Gondi, una dinastia fiorentina ed il suo palazzo

On 12 December the book “Gondi, una dinastia fiorentina ed il suo palazzo” was presented at Palazzo Gondi to great acclaim. Edited by Gabriele Morolli and Paolo Fiumi, and supported by a remarkably rich body of images, it recounts the history of the Gondi, their artistic and architectural treasures.

Marco Calafati retraces the family's fortunes between Florence and Paris, revealing an unknown drawing by Leonardo da Vinci dedicated to Giuliano Gondi, and the account book of Antonio Gondi, which records the sums the family spent to finance half of Giovanni da Verrazzano's first voyage, the one on which the bay of New York was discovered.

With Linda Pellecchia we watch the palace in Piazza San Firenze rise from the will of Giuliano Gondi il Magnifico and the genius of Giuliano da Sangallo, who left two supreme testimonies: the grand staircase in the courtyard and the majestic fireplace described by Marco Campigli. Anna Bisceglia accompanies us into the Gondi Chapel in Santa Maria Novella, another masterpiece by Sangallo, which guards the celebrated Crucifix by Filippo Brunelleschi. With Paolo Bertoncini Sabatini and Giovanni Matteo Guidetti we return to the palace to admire the monumental fountain, the Baroque paintings and the nineteenth-century painted cycles.

Gabriele Morolli retraces the completion of the building as we see it today, the work of Giuseppe Poggi, the architect of Florence as capital of Italy. Paolo Fiumi, finally, describes the atmosphere of the twentieth century and documents the masterly restoration, six years in the making, that has returned the ancient Gondi residence to Florence in its recovered splendour. A.D.S.I
The book was expertly presented, in a packed hall, by Isabella Lapi Ballerini, Regional Director for the Cultural and Landscape Heritage of Tuscany, and by Alessandra Marino, Superintendent for the Architectural, Landscape, Historical and Artistic Heritage of the Provinces of Florence, Pistoia and Prato, while the preface was written by Cristina Acidini, Superintendent of the Polo Museale Fiorentino. The book was commissioned by Bernardo and Vittoria Gondi and published by Polistampa.