Art in Tuscany _ Podere Santa Pia, Holiday House in the South of Tuscany

8/9/2019 Art in Tuscany _ Podere Santa Pia, Holiday House in the South of Tuscany

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Luca Signorelli, se lfportrait,, fresc o of the Deeds of the Antichrist (c.15 01 ) in O rvieto Cathedral

Luca Signorelli (1445 – 1523)

Luca Signorelli was an I talian Re naissa nce painter who was noted in particular forhis ability as a draughtsman and his use of foreshortening. His massive frescoesof the Last Judgment (1499–1503) in O rvieto Ca thedral are considered hismasterpiece. Signorelli worked in Ro me from 1478–1484. He assisted in the

decoration of the lower walls of the Sistine Chape l. The Te stame nt of Moses isalmo st entirely of his hand. In the latter year he returned to his native Cortona,which remained from this time his ho me . In the Mona stery of Monte O livetoMaggiore (Siena) he pa inted eight frescoes , forming part of a vas t series of thelife of St. Benedict; they a re at present m uch injured.

Luca Signorelli was active in various cities of central Italy, notably Arezzo,Florence, O rvieto, Pe rugia, and Rom e. According to Vasari, Signorelli was a pupilof Piero della Francesca and this see ms highly probable on stylistic grounds, fo rhis solid figures and sens itive handling o f light echo the work of the m aster.Signorelli differed from Piero della Francesca, however, in his interest in therepresentation of action, which put him in line with contemporary Florentineartists.

He e xecuted various sa cred p ictures, showing a study of Botticelli and Lippo Lippi.Pope Sixtus IV comm issioned Signorelli to paint som e frescoes, now mostly verydim, in the shrine of Loreto — Angels, Doctors of the C hurch, Evangelists,Apostles, the Incredulity of Thomas and the Conversion of St Paul. He alsoexecuted a single fresco in the Sistine Chapel in Rome, the Acts of Moses.Another, Moses a nd Zipporah, which has be en us ually ascribed to Signorelli, isnow recognized a s the work of P erugino.

The wall paintings of the Sistine Chapel are among the most important examplesof the type of pa inting developed in Florence in the later fifteen th century. Thefive artists brought to Ro me to ex ecute them were Botticelli, Ghirlandaio andRoss elli from Florence, Pe rugino from Umbria and Luca Signorelli from Cortona.Signorelli worked in Ro me from 1478–1484. He assisted in the de coration of thelower walls of the Sistine Chape l. The Te stame nt of Moses is almo st entirely of his hand. In the latter year he returned to h is native Cortona, which remainedfrom this time his home.In the Monastery of Monte Oliveto Maggiore (Siena) he painted eight frescoes,

Luc a Signorellli, se lf portrait (on the

left) with Fra A ngelico in the San Brizio

C hapel, O rvieto

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forming part of a vast se ries o f the life of St. Benedict. The two last frescoes o f the Monte O liveto se ries indicate that an immense force lay in reserve, waiting anopportunity for some wider and freer field of action, than had hitherto presenteditself. That oppo rtunity now came, when, a t the age of fifty-nine, he was calledupon to und ertake the vas t work of these Orvieto frescoes. From the Mo nastery of Monte O liveto Ma ggiore, Signorelli went to O rvieto, where he painted amagnificent se ries of six frescoes illustrating the end of the world and the Las tJudgem ent (1499-1504), in the chapel of S. Brizio (then called the Cappe llaNuova), in the cathedral. The Cappella Nuova already contained image s in thevaulting over the a ltar by Fra Angelico, who ha d begun the murals fifty yearsearlier. The works of Signorelli in the vaults and on the uppe r walls represent theevents su rrounding the Apocalypse and the La st Judgme nt. The work is entirelythe product of Signorelli's powerful imagination, though, o f course, he wasinfluenced by literary sources - Gospe ls, Apocryphal Gospels, Golden Lege nd, andDante's Divine Com edy.The e vents of the Apocalypse fill the space whichsurrounds the entrance into the large chapel.In the grand and dramatic scenes in Orvieto, inspired by the Divine Co medy of Dante Alighieri, he displayed a m astery of the nude in a wide variety of poses

surpassed at that time only by Michelange lo. Perhaps the m ost interesting is theenigma tic sea ted nude youth in Signorelli's Last Acts and Dea th of Moses in theSistine Cha pel, which is rema rkably close to so me of the Ignudi pa inted byMichelange lo on the ceiling of the chapel a quarter of a century later.

