Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that can help answer the question.
Query: Who designed the Medici Villa of Poggio a Caiano?
After a period of intensive land acquisition by the Medici family, in the area of Poggio a Caiano and also on the other bank of the Ombrone River, at Tavola, between 1470 and 1474, Lorenzo commissioned Giuliano da Sangallo to build a villa that became the prototype of the country's noble residences in the following centuries. In fact, Lorenzo, through his favorite architect, was among the first to conceive of an agrarian space in which the territory was ordered and shaped according to the requirements of harmony. At that time it began to set the idea of the villa-fortress (like the Medici Villa of Careggi, more like a castle made only thirty years ago by Michelozzo for Cosimo the Elder, the grandfather of Lorenzo). This new aptitude was due to political issues, thanks to the period of peace and stability reached by Lorenzo's politics, and philosophical, according to the humanists.
On the ceiling of the so-called Dining Room there is a large fresco, by Anton Domenico Gabbiani, depicting the work of Cosimo The Elder, father of the homeland. The painting dates back to 1698 and was commissioned by Prince Ferdinando III de' Medici. This hall was also known as Salone degli stucchi but the stuccos in question, with portraits of Medici within medallions and other decorations, were removed in 1812 because they were considered too redundant. Only in some periods of the year is decorated the table with the table carp drawings designed by Agnolo Bronzino between the 1533 and 1548, beautifully woven with silk and filaments of gold and silver.
During World War II the monument was transferred in a protected place in order to avoid to be damaged by allied attacks, the statue of Ferdinando I was hidden in the Pisa Charterhouse and the four moors in the Medici Villa at Poggio a Caiano.
The monument has been restored recently in 1990 and 2013.
These first examples of Renaissance villa predate the age of Lorenzo de' Medici, who added the Villa di Poggio a Caiano by Giuliano da Sangallo, begun in 1470, in Poggio a Caiano, Province of Prato, Tuscany.
The villa was the place where foreign brides of the family members in Florence were welcomed. Here, among other events, were the weddings of Alessandro de' Medici and Margaret of Austria (1536), between Cosimo I and Eleanor of Toledo (1539), Francesco I and Bianca Cappello already his lover (1579). Bianca and Francesco also found death in this villa, for causes not fully clarified and suspected of poisoning.
The room Is dedicated to two important masterpieces of the Medici era recently restored: the imposing frieze that adorned the façade of the Villa and was commissioned by Lorenzo himself, and the precious tapestry of the Hunting Swan, one of 36 tapestries designed by Giorgio Vasari on commission of Cosimo I, especially for the Villa. Finally, though temporarily, the room is embellished with the 17th century painting of a beautiful family tree of the Medici family.[4]
Her marriage to Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, took place on 18 December 1565 in Florence, after she solemnly arrived in the city by the Porta al Prato. Giorgio Vasari and Vincenzo Borghini, with the help of Giovanni Caccini made big festivities for these event. The party was also taken to the Medici Villa in Poggio a Caiano.
He also worked in the church of San Giovannino degli Scolopi, the basilica of Santo Spirito, and the Medici villas at Poggio a Caiano and Careggi.
