The result of the building expansion of the town in the direction of the Railway Station, which took place in the early years of the twentieth-century, Viale della Repubblica, previously Viale Umberto I, offers numerous notable points of interest from the point of view of architectural decorations, imputable to the San Lorenzo Furnaces, small villas, and small apartment buildings of which it was made up. At street number 41 , one small villa has two square tiles in slight relief figuring a stylized flower on the top part of the facade, crowned by a long line of small painted triangles, while on the opposite side of the street, another facade has a simple decoration with four diamond-shaped blue tiles on the crowning of the openings of the first floor. Further on, on the great façade of the building at number 84 one may still see, even though very faded, a monochromatic decorative painted frieze. The house at the following street number 88, on the other hand, has a large decorative frieze composed of polychromatic tiles at the height of the last floor.
On the opposite side of the boulevard, at number 57, a beautiful building shows a lunette inside of which a very beautiful round decorative motif in majolica representing a highly stylized insect has been inserted, above each of the two windows of the balconies on the first floor. On the inside of the building some environments, amongst which a magnificent entrance-hall, painted and covered by coloured, decorated tiles, are still well-preserved. The beautiful painted decoration also bears the date 1912 and was probably taken from cartoons supplied by Galileo Chini. Crossing the street, it is possible to admire the façade of the joiner’s workshop of Cesare Bini at number 90, of which the great insignia painted between the windows on the top floor is still visible; this was the premises of the joiner’s workshop which, in various occasions, for the furnishings of the Town Hall and the Balcony - Salaiole Chapel, produced the furniture for the rooms realized by the Furnaces. Finally, at number 92, the openings of the upper floor, both on the facade and also on the East side, are decorated on the crowning with polychromatic tiles with a shining metallic finish. They are decorations with a noteworthy, refined stylization and with an efficient chromatic effect, realized through the use of a very high quality metallic gloss. The external decorations of the beautiful house on the corner of Piazza Dante are also worthy of notice.
Itinerario Liberty - Planning and Realization - Stefano Pelosi - www.stefanopelosi.it