By the end of his career, however, Luca had be come a conse rvative artist, workingin provincial Co rtona, where his large workshop produced numerous a ltarpieces.In 1520 Signorelli went with one of his pictures to Arezzo. He was partiallyparalysed when he began a fresco of the Baptism of C hrist in the chapel of Cardinal Pa sserini's palace nea r Cortona, which (or else a Coronation of the Virginat Foiano) is the last picture of his spe cified.

Po rtrait of Luca Signorelli (left) and the

chamberlain Nicc olò d'Agnolo Franchi

The portraits, as identified by the

inscription at the bottom, are Luca

Signorelli, who painted the frescoes inthe San Brizio Chapel between 14 99

and 150 4, and the chamberlain Nicc olò

d'A gnolo, in office during that time.[3]

Cortona

The prede lla of the altarpiece depicts me Agony in the Garden, the Las t Supper, theArrest of Christ, and the Flage llation.

The central group of the Virgin Mary, the dead Christ and a h oly woma n who k isseshis hand have bee n correctly related to the very similar group at Orvieto (Fig. 58/20on p. 204). It is now certain that these figures de rive from me sam e cartoon andwere used first in Cortona, and subs equently at Orvieto. The fame of thisaltarpiece, which Vasari described in 1550 a s he ld to be a be autiful thing and worthyof great p raise, resulted in various other variants. I n 1505 Signorelli wascommiss ioned to p aint the high altarpiece for the church of Sant'Agostino atMatélica (Cats. 65-9) "just as he has painted and perfected the high a ltarpiece of the church of San ta Margherita in Cortona". The fresco a t Cas tiglion Fiorentino (Cat.72) also derives from the Cortona Lamentation.

"The expressive pathos of the picture has sometimes been related to Vasari's tragicdescription of how Signorelli stripped a nd drew me lifeless bo dy of h is so n withoutshedding a tear. Some commentators have gone further and suggested that thefigure of Christ in this picture was ba sed on this posthum ous s tudy. While theremay be a grain of truth in Vasa ri's ane cdote (which Vasari introduced a s local

hearsay), mere are problems with connecting it to the C ortona Lame ntation.Signorelli's son Antonio was alive in February 1502, when mis picture wascompleted, but he died-almost certainly of the plague-in the summer of 1502. Onepossibility is that Antonio was m e m odel for me figure o f Christ in this painting, andmat Vasari's pathetic anecdote was an accretion that followed Antonio Signorelli'sdeath a nd me contemporary "unveiling" of Signorelli's altarpiece. [1]

This work see ms to be s training to es cape from the cruel and tragic style of the LastJudgme nt of Orvieto and the Lamentation of Co rtona, in order to imitate the swee ttones o f the a iry architecture of R aphael and the n ew sixteenth-century school.

The iconography of this panel is very unusual. The apostles, some standing, someon their kne es, surround Christ to receive the conse crated Host. This contrasts withthe traditional way in which the a postles a re represen ted, sea ted around a settable. A classical structure functions as a ba ckground. T he work rem inds one of therhythmic works of Pe rugino and see ms to imitate Rapha el's School of Athens. Thefigure of Judas is stupendous; he is leaning to one side hiding the Host in his bagwith a look that shows the painful realization of his betrayal.

Communion of the Apostles (detail),

151 2, Museo D iocesano, Cortona

Luca Signorelli, Lamentation over the Dead Christ, scene from the predella The Flagellation, 150 2, Museo Diocesano, Cortona

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The Lamentation over the Dead Christ in its original arrangement, mounted in anantique frame with pillars in which were represented seven saints, on ce enriched thescenography of the high altar of the ancient church of St Margaret in Cortona. Thiswas surely admired by Pope Leo X when, during a stop on his way to Bologna tomeet Francis I o f France, he visited the church in 1515. In the s econd ha lf of the1700s the painting was moved, deprived o f its frame, and finally placed in the choirof the cathedral of its origin.

