Firenze

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Firenze/Florence? Well known exile location or has the ECWtravelogue decided to embark upon the grand tour? And what exactly has the birthplace of the renaissance got to do with the Wars of the Three Kingdoms?

In all fairness, your immediate reaction of 'well that's got nothing to do with the Wars of the Three Kingdoms' would be correct. What Firenze did have was a ridiculously wealthy Edwardian Anglo-Italian gentleman, called Frederick Stibbert.

An English pot

Museo Stibbert. Stibbert's family was incredibly wealthy, his grandfather making a fortune from his role as General Commander of the East India Company, and governor of Bengal. 

You can get very close to many of the exhibits, possibly too close; but this brilliant to be able to see details that we normally see through a glass display cabinet 

Stibbert's father would be a colonel in the Coldstream Guards; and, through a series of deaths in the family, Frederick would inherit the entire vast fortune.

On the hill of Montughi, about a forty minute walk from the Duomo, Fredrick purchased a typical Tuscan villa. In Edwardian times any aspiring gentlemen started a 'collection', those with obscene amounts of money generally got a bit carried away. In London, The Wallace Collection is a great example of a gentleman's collection, but Stibbert's collection is the Wallace collection on steroids. And then some! He even built an Egyptian temple in the garden.

musket rests

Frederick had a fascination for oriental armour, and there are about 80 suits of 'samurai' armour in the collection; an astonishing collection of oriental militaria made even more astonishing by the fact that Frederick didn't visit the orient, he purchased it all from his friends who'd visited.

One or two zischagges, just lying around

I imagine, Frederick was in the right place, at the right time, helped by having very deep pockets. The collection has the most amazing collection of renaissance armour charting military fashion and technology from the birth of gunpowder weapons through to the age of the big battalions. 

Cabascet to morion

The collection is so vast, there are two C14th handguns lying on the floor partially hidden by a fire extinguisher in the Room of the Condottiere. There is almost certainly, more military hardware on display in this relatively small Tuscan villa than there is at the vast building that is the Royal Armouries in Leeds.

Not one, but four bandolier chargers sets on display

Thankfully, Frederick realised the importance of his collection and started turning his house into a museum (unlike Wallace who simply built up a great hoard of 'stuff' and stored it in one of the family's spare houses); he continued to live in the villa, it didn't become 'just a museum'.

Is that a very rare C17th drum, going slightly mouldy, that I spy?

Frederick's collection outgrew his villa, so he bought the next door Bombicci Villa and linked the two together with the 'Hall of the Cavalcade'.

The Hall of the Cavalcade

And the Wars of the Three Kingdoms?

It is in the the Hall of the Cavalcade that the already excited ECWtravelogue became very focussed. The room is dominated by twelve life sized horse mannikins (horssikins?) fully armoured each with a resplendent late C16th/early C17th fully armoured figure.

Glass cases line the walls of the Hall and the next few rooms, these are rammed full of matchlock mechanisms, wheel lock mechanisms, sword hilts, pistols...

Need a new mechanism, sir?

...or a new powder flask?

The billiards room houses a group of items that effectively show the transition from cuirassier to the classic 'English' harquebusier.

The collection continues with Napoleonic militaria, clothing worn by Napoleon for his coronation as King of Italy.

Of course Frederick didn't just collect militaria... there's art, crockery, C17th leather wall hangings, flags, Egyptology...

Frederick never married and had no direct heirs. In his will he expressed the desire that his collection (over 50,000 pieces) and the villa Montughi were to be established as a museum open to the public.

Well worth the walk to a quieter, almost tourist free part of Firenze.

Is there anything else in Firenze of relevance?

Charles II

The Museo Nazionale del Bargello has a fine collection of 30 Years War militaria, alas not currently on display as they are remodelling the former palace. In their medal/coin collection they have some fine examples of restoration gold.

Galleria degli Uffizi is clearly one of the world's great art collections, stuffed to the rafters with depictions of the Madonna and Child. Up on the second floor, south corridor of this former Medici palace (the bit where everyone is more interested in the view out of the window than the art) are small portraits of the rulers of Europe and the Mediterranean. At the western corner of the southern corridor you'll find Charles, and Charles II.

Palazzo Vecchio has an exhibition of Michaelango's defensive plans for Florence, and let's be honest who doesn't love a star fort diagram?

Palazzo Pitti, Cosimo I de’ Medici ducal residence houses many of his belongings. There is a portrait of the Lord Protector on display in the Palatine Gallery. Which made me think why on earth was a portrait of Cromwell here?

When in Firenze, and your evening stroll takes you over the Ponte Santa Trinita in order to get your 'arty' photo of Ponte Vecchio, carry on walking down Via Maggio where you'll find Gallori Turchi dal 1942, and more specifically their 'armi antiche' shop. 

One of those 'ring the doorbell' for entrance type shops, this is the first shop that I have seen 'real' knight's armour for sale in. They too boast a full sized armoured horse complete with 'knight' atop. They did have a very fine example of a zischagge for sale in the window, but alas I didn't have space in my hand luggage and we all know how funny budget airlines are about you wearing helmets in flight.

Rather over priced, about three times the going rate for a zischagge - in case you were wondering

If you are visiting Firenze for about a week, admission prices can quickly add up. Do your homework before you go: I purchased the Firenze Card which saved me rather a lot of money. If you are only there for two or three days it might not work out in your advantage. Plus if you can use the 'app version' of the card, it can currently be extended for a further 48 hours free of charge.

Postcodes for SatNavs
Museo Stibbert, Via Federico Stibbert, 26, 50134 Firenze
Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Via del Proconsolo, 4, 50122 Firenze
Galleria degli Uffizi, Piazzale degli Uffizi, 6, 50122 Firenze
Palazzo Vecchio,  Piazza della Signoria, 50122 Firenze
Palazzo Pitti, Piazza de' Pitti, 50125 Firenze
Gallori Turchi dal 1942, Via Maggio, 14/R, 50125 Firenze

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Thanks.

Comments

  1. Codsticker16 December 2024 at 16:10

    Fantastic photos - it looks like the kind of place any war gamer with an interest in the period should have on their bucket list.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Radar16 December 2024 at 21:31

      Thank you Codsticker. Apparently I was like a kid let loose in a sweet shop.

      A truly bonkers place. What a collection, my pictures only really focus on a very narrow part of the vast displays.

      Delete

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