La Sala Bianca: dove la Moda Italiana ha avuto inizio.

È il 12 febbraio 1951 la data ufficiale in cui la Moda Italiana, grazie all’idea di Giovanni Battista Giorgini, prese l’avvio, sia pure in modo poco eclatante se è vero che avvenne nel salone di casa Giorgini, Villa Torrigiani, in via de’ Serragli a Firenze, dove Giorgini presentò a cinque compratori americani le creazioni di alcuni importanti stilisti: Carosa, Fabiani, Marucelli, Simonetta, Noberasko, Fontana, Veneziani, Shuberth, Pucci e Gallotti. L’iniziativa non passò, tuttavia, sotto silenzio: l’indomani il Paris Press riportava la notizia definendola una “minaccia” per il monopolio dei saloni d’alta moda parigini. La Moda Italiana era lanciata e iniziava una inesorabile e costante salita che ben presto necessitò di una sede più rappresentativa rispetto a quella offerta da Villa Torrigiani che, prima fu individuata nel Grand Hotel di Firenze, e, successivamente, nel 1952, nella Sala Bianca di Palazzo Pitti.
Tuttavia conviene forse fare un salto indietro per capire la genesi della brillante idea che Giovan Battista Giorgini attuò.
Giorgini era un resident buyer per grandi department stores americani e da ormai molti anni promuoveva con discreto successo l’inserimento di prodotti fiorentini in paglia sul mercato americano. Dopo la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, riuscì a convincere i propri clienti dell’alta qualità, oltre all’evidente convenienza, dei prodotti d’abbigliamento italiani. Per favorire questa iniziativa perfezionò i modelli degli articoli da esportare secondo la struttura fisica e le misure americane, ovvero comprese per primo l’importanza di adattare il prodotto alle esigenze del cliente, regola base del marketing. Queste furono le premesse della successiva idea di promuovere la Moda Italiana tramite sfilate, come avveniva oramai da molto tempo in Francia.
Sala Bianca. Eccoci dunque tornati allo sfolgorante scenario della Sala Bianca: sede adeguata ad accogliere i modelli italiani, a valorizzarne la bellezza, a creare l’atmosfera da mito che sarebbe per sempre rimasta legata agli esordi del Made in Italy e a rappresentare il luogo più adatto per le prime rappresentazioni di moda. Del resto la Moda Italiana degli Anni ’50 è un’espressione del desiderio di lusso del quale a quell’epoca l’Italia era più che mai comprensibilmente ammalata, vista la recente guerra e la condizione di prostrazione nella quale il paese si era trovato e la Sala Bianca corrispondeva perfettamente a questa richiesta. Oltre a una quantità infinita di idee e di realizzazioni innovative e superbe per la loro bellezza e la loro preziosità che caratterizzavano le maggiori case di moda italiane, si registrano, infatti, in questo periodo creazioni di abiti in materiali particolarmente pregiati, come rasi, velluti, decorati da perle, materiali, insomma, derivanti dall’insieme del patrimonio artistico, storico, artigianale e di nobili origini che l’Italia può vantare.

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Pitti Palace

Palazzo Pitti

Piazza Pitti 1

This enormous palace is one of Florence's largest architectural monuments. The original palazzo was built for the Pitti family in 1457, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and built by his pupil Luca Fancelli. The original construction consisted of only the middle cube of the present building (the middle seven windows on the top floor). In 1549, the property was sold to the Medicis and became the primary residence of the grand ducal family. The palace was then enlarged and altered; from 1560, Bartolomeo Ammannati designed and added the grandiose courtyard and two lateral wings. Under Cosimo II de' Medici, the layout of the piazza and opening up of the view were begun. The facade then assumed its present appearance, except for the two projecting wings, added by the House of Lorraine in the early 18th century. Behind the palace lie the famous Boboli Gardens.

Today, the Pitti Palace houses some of the most important museums in Florence: on the first floor is the Palatine Gallery, containing a broad collection 16th and 17th century paintings, and the Royal Apartments, containing furnishings from a remodeling done in the 19th century; on the ground floor and mezzanine the Silver Museum (Museo degli Argenti) displaying a vast collection of Medici household treasures; and the Gallery of Modern Art is on the top floor, holding a collection of mostly Tuscan 19th and 20th century paintings. In the separate Palazzina del Cavaliere on the upper slopes of the Boboli Gardens is the Porcelain Museum, while the Palazzina of the Meridiana contains the Costume Gallery, a showcase of the fashions of the past 300 years.