"The expressive pathos of the picture has sometimes been related to Vasari's tragicdescription of how Signorelli stripped a nd drew me lifeless bo dy of h is so n withoutshedding a tear. Some commentators have gone further and suggested that thefigure of Christ in this picture was ba sed on this posthum ous s tudy. While theremay be a grain of truth in Vasa ri's ane cdote (which Vasari introduced a s localhearsay), mere are problems with connecting it to the C ortona Lame ntation.Signorelli's son Antonio was alive in February 1502, when mis picture was

completed, but he died-almost certainly of the plague-in the summer of 1502. Onepossibility is that Antonio was m e m odel for me figure o f Christ in this painting, andmat Vasari's pathetic anecdote was an accretion that followed Antonio Signorelli'sdeath and me contemporary unveiling of Signorelli's altarpiece. [1]

The Lame ntation, a work done entirely the artist alone, reveals all the po etry of thepainter even in the context of an unrefined style which may see m de clamatory,scenic and rhetorical. In the predella that Signorelli probably painted with the he lpof his assistant, Gerolamo Genga, four scenes from the Passion of Christ arerepresented: The Prayer in the Garden, The Last Supper, The Capture and The Flagellation.

Lamentation over the Dead Chris t (detail),

150 2, Museo D iocesano, Cortona

Luca Signorelli’s Communion of the Apostles d epicts the mom ent in which Christadministers his body and blood to the Apostles.The iconography of this panel is very unusual. The apostles, some standing, someon their kne es, surround Christ to receive the conse crated Host. This contrasts withthe traditional way in which the a postles a re represen ted, sea ted around a settable. A classical structure functions as a ba ckground. T he work rem inds one of therhythmic works of Pe rugino and see ms to imitate Rapha el's School of Athens. Thefigure of Judas is stupendous; he is leaning to one side hiding the Host in his bagwith a look that shows the painful realization of his betrayal.

Luca Signorelli, Communion of the

Apost les , 151 2, panel 232 x 220 cm,

Museo Diocesano, Cortona

A further work by Signorelli can be fo und in the unass uming Chiesa di San Nicolo.Climbing from Piazza della Repubblica on Via Santucci and then Via Berrettini brings youinto the upper town. Beyond a cypress-lined courtyard, is the 15th century Chiesa di San Nicolò. The unass uming 15th-century church has a sma ll porch with slender

columns. Ring the bell on the left-hand side wall, and the caretake r will take you toSignorelli's double-sided altarpiece, revealed by a neat hydraulic system thatswivels the picture away from the wall.In 1440 Saint Bernardino of Siena founded the Compagnia di San Niccolò there. Thehigh altar conse rves the standard of the compagnia which was p ainted on bothsides by Luca Signorelli. The front represents the Deposition of Christ surroundedby angels and saints. On the back is the Madonna and Child enthroned betweenSaints Peter and Paul. O n the le ft wall, Signorelli's fresco of the Madonna, Child and Saints on the left is reminiscent of his mo re famo us work in O rvieto.

Compianto sul Cristo morto tra angeli e

santi (151 6 c irca), Cortona, chiesa di

San Niccolò

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The Re naissance palace Palazzo P asserini (called Il Palazzone) is located outsidethe ma ssive ancient town walls of Co rtona. T he interior is compose d of a s pacious,arcaded courtyard with a central well. Opposite the courtyard from the entrancethere is the Chapel, with Luca Signorelli's Baptism of Christ , in unfortunately badcondition. Vasari wrote of this painting that Signorelli “was not able to finish itbecause he die d while he was working on it”.

Orvieto

Luc a Signorelli, Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvie to

The decoration of the San Brizio chapel in the O rvieto Ca thedral.started in 1447 byFra Angelico and Benozzo Gozzoli, who e xecuted two comp ositions (Christ the Judgeand Prophets) on the vaults. [1] The com mission was only revived at the end of thecentury. The painter Luca Signorelli was chosen thanks to his fame as a fastexe cutor. In only three years, from 1499 to 1502, the de coration was planned a ndexe cuted, with a spe ed and e fficiency that is practically unique in the history of Italian art.His massive frescoes of the Last Judgment (1499–1503) in O rvieto Ca thedral areconsidered his masterpiece. In the g rand and drama tic scenes, inspired by theDivine Co medy of Dante Alighieri, Luca Signorelli displayed a mastery of the nudein a wide variety of poses surpassed at that time only by Michelangelo.

