Category Archives: Architecture

The Path not taken – the Photograph never Taken

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When did I first discover Italy? The question is a bit like ‘who first discovered America’ for Italy was always there for me. There were family members who lived there; my mother was born in Milan of Italian parents and I must have first visited the ‘bel paese’ when I was barely one. The train journey from that once shuttered-off platform for the continent at Victoria station, the steamer across the English channel (or ‘la manica – the sleeve – as that treacherous stretch of sea is called in Italian) the rails’ click-clack through the eerily deserted north French countryside, the entrance into Switzerland at Basle’s international marshalling yards and the last expectant stretch through the interminably long Simplon tunnel to enter the broad flatlands of Lombardy and the journey’s terminus at the grand Milan Central station flanked by its stone Pegasus horses is one, alas, never to be repeated in its continuity. For this was truly the end of our travel across post-war Europe: my grandparents’ flat was in the same expansive square as that which accommodated the station.

But when did Italy become not just a place for family visits but a land of scenic travels and cultural explorations? I was aware of fabulous things in Italy. My father had entered Venice towards the end of his war service and showed me his collection of postcards describing the city built on water. I was eager to float on a gondola or feed the pigeons in Saint Mark’s square. However, most of the time spent during our family visits was, unsurprisingly, spent with the family. It was only in 1957 that I saw the lagoons of ‘la Serenissima’, the Christians’ death trap of the Colosseum and the ancient Roman streets of Pompeii for the first time. I did later suggest to my grandparents’ who organized these trips that I might have been too young (at age eight) to fully appreciate these visits to Italy’s supreme icons. My grandparents told me otherwise: I had thoroughly enjoyed every moment; I do indeed retain scraps of vivid memories.

Regrettably I have no snapshots of these journeys. Carrying a camera about with oneself was still not essential in those pre-digital days. What would I give to hold a handful of pictures from those times!

Some family events, of course, have been immortalised on celluloid but photographs of sights I saw in Italy don’t appear until my visit to Lake Garda in 1961. By this time I’d been given a Bencini Comet II as a present and managed to take these shots of Catullus’ villa at Sirmione by the shores of Lake Garda, the Italian lake that comes closest to resembling an inland sea.

Sorting through the somewhat primitive originals, I’ve scanned and enhanced them using a variety of apps. I’m not too sure, however, whether the originals have a je ne sais quoi lost in the enhancements: I’ve put some of the before-and-after for one to compare.

 

 

I’ve been back to Catullus’ Villa (which, of course, was not Catullus’ – he could never have afforded something so grand) at least twice since those pioneering photographs. You can read about these subsequent forays in my posts at:

Italy’s Largest (and most Beautiful) Lake

The path not taken….The photographs not taken? Not quite….

Frisky Frescoes

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Murals – paintings on walls – have been around with us ever since Paleolithic man decorated his cave dwellings. In the UK advertising murals became very popular in the nineteenth century and murals with political messages have been a streetscape feature of Northern Ireland for many years. Increasingly, urban areas are again being enhanced by murals often focusing on historical and popular aspects of local life. Less common in northern Europe are interior murals although these have been making a considerable comeback. For example there are the intoxicating murals by Red Whistler at Plas Newydd, Wales and London’s Tate Britain and, more recently, a delightful mural has been created in Greenwich’s Fan Museum’s orangery in our area of London. I have mentioned an interior mural artist who regulary comes to our area and who is currently undertaking a major project at Marchmont house, Scotland in a post this month.

In Italy interior murals have continued to be created ever since Etruscan times as the rich decorations of the tombs of Tarquinia mentioned in my post at https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/08/15/etruscan-faces/ display so magnificently. In domestic interiors murals have been the Italian equivalent of wallpaper and in religious buildings they have attained the highest levels of artistic inspiration as anyone who has visited the Sistine chapel in Rome or the Brancacci chapel in Florence must agree.

In our area of Lucca there are fine religious murals using the fresco technique in the church of San Frediano and in several of the city’s palaces. Domestic interiors will also contain murals although these, except in the case of aristocatic villas and palaces, are rather less well known and, indeed, hidden away. For example, near Diecimo, a town in our Serchio valley famous for its beautiful romanesque church, I, quite fortuitously, came across these frescoes tucked away in a largely abandoned and decrepit dwelling.

Clearly these murals are in rococo style and probably date back to the second half of the eighteenth century. They are the only visible murals in the house, although others may be hidden under whitewash, and decorate a room which may have been used as a ballroom on occasion as the lyre on the ceiling hints at.

