DISCOVERING PISTOIA

GALLERIA VITTORIO EMANUELE E VIA DEGLI ORAFI

Built by Officine Michelucci using different elements and inaugurated in 1912 as Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.

Via degli Orafi - The Goldsmiths' Street

This is one of the most ancient streets of the city. In Roman times when the Cassia consular road crossed through Pistoia, the present via degli Orafi baecame the decumano, that is the street oriented along an east-west axis.
Once it had gone beyond the city gate (which, no doubt, was the most important gate in the city), the road continued on to Lucca. Following the tradition of naming city gates according to the destinations that one could reach from them, this gate was called the porta Lucensis. Proof of the via degli Omafi's continued use over time is found in its previous name, via Taberna, presumably for the large number of taverns lining the street where travelers could find food and drink.

Today the same name has been taken by as small lane that intersects the via degli Orafi. There where the heart of the Roman city had once been the Bracciolini delle Api family built their palazzo in the 1600s and it remained their residence until the first half of this century. The small building was constructed over more ancient houses which in part were already property of the Bracciolini family. Only the small workshop belonging to the Opera della Sapienza had to be bought in the late 1500s.
This acquisition allowed the palazzo to face onto the cathedral squame, thereby asserting its privileged and highly symbolic position. With respect to buildings of the same period belonging to other noble Pistoian families, this one has a rather original appearance in that it was inspired by the aesthetic canons of the cultural politics of the Grand Duchy. The Bracciolini were staunch supporters of the Medici to whom the busts on the façade are dedicated. Beginning with the bust above the entrance, they are: Ferdinando I (the Grand Duke of that time), Cosimo I (Ferdinando's father), the Great Duke Francesco (Cosimo's other son), and lastly, presumably, Duke Alessandro dei Medici. Even the frescos inside the entrance continue the celebratory cycle, with allegorical scenes referring to the city of Pistoia as well as to the Medici and Bracciolini families.

 

Piazza della Sala

Piazza del Duomo

S. Giovanni Fuorcivitas

     
Galleria Vitt. Emanuele Ospedale del Ceppo

S. Andrea



PISTOIA
PHOTOGALLERY



PISTOIA CITY MAP

 

 

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