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| The Winter Garden room an a dark winter day. photo by Lynne Rutter |
Winter Solstice, on the darkest afternoon in Florence, I visited some rooms of the
Casa Martelli, the refined home of a once wealthy and important Florentine dynasty. Now a state museum, the former palace can be visited with volunteer guides, carefully avoiding areas in desperate need of restoration. The house contains wonderful art collection in situ and many decorated rooms spanning several centuries.
The Winter Garden as they call is, is an entire room frescoed with trellises and vines under a warm sunny sky, with birds and fountains and other formal garden follies. A pair of gas lanterns indicate it was once used as a billiard room.
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| trompe l'oeil topiary architecture in the frecoed Winter Garden at Casa Martelli photo by Lynne Rutter |
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| photo by Massimo Listri, 2009 |
I am not sure if I would ever have heard of the Casa Martelli had I
not already been
stalking following the work of the brilliant Florentine photographer
Massimo Listri, whose evocative images include a shot of the Winter Garden in its abandoned state years ago.
More from Florence soon!