The pastoral landscapes reflect the area in which the mansion is located and which may well have belonged to a rich merchant from Lucca who used it as a country retreat. I particularly liked the figures in the pictures enjoying the rural pleasures of fishing and rambling.

I wonder how many other old buildings in our area conserve these charming glimpses from another age. Like so many lovely features in our part of the world which have no protection from goverment agences they are truly at the mercy of those who own them. Let us hope that they will appreciate these relics from a past, more leisurely time.

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From Power Stations to Hospital Trains in Tuscany

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This autumn FAI, ( Fondo Ambiente Italiano), the Italian counterpart to England’s National Trust, is organising special openings to several unusual places. In Tuscany thirty five sites from Florence to Livorno and from Lucca to Grossetto, will be open (with booking recommended) to the public.

The places it will be possible to visit include the thermal power plant of Santa Maria Novella station in Florence, a fine example of twentieth-century architecture, the maze of underground passages in the New Fortress of Livorno and the little theatre of Vetriano, in Lucca, the smallest historical public theatre in the world.

There is also a natural monument, the oak of the Checce in Val d’Orcia (also known as the oak of the witches), as well as a train-hospital in Massa used as the set of the ‘English Patient’.

The dates for these special visits are Saturday 17, Sunday 18 October, Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October 2020. Booking is recommended as entry is not guaranteed and the locations can only be visited if there are free places left.

Because of an agreement National Trust card holders are admitted free to the sites. Otherwise a minimum contribution of three euros is required (paid by credit card or PayPal). Children under six enter free.

Anti-Covid rules obviously apply: during visits it is mandatory to wear a mask, keep a safe distance and wash your hands often.

Near us at Bagni Di Lucca the following places will be open:

Church of Santa Caterina, Lucca

(Described in my post at https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2014/07/09/luccas-baroque-flower-blossoms-anew/)

Oratorio degli Angeli Custodi, Lucca

Little theatre of Vetriano, Pescaglia (Lucca)

San Cassiano di Controne (Lucca)

Village of Vico Pancellorum, Bagni di Lucca

Carlo Niccoli marble sculpture workshops, Carrara

Centoporte Hospital train, Massa

Further details are available including how and where to book at:
https://ilreporter.it/sezioni/eventi/giornate-fai-autunno-2020-toscana-firenze-luoghi-aperti/quote

See you there?

Hidden Frescoes in our Valley

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Fresco is a typical Italian painting technique which continues to be used to perfection by several practitioners. For example, there’s Julia Mee whose family has spent many years here. Her web site at https://www.juliamee.co.uk/ will explain more about this fascinating art which is now in full creativity in Scotland at Marchmont House:

https://www.facebook.com/marchmonthouse/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1017413621794230&__xts__[0]=68.ARBRcZ0imZsB7sVWx81UhwLwP5GBYOrfsGtXuyBc2qhF3dhG6GnQYkjh3s0kpTGeJhdbS6t_znQMYjsGlRndPu9aSd7edBS2PadBF4DoeRE9xjnBDYuce0Ab4DzCXI7tviJI-xQrlKrPnmh6gbNYi3t-bMIR-XLS7C6vhoy7rq_ULKWKS-mdGz5ASJRtQOz3x5gSCNMD2y9bohY3bR3oaAVyR7RVMeIkk3KNhVAep-u6lWb5fHEWPM8TNB7z_I5qENFkieridZp0tkTdv7vww2-nLK0CVzJQkL1bwXfucm-cMQWXgALvLyFI4MfrAdvc2b2u

‘Fresco’ means ‘fresh’ (since the paint is applied to still wet plaster) and also has connotations of open-air as in ‘al fresco’ for many frescoes are, indeed, painted on outside walls. Highlights of any visits to Italy include looking at some of the magnificent cycle of frescoes this country holds: for example, the Sistine chapel (Michelangelo), Brancacci chapel (Masaccio), the Vatican palace (Raphael), and the Arena chapel (Giotto). What is often not noticed is the fact that frescoes can also decorate palaces, villas and even the most unassuming mansions? We don’t have to go far to discover them here in Bagni di Lucca. Last week we visited a nearby house with a somewhat forbidding inelegant exterior. Stepping inside upon invitation we discovered a multitude of rooms a few of which (on the ‘piano noble’ of the first floor) had some elaborate frescoes as decorative features.

