lies in the northeast of Tuscany, at an elevation of , at the foot of Monte Retaia (the last peak in the Calvana chain). With 198,326 inhabitants as of 2025, Prato is Tuscany's second largest city after Florence, and the third largest in Central Italy. Historically, Prato's economy has been based on the textile industry and its district is the largest in Europe. The textile district of Prato is made up of about 7000 fashion companies, amounting to around 2 billion euros of city's export. The renowned Datini archives are a significant collection of late medieval documents concerning economic and trade history, produced between 1363 and 1410. The city boasts important historical and artistic attractions, with a cultural span that started with the Etruscans and then expanded in the Middle Ages and reached its peak with the Renaissance, when artists such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grosseto
Grosseto () is a city and a ''comune'' in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the province of Grosseto and the main city of the Maremma region. The city lies from the Tyrrhenian Sea, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the Ombrone river. It is the most populous city in Maremma, with 82,284 inhabitants. The comune of Grosseto includes the ''frazioni'' of Marina di Grosseto, the largest one, Roselle, Principina a Mare, Principina Terra, Montepescali, Braccagni, Istia d'Ombrone, Batignano, Alberese and Rispescia. History The origins of Grosseto can be traced back to the High Middle Ages. It was first mentioned in 803 as a fief of the Counts Aldobrandeschi, in a document recording the assignment of St. George's Church to Ildebrando degli Aldobrandeschi, whose successors were counts of the Grossetana Mark until the end of the 12th century. Grosseto steadily grew in importance, owing to the decline of Rusellae and Vetulonia until it was one of the princip ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pistoia
Pistoia (; ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about north-west of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a typical Italian medieval city, and it attracts many tourists, especially in the summer. The city is famous throughout Europe for its plant nurseries. History ''Pistoria'' (in Latin other possible forms are ''Pistorium'' or ''Pistoriae'') was a centre of Gallic, Ligurian and Etruscan settlements before becoming a Roman colony in the 6th century BC, along the important road Via Cassia: in 62 BC the demagogue Catiline and his fellow conspirators were slain nearby. From the 5th century the city was a bishopric, and during the Lombardic kingdom it was a royal city and had several privileges. Pistoia's most splendid age began in 1177 when it proclaimed itself a free commune: in the following years it became an important political centre, ere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forte Di Belvedere
The Forte di Belvedere or Fortezza di Santa Maria in San Giorgio del Belvedere (often called simply Belvedere) is a fortification in Florence, Italy. History Forte Belvedere is the second and largest fortress to be built in Florence, Italy. It was designed and built by Bernardo Buontalenti over a five-year period, between 1590 and 1595, by order of Grand Duke Ferdinando I de' Medici. Fortifications were significant in the 16th century and a demonstration of a city's wealth and capabilities. The fortress is located in the southern hills of the Arno River and on the highest hill of the Boboli Gardens. It had long been considered one of the weakest spots in the city's defenses, a sensation that only increased with the invention of artillery in the early modern era. From a military point of view, the fortress is located at the most strategic point, overlooking almost the entire city and surrounding area. Due to the nature of Renaissance warfare, forts were paramount in a city's d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apennine Colossus
The Apennine Colossus () is a stone statue, approximately 11 meters high, in the estate of the Villa Demidoff in Vaglia, Tuscany, Italy. Giambologna (Flemish sculptor Jean de Boulogne) created the colossal figure, a personification of the Apennine mountains, in the late 1580s. It was constructed on the grounds of the Villa di Pratolino, a Renaissance villa that fell into disrepair and was replaced by the Villa Demidoff in the 1800s. Description The colossus is about highMorgan, Luke (2015), p.12 and is meant as a personification of the Apennine Mountains. It was the water source for the Pratolino, its fountains and secret water plays. The colossus has the appearance of an elderly man crouched at the shore of a lake and is surrounded by other sculptures depicting mythological themes from Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' including Pegasus, Parnassus or Jupiter. It is presumed that Giambologna was inspired by the description of a mountain-like Atlas in Ovid's Metamorphoses, when he de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giambologna
Giambologna (1529 – 13 August 1608), also known as Jean de Boulogne (French), Jehan Boulongne (Flemish) and Giovanni da Bologna (Italian), was the last significant Italian Renaissance sculptor, with a large workshop producing large and small works in bronze and marble in a late Mannerist style. Biography Giambologna was born in Douai, Flanders (then in the Habsburg Netherlands and now in France), in 1529. After youthful studies in Antwerp with the architect-sculptor Jacques du Broeucq, he moved to Italy in 1550 and studied in Rome, making a detailed study of the sculpture of classical antiquity. He was also much influenced by Michelangelo, but developed his own Mannerist style, with perhaps less emphasis on emotion and more emphasis on refined surfaces, cool elegance, and beauty. Pope Pius IV gave Giambologna his first major commission, the colossal bronze Neptune and subsidiary figures for the Fountain of Neptune (the base designed by Tommaso Laureti, 1566) in Bologna. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palazzo Pitti
The Palazzo Pitti (), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present palazzo dates from 1458 and was originally the town residence of Luca Pitti, an ambitious Florentine banker. The palace was bought by the Medici family in 1549 and became the chief residence of the ruling family of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. It grew as a great treasure house, for generations amassing paintings, plates, jewelry and luxurious possessions. The Medici also added the extensive Boboli Gardens to the palace estate. In the late 18th century, the palazzo was used as a power base by Napoleon during his conquests of Europe. For a brief period, it later served as the principal royal palace of the newly united Italy under the House of Savoy. The palace and its contents were donated to the Italian people by King Victor Emmanuel III ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Livorno
Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronounced , "Leghorn" in the Oxford Dictionaries Online. or ). During the Italian Renaissance, Renaissance, Livorno was designed as an "ideal town". Developing considerably from the second half of the 16th century by the will of the House of Medici, Livorno was an important free port. Its intense commercial activity was largely dominated by foreign traders. Also the seat of consulates and shipping companies, it became the main port-city of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The high status of a multiethnic and multicultural Livorno lasted until the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
