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Florentine Architecture in the 19th Century and the Influence of the French - Introduction

Introduction (by Giovanni Fanelli) The infusion of neoclassical achitecture .
From the end of the eighteenth to the early years of the nineteenth centuries, international politics inevitably involved Tuscany, and Ferdinando III of Lorraine could not prevent the Grand Duchy from being occupied by Napoleon's army. This occupation lasted from 1799 to 1814 and took on various forms. During the French occupation, laws and the government organization were improved, and many major public works were launched in Tuscany, such as the expansion of the road network (Val Tiberina, etc.) and the organization of the hospital system, just to cite a few examples. In 1808 the religious orders were suppressed and their assets were taken over by the State which thus came into the possession of vast areas and many buildings.

The grand duchess Elisa surrounded herself with artists such as Antonio Canova, Lorenzo Bartolini, Giuseppe Cacialli, and Pietro Benvenuti. The architect Giuseppe Del Rosso and the engineers Paolo Veraci and Salvatore Falleri prepared grandiose urban renewal plans. Del Rosso (1760-1831), Zanobi's son, distinguished himself among young architects who tried to directly relate the issue to the culture of the French Enlightenment, even on the theoretical level. His complex activity as historiographer, critic and teacher played a very important role in guiding the culture of the times through his influence over his pupils, even though the Restoration interrupted the process he started, marking a return to accademicism.

It was Del Rosso who developed grandiose plans for a Napoleonic Forum (1810) and for reorganizing the city centen The creation of the Forums that would been in the area between the walls, Via Larga, Via S. Sebastiano (today Via Gino Capponi) and the extension of Via del Mandorlo (now Via G. Giusti) would have required the demolition of the convents of San Domenico al Maglio, of Santa Caterina, of San Clemente, of Santa Lucia, and the occupation of the gardens and property of San Marco and the Annunziata. The Forum was to have served as "a pleasant setting for the citizens for every type of entertainment and military exercises", with a colossal monument to Napoleon in the middle.

It is significant that these grandiose projects were rejected by Paris as too costly for a city lacking much more necessary structures. It was also Del Rosso who prepared the plans for widening Via Calzaiuoli (1811) and for expanding the piazza in front of the Baptistry, on the side of the archibishop's palace, which was done later, at the end of the century, as part of the "reorganization" of the center and called for a continuous portico "to service as a fruit and vegetable market" on the western and southern sides.

During the same years, plans were made to widen Via Martelli, straighten the south side of Pjazza del Duomo, extend piazza della Signoria as far as the Mercato Nuovo (today the straw market), open what is today Via XXVII Aprile and extend the lungarno from the Ponte alla Carraia as far as the portico of Ognissanti. Some of these projects were resumed during the Lorraine Restoration. In the works Del Rosso did between 1812 and 1817 from the Liceo Regio in Borgo Pinti to the Teatro Goldoni in Via Santa Marta, the Mannerist variations of the architectural language are the result of the resolution of the design tradition in an original version of the principles of neoclassical poetics, such as the rejection of ornamentation, the elegant smooth and prevalently full surfaces and the search for simplicity of proportions. In 1810, on the site of the secularized convent of S. Orsola, Bartolomeo Silvestri built the Manifattura Tabacchi in Via Guelfa, one of the first examples of an industrial building in the urban context.

During the French domination, in 1813, the Galleria and the music conservatory were annexed to the Accademia di Belle Arti. In 1859 the Accademia's organization was modernized. Elisa lavishly furnished Palazzo Pitti transforming it into the Empire Style. Furniture and other pieces brought from Paris influenced tastes in local production such as the Manifattura di Doccia (porcelain) and alabaster from Volterra.

With measures that must be related to similar initiatives in other cities (such as Lucca), in a truly modern vision that conferred a new dimension to the role and concept of green public areas, Elisa transformed the grand duke's park, Le Cascine into a public park. Up to then it had only been open to Florentines on the Feast of the Ascension or special occasions, and from that time on, it was the place for the daily stroll. Le Cascine were also the site of military exercises that attracted huge crowds on parade days.

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