In one room I was enchanted by this series of fine tropical birds.

When were these frescoes painted and by whom?  Their style suggests the turn of the nineteenth century and particularly the ‘Empire style’ introduced by Princess Elisa, Napoleon’s sister, who ruled Lucca. These frescoes were the ‘wall paper’ of the times. They were used to update a formerly undistinguished, even primitive, building into something more aristocratic and sophisticated especially appropriate if the owners had gone up in the world and were aiming for a more stylish way of life. Clearly these rooms could be used as ball-rooms and when there were marriageable daughters in the family show them off in a more enticing way and gain a greater variety of suitors.

But who painted them? Has any significant research been made into these high-end painters and decorators?

In another building, Borgo a Mozzano’s library where I have taught, there are further examples of fine decorative frescoed rooms described in my post at:

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/01/24/a-lovely-library-ceiling-at-borgo-a-mozzano/

Sadly there are several instances where beautiful frescoes are allowed to go to rack and run. Nowhere is this more apparent than the abandoned village of Bugnano just up the road from us.

I describe this desolation further in my post at:

https://longoio.wordpress.com/2014/03/16/abandon-all-hope-all-ye-who-enter-here/

I just wonder how many more frescoed rooms are tucked away in buildings which appear to have nothing special about them. The frescoes are clearly not of the highest art but their exquisite decorative value should not be overlooked especially as they are so typical of a tradition which England’s damp and dreary climate has been largely unable to support.

The Twin Villages of Longoio and Mobbiano

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Like twin galactic stars the villages of Longoio and Mobbiano shall ever be associated with one another. There does not appear to be any significant rivalry between the two as often exists between neighbouring villages in our valley (like that between Crasciana and Casabasciana) . Longoio is slightly larger and, until relatively recently, was the only one shown on the road sign to the two villages.

Unlike some of the other settlements in these parts there’s little information in medieval documents  on Longoio and Mobbiano . Longoio is never talked about, unlike Mobbiano which is mentioned for the first time in a parchment dated 983, in which it is recounted that Viscount Fraolmo II, son of Fraolmo I, obtained from the Bishop of Lucca, Teudigrimo, a part of the tithes paid from some lands leased in “Mubiano”.

We do not know exactly when the two villages were founded. According to some historians Mobbiano (perhaps older than Longoio) developed from a Roman farm, founded by a certain Mevius, probably one of the many lands assigned to retired legionaries as a reward for services rendered to the Roman empire.

Mobbiano consists of two main narrow streets running parallel to each other and separated by a steep slope.

Although it has its fair share of inhabited houses Mobbiano  also regrettably has several semi-ruinous buildings which are often hidden under layers of dense foliage.

Here are some further pictures we took the other day while walking about the village which is really more of a hamlet.  The connecting passages between the two streets are really steep! 

Mobbiano has no outstanding monuments but it has its picturesque features including this graceful fountain.

The village has its own car park which was built around last ten years ago.

Longoio and Mobbiano meet up at the charming ‘chiesina della margine’ where a Mass is celebrated every May.

The population of the two villages is stated to be seventy inhabitants but this is perhaps an overestimate – there are more cats in then! This year, in particular, with the pandemic there have been far fewer summer holiday makers which can double the population.

Perhaps the best claim to fame of Mobbiano and Longoio is that they are reckoned to receive a greater amount of sunlight than any other villages in our region of the Controneria. That is clearly a very good reason to continue to live here!

At the Limits of Limano

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Autumn, together with Spring, is our favourite time for walks. The summer heat has worn off and, particularly after the solstice of September 21 nature begins to assume a distinctively multi-coloured mantle: the chestnut trees ripen their fruits and the forest floors are dotted with a variety of mushrooms. Here’s a platter of mushrooms we managed to find the other day. Congratulations to my wife for her keen eye in locating the often elusive porcini (ceps).

It’s also a good time to revisit the various villages which comprise our comune of Bagni di Lucca

A few days ago we found ourselves in Limano on the northern side of the Lima River. It’s a delightfully peaceful place spread between two hills with a main square dividing its two halves.

First mentioned in a document of 893 AD as a village under the jurisdiction of Vico Pancellorum it became a feud of the Suffredinghi family and passed under Lucca’s rule in 1200.

We walked up Limano’s north hill and found ourselves before a chapel with a very well-kept garden and some amazingly good stone-work.