As far as the s ubject ma tter is concerned, it is one of the m ost impo rtant subjectsof Christian iconography. It is likely that for the ceiling frescoes (the groups o f Apostles, Angels, Patriarchs, Doctors of the Church, Martyrs and Virgins) Signorellisimply completed the programm e that had o riginally been devised b y Fra Angelico.But the frescoes on the s ide walls, although the basic subject would have beenplanned in accordance with the Ca thedral's administrators and theologians , arewholly the product of Signorelli's fertile imagination. The side walls are covered withseven large scenes:the Sermon and Deeds of the Antichrist, the Destruction of the World, theResurrection of the Flesh, the Damned, the Elect, the Paradise a nd the Hell.The lower part of the walls is decorated with grotesque patterns and with busts of

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Luca Signorelli, Come Benedetto dice alli monaci dove e quando avevano mangiato fuori dal monastero (dettaglio), A bbey of Monte O liveto

Maggiore

In Chiusu ra, five m iles south of Asciano, in the province of Siena, the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, an imposing monastic compound featuring the famouscycle of frescoes Le storie di Benedetto by Luca Signorelli and Antonio Bazzi, called Il Sodoma, an ingenious a rtist from Piedmont who lived at the turn of the 16thcentury.The abbey was founded in 1319 by three Senese noblemen, Bernardo GiovanniTolomei, Pa trizio Patrizi and Ambrogio Piccolomini, who de cided to give up theirwealth and privileges in favour of living according to the rule of St Benedict.The abbey boasts three 15th century cloisters, of which the most magnificent is therectangular Chiostro Grande , constructed be tween 1426 and 1443. I t is mad e up of

two walkways one above the other, suppo rted by columns. Th e po rtico is decoratedwith a fresco cycle depicting the life of St Benedict by Luca Signorelli, who beganwork on its 36 la rge scenes in 1497. The cycle was finished in 1508 by Sodoma . TheChiostro Centrale is composed of a portico that rests on p olygonal columns that leadto the ma gnificent Refectory , decorated with frescoes by Fra’ Paolo Novelli.

From the Mona stery of Monte O liveto Mag giore nea r Siena , Signorelli went toOrvieto, and produced his ma sterpiece, the frescoes in the chapel of S. Brizio (thencalled the Cappella Nuova), in the cathedral.

Signorelli, Life of St. Benedict

The year following the e xecution of these frescoes Signorelli was in Siena, pa intingthe two wings for the altar-piece of the Bicchi family, formerly in the Chiesa diSant’Agostino, now in the Staatliche Museen Berlin. Vasari writes of it : "At Siena hepainted in Sant' Agostino, a picture for the chapel of S. Cristofano, in which aresom e Saints surrounding a S. Christopher in relief."The church of Sant'Agostino in Siena contains a chapel frescoed by Francesco diGiorgio and Luca Signorelli. These frescoes were discovered benea th an 18th-century plaster redecoration only in 1977.

Rome

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Luca Signorelli and Bartolomeo della Gatta, Testament and Death of Moses , oil on panel, 21 .6 x 48 cm, Vatican C ity, Sistine Chapel, Rome

Toge ther with his Florentine colleagues Domenico Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Rosse lliand the Perugian Pietro del Pe rugino, Botticelli was to decorate the walls of thepapa l electoral chape l - called the "Sistine Cha pel" after its builder, Sixtus I V - withfrescoes . Botticelli painted three scenes within the s hort period o f eleven mon ths:Scenes from the Life of Moses, The Temptation of Christ and The Punishment of Korah.However, it was not until the later work on it by Michelangelo, who executed thefrescoes on the ceiling and the altar wall between 1508 and 1512 under Julius II,that the chapel would achieve its greatest fam e.The Punishment of Korah and the Stoning of Moses and Aaron is from the cycle of the lifeof Mose s in the Sistine Chape l. It is located in the fifth comp artment on the sou thwall.The message of this painting provides the key to an understanding of the SistineChap el as a whole before Michelangelo's work. The fresco, located in the fifthcompartment on the sou th wall, reproduces three e pisodes , ea ch of which depicts a

rebellion by the Hebrews against God's appointed leaders, Moses and Aaron, alongwith the ensuing divine punishm ent of the a gitators.Signorelli worked in Ro me from 1478–1484. He assisted in the de coration of thelower walls of the Sistine C hape l. The Testament of Moses is alm ost entirely of hishand. Signorelli must have had a considerable reputation by abou t 1483, when hewas called on to comple te the cycle of frescoes on the walls of the Sistine Chape l inRom e, left unfinished b y Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, P erugino, and R osse lli. It's is notknown why these fo ur artists abandoned the work in 1482, but it has b eensugges ted that they simply downed tools because of slow payment. Signorellicompleted the schem e with distinction.