Isabella Lapi Ballerini, The Medici Villas. Complete Guide, Giunti 2003. Giardini di Toscana, Edifir, Florence 2001 La Villa medicea di Poggio a Caiano [The Medici villa at Poggio a Caiano], Sillabe, Livorno 2000. Mignani Daniela, The Medici Villas of Giusto Utens, Arnaud, 1993 Medri Litta Maria, The Myth of Lorenzo the Magnificent in the Villa Decorations of Poggio a Caiano, Editions Medicea, Florence 1992. Foster Philip Ellis, The Villa of Lorenzo de' Medici in Poggio a Caiano, Poggio a Caiano, Poggio a Caiano 1992. Marchi Annalisa, edited by, Laurenziani Itineraries: from the Villa of Cafaggiolo to the Villa of Poggio a Caiano through the Prese area, Giunti, Prato, 1992. The Villa of Poggio a Caiano (Library of "Lo Studiolo"), Becossi Editore, Florence 1986. Agriesti Luciano, Memory, Landscape, Project: The Cascine of Tavola and the Medici Villa of Poggio a Caiano from the historical use of resources, Trevi, Rome 1982. Bardazzi Silvestro, The Medici Villa of Poggio a Caiano, Prato Savings Bank and Deposit, Prato 1981. Gurrieri Francesco, The Stables of Villa Medicea of Poggio a Caiano, Autonomous Tourism Company, Prato 1980. Borea Evelina, edited by, La Quadreria di Don Lorenzo de' Medici: Villa Medicea di Poggio a Caiano, Centro Di, Florence 1977. Elisabetta Pieri, Luigi Zangheri, edited by, Niccolò called the Tribe of Art, Architecture and Landscape, Acts of the Conferential Study for the Centenary of Birth, Municipality of Poggio a Caiano, 2000. Pierluigi De Vecchi and Elda Cerchiari, The Times of Art, Volume 2, Bompiani, Milan 1999. ISBN88-451-7212-0
The Medici Villa of Poggio a Caiano, also called Ambra, is one of the most famous Medici villas and is located in Poggio a Caiano (Prato). Today it is state owned and it houses two museums: one of the historic apartments (ground floor and first floor) and the Museum of Still Life (second floor).
Following is the "room of the Camino" of the apartments of Bianca Cappello. The room, although eclecticly restored in the 19th century, still retains the beautiful white marble fireplace, with the floor supported by two telamons carved with remarkable plastic strength. The paternity of the work has not yet been clarified, but the scope of creation is surely close to Bernardo Buontalenti, as evidenced by the elusiveness of the torso and the imaginatively corrugated heads. Perhaps they are attributable to the Alfonso Parigi in the villa 1575, who was engaged by Cerreto Guidi at the Medici villa with Buontalenti during the same period.
In the summer of 2009 the villa welcomed the works of Helene Brandt and Donatella Mei who pay tribute to Isabella de' Medici La Hunting is the theme of the exhibition that was held at the villa where a series of tapestries were taken by Cosimo I and performed by Giovanni Stradano and Francesco Allori. The center of interest is represented by the tapestries depicting "The Wild Goose Hunt" and "The Swan Hunt".
It was built by Lorenzo de' Medici after buying a rustic farm from Giovanni Rucellai, who in turn had bought what was then a simple fortress from Palla Strozzi, built by the Cancellieri family of Pistoia at the beginning of the fifteenth century.
A particularly rare acquisition on the part of the Museum is a magic lantern dating from around 1790 from the Medici Villa at Poggio a Caiano, a temporary residence of the Lorena, Grand Dukes of Tuscany. The magic lantern is complete with its box and 108 original panoramic lantern slides that recount stories from Greek mythology and of Ancient Rome.
For the first two years of his reign, he retained his position as cardinal, but he gave it up in order to marry Christina of Lorraine in 1589. The couple had a large reception at the Medici Villa in Poggio a Caiano. Christina's dowry was considerably large; it included 600,000 crowns in cash as well as jewellery with a value of 50,000 crowns. Also, the rights of the Duchy of Urbino were transferred to Christina after the death of Queen Catherine de' Medici of France and thus assumed by future Medici rulers.
To the right there is access to the Bianca Cappello apartments, where it is possible to perceive more clearly than elsewhere the Renaissance aspect of the villa. Bianca Cappello was a well-educated and sophisticated Venetian noblewoman who had a relationship with Grand Duke Francesco I. This secret relationship involving the ruler of the city, already married to Joanna of Austria, and a newly married woman, was one of the greatest scandals of the Renaissance and one of the most romantic pages of the Medici saga: even though the two lovers did everything to be covered, their story was a topic of rumors from the beginning.