This is the oratory of Our Lady of Grace.  Dating from 1684 it is built in local limestone using material recovered from the old parish church which had been abandoned because of a landslide. I suspect this is why the stonework is so good; it may date from the eleventh century at the full height of the Romanesque style. The oratory is accessed through a portico supported by four columns and is covered with slate stone plates.

Inside, the effigy of the Madonna delle Grazie, the venerated patron saint of the town of Limano, is preserved.

We returned to the main square where, on the first of August, near the sixteenth century fountain, a festa with traditional country dancing takes place here.

The participants of the “Festa in Piazza Gave” sing and dance in characteristic costume, marking the occasion when shepherds traditionally came down from the mountain pastures to sell lambs.

In the latter half of the twentieth century the festival declined, but has happily been revived by the “Limano Nostro” association. I’ve said more about these festivities in my post at

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/08/03/country-dancing-in-limanos-piazza-gave/

Limano’s southern hill is steeper than its northern neighbour and proceeds past the parish church of San Martino built in 1776 and renovated in 1908. Unfortunately the church was again closed during our visit but I am told the choir’s decoration, the work of Arturo Chelini, is worth looking at. Maybe next time?

At the top of the hill are the remains of the castle. Most of what’s left of it is incorporated into existing houses but there’s an area where a covered passage gives one a good idea of the former castle’s defences.

It’s near here that a friend has recently purchased a house with great views.

The hills were clothed with heavy mist and it began to rain, the first rain we’ve had for weeks. Autumn has clearly come! The following night came the big tempest – the night was alight with electric flashes and at one point the thunder shook the foundations of our house like an earthquake. I think that as much as the pure blue skies and the sunshine I would miss these dramatically operatic Italian storms if I returned to live in England!

Suspense about Tibetan Bridges

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The sign ‘Al ponte Tibetano’ (‘To the Tibetan bridge’) entices one to expect a vertiginous rope affair cast over a fathomless abyss, reminiscent of a scene from that Powell and Pressburger film ‘Black Narcissus’.

In fact, when one comes across these bridges in our part of the world they turn out to be suspension bridges for walkers and, instead of ropes cast across a chasm, they are supported by steel cables.

I’ve described the most spectacular of these suspension bridges, the one spanning the Lima River near Mammiano at:

https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/suspense/

There’s another one I’ve written about at Vagli di Sotto in my posts at:

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/10/10/a-tibetan-bridge-in-the-garfagnana/

and

https://longoio3.com/2017/10/11/vagli-lakes-circular-walk/

However, I hadn’t quite realised that Bagni di Lucca has its own ‘Tibetan bridge’. It’s near the Pian di Fiume village rescued from oblivion and turned into an ‘agriturismo’, or country holiday resort, by our resident chemist and former mayor Massimo Betti.

The bridge spans the Lima about a couple of kilometres outside Bagni on the way to Abetone on the Brennero road and we crossed it a couple of days ago. It offers delightful views over the river which at this point also provides good bathing opportunities.

The first modern suspension bridge was built by Thomas Telford in 1826 and crosses the Menai straits in Wales connectingYnys Mon (Anglesey) with the mainland. Nottolini, the Luccan architect and engineer, visited Britain specially to study Telford’s methods and returned to build the iconic chain suspension bridge known as ‘il ponte delle Catene’ at Fornoli. I’ve written about this pioneering bridge in my post at:

https://longoio3.com/2018/09/20/bridging-a-much-needed-gap/

There is a smaller version of the bridge, for pedestrians only connecting the Circolo dei Forestieri square with the Brennero road.

I love bridges of all types but the suspension ones are my favourite!

The Forgotten Fiesole

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Going up from Florence towards the beautiful heights of Fiesole there are two buildings that are easy to miss. Yet they contain much that is of beauty. One of them is the Badia Fiesolana which stands by a very steep road. We almost saw it a couple of weeks ago. I say ‘almost’ since the Badia is in the midst of a thorough refurbishment and was completely covered by scaffolding and plastic sheeting. This is what the unfinished façade should normally look like.

The second building of note is half way up the main road to Fiesole and is the convent of San Domenico.  We were always passing it but finally decided to stop. Just as we were approaching the building the front door closed and was locked. I made what I thought would be a vain attempt to see if anyone would open it for us. I gave two knocks and the door opened. We asked the elderly gentleman who unfastened it for us whether it would be possible to have a look at a painting I knew was housed in the church. He very kindly obliged and I was set thinking ‘He seems very trusting. What if we were thieves? “I was somewhat taken back at its lack of security especially as Italy continues to suffer considerable depredation of its artisti treasures. However, I could not resist the invitation to see the picture.

