History
Today under the tutelage of the Fine Arts, the building dates back to the 13th century.During the renaissance, it was a convent, and still preserves intact the features of its origins, such as the wooden beamed ceilings characterising the majority of the rooms, and the perfect acutely curved vaults and Romanesque styled columns in the halls and common areas.
A welcoming establishment where every room is truly unique and different from the others, offering sophisticated guests a glimpse of Florentine history – like a window open onto the past.
On the ground floor, a monumental ceramic vase astounds visitors: all of four metres in height, and one and a half metres in diameter – weighing roughly one hundred and fifty kilos.
This work was created in 1898 by the award winning Premiata Fabbrica di Ceramiche Artistiche Salvini & C in Florence, to commemorate the first fifty years of the Albertino Statute. An impressive undertaking that can be regarded as a challenge to the state-of-the-art of its time.
Following the factory’s closing, the vase was purchased by the proprietors of the Hotel Nuovo Atlantico – today the Machiavelli Palace – but was irreparably damaged during its transport.
It was thus abandoned in a courtyard, exposed to the elements, and all but forgotten.
Finally, in 1985, it was entrusted to the care of the Studio S. Spirito in Florence, for a complex restoration which lasted over two months.
“It is a unique work, and in many ways unrepeatable,” states Laura Grossi, who manages the Studio together with her daughter Francesca. “In the late 19th century, there was a lot of experimentation: Salvini used glazed earthenware, a material that is very poor and not too robust… a courageous undertaking indeed.”
The vase is empty and curved like a vessel, and the structure is assembled in six pieces – given the reduced dimensions of kilns at the time.
The restoration work proved very complex confesses Francesca, “and in addition to faithfully rebuilding a whole series of missing pieces, respecting the work’s level of sculptural accuracy, we had to ensure the stability of this enormous structure.”
Comfortably seated in the Hotel’s sofas, guests now admire the great vase and ask about its history.A history which recounts all the passion, generosity, commitment… and even a pinch of the stubbornness we Tuscans have been handing down for many a generation.
