This building is (Niccolò di Bernardo dei) Macchiavelli’s ‘Albergaccio’ (”rough country hotel”) near San Casciano, Val di Pesa where he spent his enforced exile from the Florentine republic and where he wrote his posthumously published ‘The Prince’ laying the foundations of political science. (Thank you Sandra for getting me to visit here).

The ‘albergaccio’ was, in fact, his family’s farm providing them with everything from wine to flour.

‘Il Principe’ (the Prince) was born here. Written in a matter of months in 1513 it changed irrevocably the way people thought about power and lay the foundations not only of political science but of the ideal modern state. Much maligned in certain quarters it is a book those who purport to rule over our lives should read.

Lounge. Is this where Machiavelli played ‘tric trac’ (a form of backgammon with his fellow countrymen?

From his letter to his friend Francesco Vettori: “Having eaten, I go back to the inn; there is the host, usually a butcher, a miller, two furnace tenders. With these I sink into vulgarity for the whole day, playing at tric-trac, and then these games bring on a thousand disputes and countless insults with offensive words, and usually we are fighting over a penny, and nevertheless we are heard shouting as far as San Casciano. So, involved in these trifles, I keep my brain from growing moldy, and satisfy the malice of this fate of mine, being glad to have her drive me along this road, to see if she will be ashamed of it.” 

Dining room. There’s a fine restaurant reputed to be the oldest in Tuscany attached to the Albergaccio. Highly recommended with details at https://www.villamachiavelli.it/.

The writer of ‘Il principe’ in his little alcove.

How to keep warm in winter.

Kitchen-diner: renaissance style.

“To Niccolo Machiavelli who here pondered on the liberation of Italy and wrote his immortal works on the art of sustaining and defending States.”

It’s never a good idea to travel from A to B without finding out what lies between these two places in terms of sights of interest both natural and cultural. Many years ago we cycled to Empoli from Florence and stopped there to visit the house of that amazing pianist and composer Ferruccio Busoni. Many people seem to think they have never listened to any of his music until they hear J. S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue (perhaps not by Bach at all) on the piano in Busoni’s breathtaking trancription. Benedetto Michelangeli was a supreme interpreter of this piece as he was of another of the composer’s re-interpretations, the chaconne from Bach’s solo violin partita in D minor True, Busoni spent more of his creative life within a Teutonic atmosphere but he still remains an essentially Italian composer as the spirit of his tarantella shows.

This time by car, we decided on a break in our journey and return to Empoli. We found it again a pleasant laid-back Arno-valley town with a picturesque and unusually (for Tuscany) arcaded main square.

The piazza Farinata degli Uberti is named after a bold renaissance condottiere who defended the town against both Florentine and Pisan forces. It has as its centrepiece a fountain officially called the Fontana delle naiadi’, designed in the nineteenth century by Pampaloni and Giovanozzi but more commonly known as the Fontana dei leoni because of the four proud felines which guard it.

The beautiful facade of the church of Santa Maria was featured in the Taviani brothers’ film :’La notte di San Lorenzo’. I was lucky enough to meet Paolo and Vittorio when they came to London for the film’s première. My wife Sandra was acting as their interpreter and during an evening meal in a private chamber in a Chelsea restaurant the brothers told me that although part of the film was shot in the parish church of San Miniato al Tedesco (not to be confused with San Miniato al Monte which is in Florence) it was decided to use the façade of Empoli’s Santa Maria as its facade looked rather more photogenic. Indeed, with its to white and black Romanesque marbles Santa Maria evokes the style of Florence’s own San Miniato.

Unfortunately we found the church closed but were instead rewarded by a visit to the adjoining art gallery which, although consisting of just six smallish rooms, is replete with several exquisite pictures including some masterpieces by the local family of painters, fully in touch with the Florentine renaissance school of Botticelli and Lippi, the Botticini.

Here is a selection of paintings and sculptures we particularly appreciated. Artists include such names as Masolino da Panicale, Lorenzo Monaco, Francesco Botticini, Antonio Rossellino and Jacopo Chimenti.

The nearby fascinating glass museum displays the town’s contribution in making an essential product in Italy: the fiasco or wine-flask. Founded in 2011 it is housed in a huge salt warehouse dating back to mediaeval times.

The items displayed included not only the fiaschi but also modern glass sculpture by local artists.

The combined ticket giving us also entry to the gallery cost just six Euros each.

There is, Italy, an increasing number of museums dedicated to ancient crafts. This is both a good and a bad thing. Good because the documentation of these crafts is preserved for future generations. Bad because in too many cases the artisan traditions are no longer being continued. Empoli’s old craft of fiasco or wine -flask has now unfortunately a much reduced demand for straw-coiled green wine bottles. Most shoppers today go for standard corked bottles or, even worse, for cartons of the stuff!

