Villa La Pietra in Florence

I was kindly invited by Nancy, a retired principal, who is staying in Piazza Santa Croce area and has been coming to Florence yearly for the past 10 years (!!) to go on a tour of the La Pietra estate yesterday.  Tours only occur on Fridays by appointment and she said I wouldn’t want to miss it.  It turned out to be one of those beautiful, clear cool days that the Italian guide said only occur with the tramontana (winds out of the north from the mountains). 

This is a lovely villa from 15^th century Florence (then, actually the countryside) that was bought in the early 1900s by the Acton family.  Arthur was a Brit and Hortense was the daughter of a very wealthy Chicago banker. Nice combination: Brit with exquisite taste and pedigree funded by American banking money.   Sir Harold Acton was one of their two sons…the other son died in WWII and Harold inherited the property.  When he died in 1994, he bequeathed the property and 110 million to New York University to maintain in its exact state, inside and out. Our Italian guide told us that it probably would have fallen to complete ruins if he left it with the Italians, since there are no tax breaks with inheritances or not-for-profits and the Italians have a ton of “other” buildings and art to keep up with.  She said many buildings go to ruin here for that reason.  The Actons had acquired several villas on the surrounding properties and those are used for NYU students who study abroad at the NYU campus. Sometimes, visiting professors, etc. stay in the upstairs' rooms of La Pietra.  We were told yesterday that over 80 American universities have presences in Florence! We couldn’t take pictures inside but I will say this is one place to see inside and out—the original villa belonged to one family during Renaissance times and then was bought by the Caponi (=castrated chicken in Italian) family and their coat-of-arms is still seen in one of the sitting rooms! However, Hortense (daughter of very wealthy Chicago banker) liked the Medici coat-of-arms since they were also bankers and there are several of these displayed throughout the house. What is interesting is the eclectic combination of medieval and early Renaissance to high Renaissance art that the older Actons collected.

Apparently, Renaissance art really didn’t have much of a price tag until about mid-20^th century and a number of British and American collectors made some very fine purchases. The guide said that in the early 1900s the Italians were clearings out villas, convents, churches, etc. that were no longer inhabited to make schools, apartments, etc.  There was an abundance of cheap art. The villa was occupied by the Germans during WWII and Harold’s mother was imprisoned and then went to Switzerland and then recovered the villa after the war.  The villa had some of the old red-tiled Tuscan floors plastered over and then drops of paint applied and varnished to create the “alla Veneziano” floors that look like the precursor of present-day linoleum!  There is an eclectic mixture of carved wooden holy figures, paintings, even crèche pieces from Naples (which is famous for crèches…we were in Naples last weekend and I promise to post something shortly on that visit).  There is a grotto right outside one of the studies…grottos became popular here after the Medicis had one built off the Boboli gardens.  They are pretty macabre looking with plastered over shells, etc covering walls and ceiling and usually with some type of fountain—apparently to recreate something from Nero’s villa in Rome which was discovered buried under sand in the 1500s. There are statues and tapestries and paintings as well as collections (Chinosie as Hortense loved Oriental art) and apparently upstairs there are costumes that they collected for their “theme parties.” 

Our guide said, their son Harold spent his life as an “esthete” keeping up the family property…however RWB Lewis said that sir Harold was a respected author and poet.  I read that DNA testing has revealed that Sir Harold (who never married, had no children) actually had an illegitimate half-sister and her family is contesting the estate.  Oh, the lifestyles of the rich and famous.  We saw the pictures of Princess Di and Prince Charles on one of the tables…they spent a week of their royal honeymoon at La Pietra.

Outside there is a commanding view of the countryside…and I mean commanding, especially in the spring.  They employ 8 full-time gardeners year round (and 4 extra in summer) to keep the gardens in the same condition they originally were when the Actons lived there.  NYU even imports water in to maintain these (they are apparently against disturbing the property in any way, including digging for a well…).  The budget for the garden is far beyond the budget used for maintaining the villa!  The Actons stipulated pink roses and there are only pink roses on the property…the guide says they wanted to create an Italian garden but it really is a British garden.  There are “14 shades of green” in this garden and it was meant to have outdoor rooms and even an outdoor green theater.  It is absolutely gorgeous and well worth a visit!

view of olive trees and surrounding villa where students stay

La Pietra villa

the back of la Pietra



view north from gardens.  Look at that wisteria!

more wisteria

a hole in the trees for views

southern view from garden...of Duomo

the lemon garden

more of the lemon garden...limonarium in the photo is where
lemon trees are stored in winter

the "outdoor theater" where performances occurred in summer

garddens and old watering trough for horses (decorative!)

