The four beautiful exhibitions epitomize a glorious moment in the history of the Mugello, the valley which was the homeland of the Florentine art (Giotto, Fra Angelico and Andrea del Castagno) and of the Medici family, the Renaissance lords who made art the main instrument of their politics and an emblem of their wealth.
Info & Booking
29 May – 30 November 2008
Opening hours: from Thursday to Sunday 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Exhibition Seats:
Museo della Manifattura Chini, Borgo San Lorenzo
Convento del Bosco ai Frati, San Piero a Sieve
Palazzo dei Vicari, Scarperia
Museo Beato Angelico, Vicchio
The Mugello Culla Del Rinascimento Card allows you to visit the four seats of the exhibitions, open at the same times, and offers special concessions from the time of purchase up to 30 November, without any extra charge. The Mugello Culla Del Rinascimento Card gives you facilities and discounts, as:
free access to Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence and many museums of the Sistema Museale Mugello Montagna Fiorentina,
reduced price entrance to other museums of the territory,
as well as reductions in a range of restaurants, accommodation facilities and shops throughout the territory,
Free Coach Service leaving from Florence to visit the scattered exhibition in one day. It will be every Sunday in June, July, September, October and November 2008. Booking is mandatory: tel. +39 055 8468165.
The Card will be valid from the moment of purchase until November 30th, 2008: with the same Card, holders can visit the various exhibition seats on different days and take advantage of the benefits it offers without having to pay an extra cost.
Guided Tours: On Saturdays and Sundays, for the whole period of the exhibition, free guided tours will be organized in the four exhibition seats.
Mugello The Cradle of Renaissance
The series of exhibitions going under the title The Mugello, Cradle of the Renaissance (May 29th – November 30th 2008) are one of the most successful initiatives by the Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze, part of the project Little Big Museums created by Antonio Paolucci, today director of the Vatican Museums.
Starting from the famous frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli in Palazzo Medici Riccardi - the first palace of the dynasty - which, as everyone knows, represent a Mugello landscape, the initiative continues with four exhibitions:
The Convent of Bosco ai Frati in San Piero a Sieve hosts Donatello, Brunelleschi and the Man on the Cross (curated by Francesco Caglioti), featuring three masterpieces: the Wooden Christ from the circle of Donatello, kept at Bosco ai Frati, Donatello’s Crucifix from the Basilica of Santa Croce, and that of Brunelleschi from Santa Maria Novella. A unique opportunity to recall the challenge between the two Masters described by Vasari as regards the execution of a Crucifix.
The Mugello and the arts: Giotto, Fra Angelico and Andrea del Castagno (Luciano Bellosi), set up in the Beato Angelico Museum of Vicchio. Brought together for the exhibition are Giotto’s Saint Stephen, loaned by the Fondazione Horne, Dante and Boccaccio by Andrea del Castagno, from the Uffizi, the Altarpiece of Bosco ai Frati by Fra Angelico, from the Museum of San Marco, and two precious small panel paintings by Giotto (Saint Francis and Saint John the Baptist) belonging to the Ente Cassa di Risparmio of Florence.
The Medici Villas (Isabella Lapi Ballerini), set up in the Museo della Manifattura Chini in Borgo San Lorenzo. On display are some of the famous lunettes showing the Medici villas painted by the Flemish artist Justus van Utens, as well as portraits, such as those of the various members of the Medici dynasty by Bronzino, sculptures, drawings, ceramics, maps and documents dating to the Medici era.
The Medici in Arms (Mario Scalini) in the premises of the Palazzo dei Vicari in Scarperia, documents the military aspect of this powerful dynasty, displaying precious armour and the portraits of the Medici in arms, including the marble bust by Sangallo and the painting by Giovan Battista Naldini of Giovanni dalle Bande Nere and the portrait of Cosimo I by Bronzino.
On display are paintings, sculptures, ceramics, documents, portraits, weapons and suits of armour among which are several masterpieces all exemplifying the genius loci and the culture of the Medici, the men and women from the Mugello who ruled over Tuscany for three centuries modelling it as a single work of art.