I was struck by the fantastic entrance stairway into the convent:

We entered the church, which was redone in the seventeenth century in baroque style,

I almost immediately gazed upon the painting which is by Fra Angelico, and represents one of his most significant works: the Madonna and Child with Saints Thomas Aquinas, Barnabas, Dominic and Peter Martyr dating from 1425. Interestingly the usual golden background that Fra Angelico used for most of his paintings was here replaced by a landscape painted by someone a hundred years after the original picture had been completed.

The convent of San Domenico in the locality of San Domenico, Fiesole, is a Dominican monastery founded in 1406. It was founded on the initiative of Giovanni Dominici and the bishop of Fiesole Jacopo Altoviti, both of whom were Dominican friars of Santa Maria Novella, one of Florence’s two great gothic friary churches, the other being Santa Croce which belongs to the Franciscan order.

It was, therefore, the second Dominican convent in the Florentine area before the construction of the convent of San Marco in Florence, where the friars moved towards the middle of the fifteenth century and where Fra Angelico painted some of his sublimest frescoes. I have described these masterworks in my post at https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2017/01/18/a-museum-all-to-myself-in-florence/

The elderly gentleman who opened the door for us turned out to one of the convent’s Dominican friars and showed us round the rest of the building where there are also two wonderful Beato Angelico frescoes: a large crucifixion:

And a Madonna and child together with its sinopia (background sketch):

The front portico, by Matteo Nigetti, was financed by the Medici Neofiti family, a family of converted Jews who was protected by the Medici and who had the identical coat of arms by concession.

Outside the convent is a fountain which supplied refreshing waters to a variety of ancient and modern personages as its inscriptions relate:

We are so glad that we finally decided to stop at San Domenico and not pass it by!

Ponte a Cappiano’s Canal

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If we motor to Florence from our house in the Lucchesia the one thing we always do is to avoid the Firenze-Mare autostrada both because one has to pay a toll on it and because frankly, it doesn’t enable us to discover new sights easily.

Our favourite route is to head towards Empoli and then take the FI-PI-LI superstrada linking Florence with Pisa and Livorno. The first section takes one through the Cerbaie which are quite similar to the heathlands of the North Downs near Guildford in the UK. In fact, both are geologically of the same structure. Le Cerbaie is, however, the morainic uplands deposited at the end of the ice-age glaciers which once covered Tuscany and formed the Arno valley. You’ll know when you enter the Cerbaie since beautiful woodland spreads along much of it. Here is the protected natural area of Montefalcone which rises west of the Fucecchio Lake (great for bird-watching) and reaches a height of 500 feet.

At around half of our journey time we like to stop at a sweet little location called Ponte a Cappiano.

Ponte a Cappiano is located near the exit channel of the Fucecchio Marshes, by the slopes of the Cerbaie and takes its name from the Medici Bridge of the same name and from the Cappiano hill, which overlooks the bridge.

The existence of this bridge is documented from the early middle Ages: it was managed by the Altopascio Hospitallers and the ancient Via Francigena passed over it.

In particular, in the itinerary of Sigeric, Archbishop of Canterbury, it represented the journey’s twenty fourth stage; the locality was then called Aqua Nigra, most likely because of the dark water of the Usciana canal, an outlet of the Fucecchio Marsh.

In 1325 the bridge was destroyed during the conflict between Florence and Lucca. It was later rebuilt and fortified with a tower and defended with drawbridges. The structure was equipped with a lock to regulate the flow of water but also favoured the fishing of eels, a mill and a water saw for cutting wood.

The Cappiano Bridge was even drawn by Leonardo da Vinci!

The current bridge was built in the first half of the sixteenth century by Cosimo I de ‘Medici when both the open bridge and the covered bridge were constructed. Further buildings were added; these included the tavern, the ironworks and the house of the bridge administrator.

As the plaque on the bridge states:

Cosimo Medici Duca Di Fiorenza
Ha Rifatto Questo Loco Da’ Fondamenti
Per Benefizio Pubblico,
Et Non Sia Chi Lo Disfaccia Più
Con Isperanza D’acquistarne Commodo Al Paese
Sappiendo Ogni Volta Che S’è Disfatto
Essersi Perduto
Di Sotto L’uso Della Terra
Et Di Sopra Della Pescagione
Senza Acquisto Alcuno

Which translates as:

Duke Cosimo Medici of Florence 

Rebuilt this bridge from its foundations

For the benefit of the public,

And let no-one destroy it again

With the hope that it will bring comfort to the land

Knowing that every time it has been destroyed

We have lost

The use of the Earth underneath us

And above us the fisheries

Without any gain.