Fred in Dallas...San Gimignano

   After our return from Paris I spent the next week in florence with Renee and the kids.  I went to some of Renee's activities, such as a cooking class she was taking.  I think she already showed a picture of us but it was myself and nine women...very nice!:

  Renee and the boys have been to several Tuscan towns and she has blogged about some of these: Siena, Voltera, Pisa.  We took out a bus out to San Gimignano, the epitome of a Tuscan hill town.  Pretty touristy but it has 14 of the original 72 midieval towers still standing and very scenic.  We had a nice lunch and I had a Tuscan delicacy for the first time: boar stew...not bad.  Wild boar, or cinghiale, is served in many different ways.  Some photos of the town and views around it:

A wall surrounds the town and this is the village below:

 

    I had a great week in florence and could choose form hundreds of pictures...the Duomo, the Bargello (incredbile, worth a separate entry), Santa Croce, Oltrano...the list goes on.  My last day there we went up to Fiesole, a small hilltop town overlooking florence founded by the Etruscans about 400 years before the Romans founded Florence.  Great Etruscan and Roman ruins and a neat little museum.  We had lunch in a favorite local spot, Ristorante Perseus where I had ribollita, a Tuscan favorite...a traditional peasant dish with vegetables, bread, and spices.  Mine was incredible.  Ahh the best part of travel.  We met an old gentleman at the table behind us, a shoemaker who had taken up painting in the past 10 years.  He has only been out of Florence three times in his life...in his early 70s.  As sweet as they come!:

                            

  I head back to Italy this Saturday...first stop, Prague!



Fred in Dallas...more about Paris

   We were only in Paris three days but boy did we pack a lot in.  As I metioned in my last post about Paris, we walked everywhere, same as Rome.  I love walking around a city...you learn so much more about its people and its secrets.  I do the same when I travel in the States.  I rarely take taxis...much prefer just hoofing it.  And the surprises and great finds you stumble upon..always the best part!
   I am not a student of architecture but how can you not be fascinated with it when traveling through these ancient cities of Europe.  Below are the flying buttresses of the exterior of the Notre Dame Cathedral:

   Beauty and strength, just like the human body.  I remember learning when I first visited Paris that the cathedral took 190 years to build!  Multiple generations worked on the building, just like the Duomo in Florence.  Here is a picture of Evan outside the Sorbonne...that great Parisian institute of higher education.  We are trying to play with the image a bit to make it look like he is lifting that steel container...his composition!:

  And oh the flower shops...and bakeries...and wine stores!:

  We dined at a restaurant called Nicolas Flamel, named after the 15th century alchemist who supposedly discovered the philosophers stone.  Reportedly he was JK
Rowlings inspiration for some of her wizards in the Harry Potter series.  He founded a home for orphans and the restaurant is housed in this ancient building:

Great fun and a great meal.  Incidentally, this is our second time staying in a reasonably priced little hotel 5 mintues from the Louvre, Hotel Therese...neat little place and reasonably priced for Paris. (http://www.hoteltherese.com/)
    We spent time in the Louvre which is so massive it can intimidate the average tourist...there is so much to see.  So the key is to go in and spend an hour or two and then come back if you want to see more.  We did run by and see the Mona Lisa...have never really understood what the big deal is with that painting.  The boys chilling in one of the galleries:

Great tip, don't wait in line at the main glass entrance by IM Pei, get your tickets on line or go in one of the side entrances and walk right in.  I loved looking in this one room where they were unpacking new or stored antiquities... the place is busting with masterpieces!:

   We walked up the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe, which was commissioned by Napolean to celebrate his victories.  By the time they finished it he has lost more than he had won and had long ago been banished to Elba.  The four of us on top:

That gal on the left really wanted to be part of our family but we eventaully ditched her.  And a shot of the city with the Eiffel Tower:

  Paris was fantastic...great art, great food.  It just has a very unique feel.  The statue below is in the Jardin des Tuileries, between the Louvre and the Arc.  The poor guy is very sad...there are constant birds on his head crapping on him...or maybe he's sad because of his small penis?  I guess we'll never know.

  So after Paris we went back to Florence, the boys went back to school, and Renee and I had the chance to explore a little each day.  Though she has posted on some of the things we saw and did, I will add a few more pics and thoughts next time...

An Argument for Travel During Turbulent Times - NYTimes.com

Fred posting from Dallas.  I have always enjoyed the writings of Paul Theroux...a wonderful travel writer that has been writing about travel for decades.  Attaching an article from the Times he published yesterday.  Are there dangers when traveling, particularly in hotspots or troubled countries?  Absolutely, but most of those dangers can be avoided with common sense.  I believe there are also dangers in not traveling: complacency, missing out on so many wonderful experiences and cultures, not realizing that people everywhere are by and large decent and peace-loving.  Most dangerous of all, however, is my belief that when we don't travel we believe our country and our society has all the answers, does everything the best, and everywhere else may be nice but is a distant second to our utopia at home.  We are trying to teach our children that there is a whole world out there...full of adventure...waiting for them.  My commentary for today!  fjd


An Argument for Travel During Turbulent Times - NYTimes.com