Afterwards, the theme of decoration changed, probably due to the arrival in the house of the first noble titles of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino and Giuliano de' Medici, Duke of Nemours, and became the illustrations of the glories of the Medici family, to which they clearly mentions the official themes of the paintings, that is, the Stories of Roman History.
The victory at Calabria gave Lorenzo de' Medici confidence to keep working with Giuliano. Consequently, Lorenzo commissioned him to design a villa in Poggio a Caiano after holding a competition to determine the best design. Giuliano was able to use Leon Battista Alberti's design for the Villa Medici in Fiesole as his initial inspiration. Construction on the villa began in 1485 and remained largely unfinished throughout Lorenzo's life. His son, Giovanni, oversaw its completion after being elected pope as Pope Leo X. Giuliano's design featured classical design elements including Ionic columns and an ancient temple style façade. The Medici Villa in Poggia a Caiano is one of the oldest examples of Renaissance-style country villas and served as an inspiration for many future architects of the era.
Poggio a Caiano has two sister cities:In 1473, a ruined fortified house at Poggio a Caiano called the Ambra, and land and a mill owned by Giovanni di Paolo Rucellai, were bought by Lorenzo de' Medici. Initially, only agricultural improvements were carried out; then in 1485, work began on the villa itself, to designs by Giuliano da Sangallo, who created a large fortified, quadrangular country house built around a central courtyard. A large central hall gave access to rooms with windows overlooking the surrounding countryside; at the time, this design was innovative.
The fresco decoration of Vertumnus and Pomona in the Medici country villa at Poggio a Caiano (near Montalbano) was painted by Jacopo Pontormo. The villa is set among orchards and gardens, and in summer, served as a retreat from the heat in Florence.
Soon Tribolo was fully employed by Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici. Many of the lavish productions of 16th-century court artists were ephemeral, like the tableaux and triumphal arches Tribolo created for Charles V's grand entrance into Florence in 1536. Diplomatic errands were also required: on Cosimo's orders, Tribolo went to Rome to induce Michelangelo to return to Florence and take up his uncompleted stairs in the vestibule of the Laurentian Library. In more lasting projects, Tribolo contributed the architectural framework of the rich funeral chapel of Cosimo's consort Eleonora di Toledo, rebuilt the old Villa Medici at Poggio a Caiano, where he apparently designed the new stables, and in the last year of his life laid out the first axial development of the Boboli Gardens behind Palazzo Pitti, where he oversaw construction of the amphitheatre before his premature death in 1550. In his gardens there and at the Medici villas La Petraia and Villa Castello, Tribolo is often credited with fathering the Italian garden—insofar as the phenomenon could have a single father.
Probably as a result of exploiting the substructures of the medieval castle, the manor house of the villa rises on a high basement, and recalls illustrious precedents like the Villa Medici at Poggio a Caiano by Giuliano da Sangallo, and the not far distant Villa dei Vescovi at Luvigliano by Giovanni Maria Falconetto. Building on the old foundations saved money, and gave a slightly raised setting to the building. This manoeuvre rendered necessary a scenographic staircase of several flights leading to the front door of the villa, the main descending to the courtyard and the two lateral ones connecting with the gable-ends of the barchesse. Thus, the ensemble recalls the structures of an antique, terraced temple complex.
Poggio a Caiano Florence Museums Franciscan Renaissance Pope Leo X Francesco I de' Medici Rosa Vercellana
The restoration was concluded in 2007 with the opening to the public of the second floor, where the Museum of Still Life was housed, in which the great paintings of Bartolomeo Bimbi As well as other works from the Medici villas of Castello, Topaia, Ambrogiana Other superintendence deposits. Topaia, the Ambrogiana and other depots of the superintendence.
On Lorenzo’s death in 1492, the villa was still largely unfinished; however, work resumed under Lorenzo’s second son, Giovanni, who became pope as Leo X. The central hall is named after this first Medici pope.