Culture of Tuscany Italy - Travel Guide & Information

Culture Of The Region Tuscany Of Italy

From the late Middle Ages and throughout the Renaissance, Toscana was a center for the arts and learning.  It was here that the Tuscan spoken language became the literary language of Italy after Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio used it instead of the traditional Latin to create profound works still read today.  And it was here that schools of architecture, sculpture, and painting developed from the 11th century in cities like Firenze, Pisa, Siena, and Arezzo.

Ruled by an oligarchy of wealthy aristocrats, the Medici family being the most dominant in the 15th century, the arts and literature flourished as nowhere else in Europe.  Firenze was the city of writers like Dante, Petrarch, and Macchiavelli, and artists and engineers such as Boticelli, Brunelleschi (who built the magnificent dome on the church of St. Mary of the Flowers), Alberti, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Michelangelo.

Lorenz' Medici, ruler of Firenze in the late 15th century, was perhaps the greatest patron of the arts in the history of the West.  Under the rule of the Medici family of Firenze, Toscana became a grand duchy in 1569, and a powerful political and economic force in addition to being one of the main intellectual and artistic centers in Europe at the time.

Raffaello came to Firenze from Urbino in the same year as Michelan's departure for Rome. He stayed there for four years -- long enough to leave a trace of his different conception of art as a means of justifying its own ends and as the fulfillment of the ideal form and technical perfection which, with the dramatic style of Michelangelo and the refined sensitivity of Leonardo, form the basis of Mannerism.

This style was already developing in the town, thanks to painters such as Bartolomeo della Porta and Andrea del Sarto, and later Jacopo Carucci (“il Pontormo”), a restless and problematic artist working in Firenze who heldfast to his view that art is ultimately a “conceptual” expression.  Additionally, Firenze artists of the time included Rosso Fiorentino, whose work showed signs of influence of Michelangelo’s style, and Agnolo Bronzino, whose work represents a very refined, formal and pure style.

On the request of Pope Leo X (a Medici), Michelangelo returned from Rome in 1516 to design the facade of San Lorenzo Church -- an appointment that was later cancelled and replaced with a Church vestry project for the tombs of Lorenzo and Giuliano dei Medici. But staying in Firenze was not to be.  Michelangelo forced to leave once again following the siege of Firenze by the Spanish in 1529 and the fall of the Republic, which had been re-established by Duke Alessandro dei Medici.  In 1534 he was recalled to Rome to undertake the Sistine Chapel frescoes. Meanwhile the character of the town of Firenze was dramatically changing.  Spacious piazzas created to hold town meetings and theatrical productions replaced the exclusivity of the internal palace courtyards and gardens – a sign of social openness and an interest in innovation. Giorgio Vasari, painter, architect and art historian, transformed the Palazzo degli Uffizi into a large urban hall. Bartolomeo Ammannati, sculptor and architect, transformed Palazzo Pitti into a long gable-surfaced structure that, together with the S. Trinita Bridge, are examples of how art can be applied to a technical object to create elegance.  Jewel-like fountains were constructed in places like Piazza Signoria, adorned with exquisite statues by sculptors like Giambologna.

Perhaps the most stunning example of the versatility of the culture during this time can be seen in the work of Bernardo Buontalenti, an extraordinary and multitalented individual as capable of designing and developing plans to build a town--which he did for the town of Livorno -- a fortress or a palace, as he was of designing jewels for the Grand Duchess.

In 1530 the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V conquered Firenze and re-established the Medici family in power. They were now dukes of Firenze, and within a few decades Cosimo de Medici was made Grand Duke of Toscana.  Cosimo aggressively pursued a policy of economic revival, building the great harbor at Livorno because the harbor of Pisa had silted up.  It was during this period that the Medici court firmly established its hold over the city, dominating every aspect of life. In the 17th century Firenze and Toscana increasingly faded into obscurity and did not revive until the 19th century.

Today, Toscana is a major cultural center attracting millions of tourists and steeped in its cultural past.  Stroll the streets of Firenze from ancient palace to cathedral, wander across the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) that straddles the Arno River, or visit any of the ancient towns—the region’s glorious past is both overwhelming and enchanting.

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