[read more]

The depicted s cenes on the left wall are

the Moses's Testament by Luca Signorelli

and the Punishment of Corah by Sandro

Botticelli.

Città di Castello, San Crescentino Oratory, Oratorio di San Crescentino

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The Oratorio di San Crescentino is located in Mo rra, a locality a fe w kilome ters fromCittà di Cas tello. Built in 1420 and e nlarged in 1507, the O ratory was d edicated tothe Rom an so ldier Crescentinus, a witness of the C hristian faith in the High TiberValley and ma rtyrized in 303 A.D. by o rder of the Empe ror Diocletian.The inside of the Oratory has a single nave that preserves late Gothic frescoesrelated to the original s tructure in the sacristy and, along the walls, a decorationexe cuted by the workshop o f the pa inter from Co rtona, Luca Signorelli. The scenesof the Flagellation and the Crucifixion are the only ones made by Signorelli.

In 1498 Luca Signorelli exe cuted a great altarpiece for the Bichi Chapel in thechurch of Sant'Agostino, Siena. Two wings, now in the Staatliche Museen, Berlin,flanked a s tatue of St Christopher ascribed to Francesco di Giorgio Martini (Muséedu Louvre, Paris). The predella is now divided between various museum s.

The left wing of the altarpiece represents Sts Catherine of Siena, Magdalen, a nd thekneeling St Jerome.

St A ugustine Altarpiece (left wing)

1498

Poplar, 146 x 76 c m

Staatliche Mus een, Berlin

The right wing of the altarpiece represents Sts Augustine, C atherine of Alex andriaand the kneeling Anthony of Padua.

St A ugustine A ltarpiece (right wing)

1498

Poplar, 146 x 76 c m

Staatliche Mus een, Berlin

[1] Laurence Kanter, Tom Henry, Luca Signorelli: The Complete Paintings , p. 142.

Tom H enry is a lec turer in the history of Italian Renaissanc e art at Oxford Brookes University.

In 1 99 8, he curated the exhibition Signorelli in British Collections at the National Gallery.

Laurence B. Kanter is curator-in-charge of the Robert Lehman Collec tion at the M etropolitan

Muse um of A rt, New York.


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Luca Signorelli, Resurrection of the Flesh(detail), 149 9-1 50 2, fresc o, Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto

Jonathan B. Riess, Luca Signorelli: The San Brizio Chapel, Orvieto, George Braziller, 19 95

Sara Nair, Signorelli and Fra Angelico at Orvieto: Liturgy, Poetry, and a Vision of the End of Time, A shgate P ublishing, 2003

Antonio Paolucci, Luca Signorelli (Florence: Scala), 19 90

Luca Signorelli - Orvieto (O riginally Published 190 8)

The Project G utenberg eBook of Luca S ignorelli, by Maud C ruttwell

Vas ari's Lives of the A rtists | LUC A SI GNO RELLI, painter of Cortona (ca. 145 0-15 23)

LU CA SI GN O RELLI , an exc ellent painter, of whom, acc ording to the order of time, we have now to speak, was more famous throughout Italy

in his day, and his works were held in greater price than has ever been the c ase with any other maste r at any time whatsoever, for the reason

that in the works that he e xec uted in painting he showed the true method of making nudes, and how they c an be caus ed, although only with

art and difficulty, to appear alive. He was a pupil and disc iple of Piero dal Borgo a San Sepolc ro, and greatly did he strive in his y outh to

imitate his mas ter, and eve to s urpass him; and the while that he was working with Piero at A rezzo, living in the house of his unc le Lazzaro

V asa ri, as it has been told, he imitated the manner of the said Piero s o well that the one could s carc ely be distinguis hed from the other.

[...]

[1] The side walls are covered with seven large scenes . The ceiling fresc oes (the groups of A postles, A ngels, Patriarchs , Doctors of theChurch, Martyrs and V irgins) had been devised by Fra A ngelic o. The lower part of the walls is dec orated with grotesque patterns and with

busts of philosophers and poets alongside monochromes c ommenting their works, as well as illustrations from the Divine C omedy. The

overall dec oration is c ompleted in the jambs of the windows and in the small chape l on the far wall by the figures of A rchangels Raphael (with

To bias), Gabriel and Mic hael (weighing souls a nd subjugating the devil), by Bis hop Saints Brizio and Constant, and the Lamentation over the

Dead C hrist with Saints P arenzo and Faustino.

