Florence, Casa Martelli Museum reopens after a year, prestigious collection of art from the 15th to the 19th century

Reopening to the public after one year, from Saturday, September 4, 2021, the Casa Martelli Museum, an integral part of the Bargello Museums. A private residence of the Martelli family until the 1980s and a valuable example of art collecting from the 15th to the 19th century, it will be accessible free of charge every Saturday with four rounds of guided tours at 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. for groups of up to 10 people, with no reservation required.

In addition to the guided tour of the mansion’s rooms, museum visitors will be able to admire the selection of works Baroque Presences from the Bargello National Museum, temporarily displayed at Casa Martelli, in anticipation of the planned refurbishment works in the Bargello’s Baroque rooms. The move of the works from the Bargello Museum thus gives an opportunity to see these masterpieces in the context of Casa Martelli. On display are three monumental busts: the Portrait of Cardinal Paolo Emilio Zacchia by Domenico Guidi (1654) and a pair of busts depicting Christ and the Virgin Mary whose enigmatic author, still unknown but possibly French, was able to combine the composed elegance of the drapery with the expressiveness of the faces and the movement of the busts.

Finally, from the Bargello also comes the bust of the young aristocrat Virginia Pucci Ridolfi, who died in 1568 at the age of only twenty-eight, displayed in the first room of the Quadreria.

In addition, on September 11, 18 and 25 at 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., the public visiting Casa Martelli will be welcomed in the Ballroom by concerts of the Florentine Chamber Orchestra conducted by maestro Giuseppe Lanzetta organized as part of the Estate al Bargello 2021 program. The concerts, which are free of charge and included in the tour, will feature Mattia Fusi in a piano recital on Sept. 11. On Sept. 18, Ludovico and Elettra Mealli, on violin and cello respectively, will play pieces from the repertoire of Antonio Vivaldi, Domenico Scarlatti and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Finally on the 25th, the Baroque trio composed of Matteo Saccà and Rossella Pugliano on violin and Giacomo Benedetti on harpsichord will play some pieces by Andrea Falconieri, Francesco Rognoni Taeggio, Dario Castello, Arcangelo Corelli and Tomaso Albinoni.

Casa Martelli, which belonged to the Martelli family until the family’s extinction in 1986 and later became the property of the Italian state, has been part of the Bargello Museums group since 2014. It has been the residence of an illustrious lineage in the history of Florence and art collecting since the 15th century. Its precious picture gallery, in rooms frescoed by Vincenzo Meucci and Tommaso Gherardini, testifies to the prestige of the art collections with some masterpieces by famous artists such as Mino da Fiesole, Piero di Cosimo, Domenico Beccafumi, Salvator Rosa, and Luca Giordano. Acquired by the state in 1999, the palace retains some striking rooms decorated entirely in landscape and in imitation of a winter garden, which restore the memory of the life that was conducted in the house until the family’s extinction in 1986.

Pictured is the Winter Garden of the Martelli House Museum. Photo by Antonio Viscido

Florence, Casa Martelli Museum reopens after a year, prestigious collection of art from the 15th to the 19th century

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