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Renaissance in Tuscany Italy

In 1406 Florence subdied Pisa, and a little later, Livorno (at thet time a small harbour); neither Lucca governed by the Guinigis, nor Siena reled by the Petruccis could compare with the glory of humanism in Florence, with the creativity of its literarian and philosophic circles. The Renaissance established the importace of man and nature in the Universe (elements already taken into consideration in the previous century).

The more the civilized society and economy got free from the clerical authority and from the feudal dominion, the more man turned firmly to the immediate reality of physical and sensorial perception.

Tuscany became the most important workshop of ideas and inventions. Abandoning the rigid principles of the past, the language became free, clear, fluent. In no other country of the world, at that time, such cultural trasformations were possible.

In the XV th century the Medicis, an outstanding family native of Mugello, began to establish their government. They costituted an oligarchy after defeating the rival families (the Albizzis and others) and in 1434 they ruled as members of a "seignory". The Medicis founded an illustrious dynasty: they developed commerce, industry, the arts and culture, allowing Florence to become a leading cultural centre, an affluent, animated capital of a large territory. With its 100.000 inhabitants (London had only 40.000!) the Tuscan town was, at the time, one of the largest centres in the world, comparable to New York of today. Lorenzo de'Medici, nicknamed il "Magnifico", embodied, on a political, civil and cultural ground, the trasformation of the old institutions, exerting a new, more personal, form of power. He was a grandson of Cosimo the Elder and took power in 1469. He adopted a wise, balanced policy in relation to other countries ensuring long peacetime and prosperity, promoting the development of cultural centres under his personal patronage. He helped Florence reach the greatest splendour of the time. He favoured a new, huge, architectural, monumental project, setin an urban context framed by a new conception of life. The most relevant representatives of these changes were Filippo Brunelleschi (forefather of the modern architecture), Donatello, Alberti, ghiberti, Masaccio, Botticelli, Piero della Francesca and Leonardo da Vinci.

During the harsh European conflict between French and Austrian-Spanish monarchies, in the first half of the XVIth century, Tuscany could maintain its formal independence mainly thanks to the wise policy of two nepolist popos of the Medicis' dynasty, (Leone X and Clemente VII) and of their nephew Cosimo I. In 1530 Emperor Carlo V gave the title of dukes to the Medicis and in 1569 Tuscany (under Cosimo I) became a granduchy. By the, after the conquest of the country of Siena (1559), all Tuscany a part from the small republic of Lucca, was politically unified under the strong Medicean dominion that would last for other two centuries. Meanwhile the way of living changed: investments in land properties increased, causing a reduction in commercial, industrial and banking business.

The grandeur of the rich resulted in the many sumptuous buildings and magnificent countryhouses. In this way, besides favouring the idea of 'negotium' people could enjoy the advantage of 'otium'. At that time Villa Pratolino, one of the most outstanding and remarkable building designed by the Medicis, was completed. Francesco ist (in 1564 nominated regent by the father Cosimo I) turned the Uffizi into a Gallery (to preserve) the works of art of the family), and also bought valuable buildings and estates on the outskirts of the town.

The villa at Pratolino was built in the centre of a 20 hectares park that was part of a productive farm, over 600 hertares wide. The property was about 12 Km. from Florence on the hilly borders in the north of the town, along the old roman road that crossed the Apennine. The colossus of the Apennine, the imposing statue by Giambologna, still visible today, became the landmark of the park, designed according to an elaborate, evocative symbolic pattern, dominated by the presence of water, natural element, vital source for all livings and metaphor of eternity.

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