Cardinal Silvio Passerini (1469-1529) was taken under the wing of the powerful Florentine Medici family, after his father, Rosado, was

imprisoned for too openly supporting the Medic i caus e during one of the revers als of power in Quattrocento Fl orence. Silvio was rais ed and

educated at the court of Lorenzo de' Medici and became very close to Lorenzo's son Giovanni whom he followed even to the battlefront where

they fought side by side in France and were both made prisoners . As papal c ommiss ioner and envoy for Pe rugia and Umbria, Pas serini

amassed a c onsiderable fortune.

[2] When Giovanni became P ope Leo X in 15 13 , Silvio Pas serini was made cardinal-bishop of Cortona with a dioces e enlarged at the

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expense of Florence and A rezzo and was made regent of A less andro de' M edici, probably Giovanni's s on, as lord of Florence in G iovanni's

stead. A great period of wealth and power ensued: the papal historian Pastor noted 5 5 benefices for Cardinal P ass erini recorded in Leo's

official register. In C ortona, Cardinal Pas serini directed his diocese from the P alazzone on the height above Cortona. Originally the 1 2th-

century Palazzo del C apitano del P opolo, who represented the "tribuni della plebe" (the "tribunes of the people"), in 15 14 the "C apitani del

Popolo" gave way to Cardinal Pass erini, who rebuilt it in Renaissance tas te ca 15 21 -27 , and left it, as " Palazzo Pas serini," to his heirs (who

donated it in 19 64 to provide a s ection of the University of Pisa). It is richly frescoed with events of class ical Roman history. While

fresc oing its c hapel, the painter Luca Signorelli fell from the scaffolding and died.

The C ardinal was a great Renais sanc e patron. He built three more personal villas : one in the commune of Bettolle, one in Petrignano and the

third in Piazzano, the c loses t to his official residence. He recognized the talent of the sixteen-year-old Giorgio Vas ari of Arezzo and

supported him to s tudy in Florence. A t Florence he commissioned a tapestry from cartoons by A ndrea del S arto and Raffaellino del Garbo,

which is conserved in the dioces an museum at Cortona. With the young Ales sandro and Ippolito de' M edici in tow, he attended the first

performance of Machiavelli's comedy I l M andragola, V asari related.

When the Medici fell in 15 27 , Silvio Pas serini's loyalty toward them also forced him to flee from Florence and Cortona. He died at C ittà di

Castello. His body was later transferred to Rome and buried at his nominal parish, San Lorenzo in Lucina.

[3] The portraits, as identified by the inscription at the bottom, are Luca Signorelli, who painted the frescoes in the San Brizio Chapel

between 1 49 9 and 15 04 , and the chamberlain Nic colò d'A gnolo, in office during that time. It therefore celebrates the two 'protagonists ' of

the decoration of the chapel. Ever since its appearance in nineteenth-century literature, the authenticity of the work had never been

questioned until 1953 when in the Florentine exhibition dedicated to Signorelli, Roberto Longhi maintained that it was a nineteenth-centuryforgery. The ensuing lively debate is still in course. There are various elements, beginning with the subject and the format, that do seem to

be perplexing. At the s ame time, the quality and brushwork seem to be coherent with a date of around 15 00 . Recent s cientific analyses have

also es tablished that the terracotta on which it is painted is compatible with that date. V arious characteristics of the text and inscription on

the back indic ate that this was a dded later. The fact that it is ups ide down with respec t to the painting might be due to the way in which it

was exhibited on a structure where it was turned on a latitudinal axis. [Source: O rvieto MO DO . Room of the Sinopias | www.museomodo.it]

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vineyards a nd beautiful hills of the Maremma.


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The towers of San Gimignano Montalc ino Siena, Duomo

C ortona, Santa Maria de Nuova

O rvieto, Duomo

A bbazia di Monte Oliveta M aggiore

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The V illa offers its guests a breathtaking view over the Maremma hills. On c lear days or evening, one can eve n see C orsica.

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Art in Tuscany _ Podere Santa Pia, Holiday House in the South of Tuscany

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