History, Costumes and Silk: Sew Me the Money!

As Urie and I are venturing to Pisa tomorrow, we decided to take it easy today. I slept in (awoke at 9:00 a.m. or so), then ventured to Palazzo Pitti. Seriously, our place is just a block away from a most beautiful ducal palace turned museum in Firenze.

Inner Court of Palazzo Pitti (See previous entry of outside)

This was my second visit to the Pitti (see very first entry) but not my last, as I have yet to see the Boboli gardens. While I had seen the art gallery previously, I concentrated my efforts on the porcelain, argentry and costume wings of the palace.

Objets d'art

Cameo Collection of Daily Scenes

Cosimo I (the first Medici to have an official noble title on Florentine soil--remember they were bankers) married the daughter of the Viceroy of Napoli, la bella Eleonora. Not content to raise her brood in the Palazzo Vecchio via Larga,  she bought the Palazzo Pitti (which is ginormous) and added to the construction thereof to meet her living standards. The palazzo is a rectangular set of buildings with inner court, posterior gardens, and wings aplenty. (And let's not forget the stairs!)

Some of the rooms were used for official duties, assembly with the duke and the court. Some rooms were for private use only, as the one below.

Private Appartment

One of Many Staircases

Eleonora's marriage was a happy one and produced 11 children, though most died early or young. One son was even, according to rumors, killed by his older brother, who followed him quickly to the grave ("offed" by his father in anger).


In reality, they both died of malaria (the bodies were exhumed not long ago and studied by a team of forensic anthropologists), and Eleonora followed them to the tomb two weeks later.

The pieces I wanted to see in particular were the burial clothes of Cosimo, Eleonora and their son Garzia. As I said, the bodies were exhumed not long ago (in the last two decades) but had also been tempered with in the 1940s. The latest endeavor even brought to light a piece of garment that had been ignored in the previous opening. The clothes were painstakingly put together again from remnant pieces found after the second great war (some dissolving to the touch into fabric powder).  What is left is kept under dimmed lighting in a humidity-free environment.

Burial Dress

Bodice and Socks

Aside from Garzia's outfit, Cosimo and Eleonora's burial clothes are barely leftover rags that lets one see what once was but no longer is.  (We can blame body decomposition for the damages.) Because of contagion and the rush to bury her, it is said that Eleonora's dress was not properly fastened and that one of her stockings had been put on backwards. She was wearing an everyday dress rather than something to represent her standing in society as there was no time to make her a princely attire for the occasion.

Garzia, Deat at 15

His Cape

Next to that  very dark room, I saw an array of fashion costumes from the late 1800s to nowadays, which included a substantial collection of 1960 pieces. They were of lesser interest to me, simply because I am reading a book titled Florence and the Medici by J.R. Hale, and have developed an obsessive interest in that family in particular.

Newer collection at the Pitti:

Beautifully Executed

It's in the Details

So far, my favorite museum has not been the Pitti but the lesser known museo San Marco, which housed dominican friars up until not so long ago. Commissioned by Cosimo (pater patraes--not Cosimo I, who comes from another branch of the family), the museum contains a series of cells with particular frescoes painted by Angelico. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera on Thursday when we visited.

We left our place in a hurry in fluvial conditions, so the camera was less important than grabbing an umbrella. I will go again, sans Urie, to take pictures of that beautiful yet simple museum. (I loved the architecture and the idea that Cosimo had his own private cell when he wanted to meditate away from the demands put upon him by his position in the city.)

1910s

Beading Not Apparent

Love the Boots