 Indeed, the whole of this area is a maze of waterways, rivers and canals largely set out by the Medici dynasty to drain the swamps and provide a communication system for barges.

Our pit stop at the bar in Ponte a Cappiano’s Main Square provides a welcome break on our journey and enables us to reach Florence and tackle its traffic with renewed strength!

(Incidentally ten years have passed since we first discovered this bridge and the photos date back to September 2010!)

The Enchanted Spring of Morgan Le Fay

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It was in April 2013 that we took a trip to the south of Florence on our valiant but since sadly departed Fiat Cinquina without any particular aim in mind. In Italy, directions to places of interest are indicated by brown-coloured signs. One such notice, south of Grassina, captured our attention: “fonte di Fata Morgana” – the enchantress Morgana’s fount (remember your Ariosto and ‘King Arthur’s Morgan le Fay?)

(The Enchantress Morgan Le Fay by Frederick Sandys)

A delightfully narrow road directed us through olive groves with branches reminiscent of Daphne’s arboreal transformation to escape the attentions of Apollo.

And then we were at the fount – an ornamental water feature once decorating the gardens of Count Vecchietti and dating back to 1522.

An inscription on a wall plays on the count’s surname (which also means “old men”) translatable thus:

Reader, I am that enchantress Morgana

Who, young, made others young:

Here at the old man’s because I once was old,

Made young again by his fountain.

We were unable to test the water’s claims since the gate leading to the source was firmly shut. What a pity!

Seven years later we were finally able to touch the waters of the enchanted fountain. We had contacted the comune of Bagno a Ripoli who now owns the property and Silvia from the comune kindly allowed us access. However, she dissuaded us from drinking the waters on health grounds!

In the Italian sixteenth century artificial grottoes became increasingly important elements of garden design. In Florence there are two well-known examples by Buontalenti in the Boboli gardens and the fashion spread to such villas as those at Pratolino and Castello. The Fonte di Fata Morgana belongs to this tradition which extended into northern Europe; Alexander Pope for example, was enamoured of the grotto he built for his villa at Twickenham.

The Fonte was built by Bernardo Vecchietti between 1573 and 1574 on a spring that was located in the land surrounding his villa called “Il Riposo” on the slopes of the Fattucchia hill. Raffaello Borghini described it in his 1584 book. Inside, the source was decorated with the marble statue of the Fata Morgana to which the source is dedicated, sculpted by Giambologna. Unfortunately the statue has gone from its original location and is now in a private collection.

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The building is L-shaped and built as a theatrical backdrop. The entrance and the windows are finished in Alberese stone and the architraves have rusticated gables.  On the left there is a sixteenth-century tabernacle in pietra serena.

Inside the building there is a fountain consisting of a basin in pietra serena, supported by a rough base whose shape recalls a mermaid’s tail. The water that should overflow from the stone basin cascades into the hexagonal basin below, at the centre of which is the brick base that once supported the statue of the Fata Morgana.

Regrettably no water has flowed for some time now.

On the sides of the fountain, two symmetrical portals complete the setting. From the one on the left, via a small staircase, you can access the upper level where there are small rooms, one of which was used as a kitchen.

The whole seems to have been created to amaze the viewer with a magical and fantastic feeling expressed by the decorative and architectural elements of the source and enhanced by the charm of the surrounding countryside which envelops the Nymphaeum in an almost unreal atmosphere.

Recently acquired by the Municipality of Bagno a Ripoli, the Fonte Della Fata Morgana has been restored by the Superintendence for Architectural Heritage and Landscape and for the Historical, Artistic and Demo-ethno-anthropological Heritage for the Provinces of Florence, Pistoia and Prato. In 2016 the Municipality promoted a crowdfunding action to obtain resources for its maintenance.

It was lovely to be able to finally enter into the secret chambers of the Fata Morgana seven years later. The number seven indeed holds a magical significance especially for us as we were married on the seventh day of the seventh month of nineteen seventy seven. We would like to thank Silvia who at such short notice enabled us to visit Fata Morgana’s house. We are still unable, however, to verify that the waters truly restore our youth. At least they took us back seven years!