Florence proves it self, as always, rich in history in all its components, not only in the traditional ones, such as museums, churches and squares, but also in the every-day elements like the markets, hospitals and precisely hotels, which are also immersed in the extraordinary artistic and cultural wealth of the city. However, even when evaluating these elements of the city, the importance of the past centuries risks putting the twentieth century, which on the other hand left so many artistic treasures to the Florentines, in the shade.
With the Brunelleschi Hotel, situated in Piazza St. Elisabeth number 3, one could begin an itinerary of welcome rich in works of art of our century and, more precisely of the Liberty period, which it is still possible to admire in some hotels in the city. The Brunelleschi Hotel, born from the ashes of the Stella Italia Hotel, unifies and integrates the remains of some pre-existing buildings, amongst which the medieval Tower of the Pagliuzza and the rooms of the antique Church of St. Michael in Palchetto. On the first floor the Liberty Hall is preserved in excellent condition, enhanced by the stained-glass windows decorated by the Galileo Chini Manufacturing between 1907 and 1911 with a motif based on floral themes. The left window portrays a decoration consisting of a weaving of thin foliage interspersed with white berries and golden apples on which exotic birds are to be found. The right window idealizes a pergola, not visible, from which vine-shoots dangle down, with bunches of grapes hanging among the various-coloured leaves.
The Roma Hotel, situated in Piazza Santa Maria Novella number 8, jealously preserves a series of nine polychromatic stained-glass windows, and the wall decorations carried out in 1928 by Tito Chini and Galileo Chini, which are also at the disposal of visitors. The decorative typology differs in three recurring themes: the basket of flowers, the puttos who support the festoons and the couple of fish facing each other. Each subject is resting on a rectangular base and framed by a border decorated by geometrical figures. The frieze above the subject bears the monogram HR of the hotel in the centre. Besides this, Tito Chini also designed many objects of the furnishings, thus realizing a totality of harmony typical and characteristic of Liberty.
The Regency Hotel, which is at Piazza Massimo D'Azelio number 3, was enhanced by Tito Chini in 1926 with the windows and stained-glass windows. The rooms on the ground floor display sixteen stained-glass windows, mounted in pairs on doors and windows, each one composed of modular sheets with a panel in the centre. Each panel depicts a figure of a lady or a gentleman. Some ladies wore a full skirt sewn onto the rigid and close-fitting corset; the headdress is with a big brim and rich plumage and they hold a yellow parasol in their hands. Some gentlemen are wearing a loose-fitting overcoat in scarlet cloth, the jabot trimmed with lace knotted like a scarf, the embroidered trousers end above the knee; with one hand they are holding a sword and are portrayed in a composed or gallant pose. The styles of the clothing take inspiration from the world of the eighteenth-century courts. The cartoons for the stained-glass windows were idealized by Tito Chini in 1926 for the villa Le Maschere, near Barberino del Mugello, then belonging to the family Ricci Crisolini. The stained-glass windows, however, were realized and carried out only in 1932 for the small villa in Piazza D’Azelio, at that time belonging to the same family Crisolini.
In the Cavour Hotel, situated in Via del Proconsolo number 3, Galileo Chini realized a remarkable artistic intervention. It is possible to admire his precious work on the inside of the adjoining restaurant Beatrice, where two rooms of the premises preserve the decoration with frescos of the walls and ceiling carried out in 1930 by the same Galileo and Tito Chini. In the first room it is possible to admire windows – polychromatic stained-glass windows realized by the same Chinis. Each window represents, in the centre, the figure of a putto, the first in a set pose, the second supporting a festoon of corncobs and ears of wheat, the third a festoon of leaves, and lastly the fourth of fruit and bunches of grapes.
Itinerario Liberty - Planning and Realization - Stefano Pelosi - www.stefanopelosi.it