Both museums are surrounded by a pedestrianised area which makes walking around Empoli’s historic centre a particularly pleasant experience. No teeming crowds vomited from tour buses here: the streets of old Empoli were remarkably calm and crowd-free on this ‘ponte’ or vacation-bridge covering Italy’s liberation day commemoration. Who wants to be crushed by the masses in places like Florence during these peak holiday times?

We will stop again at Empoli on a further trip in the area for there are many other interesting things to visit here including the house of perhaps the city’s most talented son, Jacopo da Carucci, otherwise known as Pontormo, that extraordinary Mannerist painter.

Maureen Halson, who died last week at her home in Granaiola, will be sadly missed by all who were privileged to meet her, enjoy her company and appreciate her amazing artistic dexterity.

I thought it might be of interest to repost some of the articles I have written about this wonderful person:

Rest in peace dear Maureen.

Despite the remarkably cool April our appenine garden is putting up a bold show. It’s nice to have a garden where wildernness and domesticity mix together.

Easter Day Mass at the Convento dell’Angelo where the Academy of Montegral directed by Maestro Kuhn is again being celebrated and is well attended after an absence of three years due to COVID. We are so glad to see these loved events returning…indeed, resurrected.

Piero della Francesca’s mural of Christ’s Resurrection, Sansepolcro, central Italy.

Saved from destruction in 1944 by Allied Forces Captain Anthony Clarke who, remembering Aldous Huxley’s description of it as the most wonderful painting in the world, disobeyed orders and halted Sansepolcro’s bombing.

May the strength of Christ reach out to others and prevent the highest creations of humanity from ever being destroyed by the dark hand of war.

In Italian Venerdì Santo. Chiesa di Santa Maria del Rosario, Poggio a Caiano.

Remembering also all those mothers, wives, daughters and loved ones who have lost their kin and friends in that futile war continuing to scourge the eastern part of our continent.

We are so thankful to be on the right side of the Channel for Easter and not stuck at Stanstill airport (or worse…).

This is the view of the city of the Renaissance from Poggio Gherardo yesterday.

The place was Janet Ross’s (Tuscany’s ‘queen bee’) home until 1927 when she bequeathed it to another travel author Lina Waterfield.

if these names mean nothing to you then do read my post at https://wp.me/p4KnVs-yE

Incidentally, from the ‘wrong’ side of the channel.we received this comment from an old university friend there:

‘We are positively luxuriating in the non- existent trains, gridlocked roads, salad-free supermarkets, ordure-infested rivers and beaches. But we have blue passports. If only we could use them…😊😊”

Our visit today to the elegant hunting lodge the Medici of Florence built for themselves at Cerreto Guidi.

The villa owes its fame in part to the tragic story of Isabella de’ Medici, who died in Cerreto in the night between 15 and 16 July 1576. Isabella, the favorite daughter of Cosimo I and Eleonora di Toledo, married Duke Paolo in 1558. According to a legend fed by romantic literature, Isabella would have been strangled by hit men at the disposal of her jealous husband. Recent studies have shed light on Isabella’s life, debunking the legend of atrocities and excesses; the causes of her death are due, presumably to a very serious form of dropsy.

The villa, which belonged to Don Giovanni de’ Medici, Don Pietro and Don Lorenzo, passed to Cardinal Leopoldo de’ Medici. In 1780 the Habsburg-Lorraine sold the villa and after various changes of ownership it passed to the marquis Geddes da Filicaia, who entrusted the fresco decoration of the ground floor rooms to the painter Ruggero Focardi. Purchased in 1966 by Galliano Boldrini who donated it to the Italian state in 1969 it was opened to the public in 1978.

The furnishings of the villa have been reconstituted according to the descriptions of historical inventories with the intention of representing the sophisticated and multifaceted taste of the Medici collections. Alongside a significant nucleus of Medici portraits – from the Florentine Galleries – we noted the full-length one of Cosimo in his coronation dress as Grand Duke and the portrait of Isabella de’ Medici. There are tapestries from the Medici manufacture and a selection of works from Stefano Bardini’s Legacy (acquired by the State in 1996) including paintings on wood and canvas, inlaid and painted chests, cabinets, marble and terracotta sculptures, majolica and semi-precious stone artefacts.

Since 2002, the villa has also housed the Historical Museum of Hunting, including a collection of weapons, mainly for hunting and shooting. In the triple arched loggias and in the evocative rooms below the Medici bridges, marbles from the Roman and medieval periods are also exhibited.

We first visited the villa several years ago and were glad to see it cared for better than ever before. It was a real treat to enjoy its setting in the attractive little town of Cerreto Guidi and it was a very welcome break on the way to Florence.

After a very stormy night sunshine opened out on our visit to ‘Verdemura’, Lucca’s spring garden festival held on its walks. Walking among a cornucopia of flowers, elixirs, saplings, handicrafts and food stalls we were also able to enjoy Pardini’s talk on curative herbs, a cuddly giant spider and a demonstration on how to organise a proper English tea party.