The Palatine Gallery and Royal Apartments
Address
Piazza Pitti 1
50123 Firenze (FI)
Ticket
Full euro 8,50
Reduced euro 4,25
includes entrance to Gallery of Modern Art
Ticket office accepts only cash payments

Opening hours
Open from 8.15 a.m. to 6.50 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday
Days of closure
Closed Mondays, January 1, May 1, and December 25
The Royal Apartments closed every January for maintenance

The Palatine Gallery occupies the whole left wing of the first floor of the Pitti Palace, which was the residence of the Medici Grand Dukes. In 1828, when Tuscany came under the rule of the Lorraine family, the most important paintings in the Palace were hung in the Gallery and opened it to the public. It is an impressive collection comprising works by Raphael, Titian, Correggio, Rubens, Pietro da Cortona and other Italian and European masters of the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Its present layout preserves the character of a private picture gallery with a sumptuous combination of lavish interior decoration and the rich picture frames ordered by the Medici themselves. Unlike most of the museums arranged in recent times, the Palatine Gallery's layout follows nether chronological order nor schools of painting, revealing instead in its hanging and sheer numerical size the personal taste of the great collectors who lived in the palace.

The rooms at present occupied by the gallery overlook the piazza and were frescoed by Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669) with an imposing decorative cycle which makes use of the classical myth to allude to life and education of the prince. The imposing ceilings with their frescoes and large stucco decorations are one of the most important examples of the Baroque style in Florence and provide a splendid framework for the 16th to 18th century paintings on show.

From the Palatine Gallery, the visit continues through the Royal Apartments, fourteen magnificent rooms which were the home of the Medici and Lorraine families and, from 1865, of the king of Italy during the brief period that Florence was capital of Italy. Three historical moments and styles are seen side by side in these series of rooms, giving a sense of the growth of the palace over a long period of time.

The Gallery of Modern Art
Address
Piazza Pitti 1
50123 Firenze (FI)
Ticket
Full euro 8,50
Reduced euro 4,25
includes entrance to Palatine Gallery
Ticket office accepts only cash payments

Opening hours
Open from 8.15 a.m. to 6.50 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday
Days of closure
Closed Mondays, January 1, May 1, and December 25

The Gallery of Modern Art, located on the second floor of the Pitti Palace, has a fine collection of paintings and sculpture, mostly Italian, dating from the late 18th century to World War I. The elegant rooms, which were inhabited by the Lorraine grand dukes, are decorated with works of the neo-classical and romantic periods. There is also a splendid collection of works by artists of the Macchiaioli movement and of other Italian schools of the later 19th and early 20th centuries.

The "Museo degli Argenti" (The Silver Museum)
Address
Piazza Pitti 1
50123 Firenze (FI)
Ticket
Full euro 7,00
Reduced euro 3,50
combined ticket for Museo degli Argenti, Costume Gallery, Porcelain museum and Bardini Gardens
Ticket office accepts only cash payments

Opening hours
Open from 8.15 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. (winter) 6:30 p.m. (summer) Tuesday through Sunday
Days of closure
Closed on the 1st and last Monday of each, January 1, May 1, and December 25

The Museum houses an extraordinarily rich collection of precious objects, many of which were commissioned by members of the Medici family. The works of art range from Florentine workmanship to other schools and countries and include rock crystal vases and works in pietre dure (semi-precious stones), ivory, gems, cameos, silver, carpets, clocks and chinoiserie.

The Museum is situated in the left wing of the Pitti Palace on the ground floor and in the first mezzanine. The state rooms, which formed part of the grand-ducal summer apartment, are decorated with important 17th-century frescoes by Giovanni da San Giovanni where the theme is the evocation through mythology of Medici history at the time of Lorenzo the Magnificent.

The Porcelain Museum
Address
Piazza Pitti 1
50123 Firenze (FI)
Ticket
Full euro 7,00
Reduced euro 3,50
combined ticket for Museo degli Argenti, Costume Gallery, Porcelain Museum and Bardini Gardens
Ticket office accepts only cash payments

Opening hours
Open from 8.15 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. (winter) 6:30 p.m. (summer) Tuesday through Sunday
Days of closure
Closed on the 1st and last Monday of each, January 1, May 1, and December 25

Until a few years ago, the Porcelain Museum was a section of the Museo degli Argenti and was situated in the mezzanine of the Pitti Palace. In 1973 with the total rearrangement of this complex the collection was transferred to the Casino del Cavaliere at the top of the Boboli gardens' slopes. Built in the 18th century as a retreat for the Grand Duke, the Casino has proved a particularly ideal setting for the conservation and display of a unified collection.

The collection consists mainly of table porcelain used by the Gran Ducal and Royal Houses of the Medici, Lorraine and Savoy. The collection can be described as princely, in that many pieces were made for the grand ducal court or were gifts from other European rulers. The grand dukes made use of the local Florentine manufactory of Doccia for their large services in daily use, which are well represented in the museum.


The Costume Gallery
Address
Piazza Pitti 1
50123 Firenze (FI)
Ticket
Full euro 7,00
Reduced euro 3,50
combined ticket for Museo degli Argenti, Costume Gallery, Porcelain Museum and Bardini Gardens
Ticket office accepts only cash payments

Opening hours
Open from 8.15 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. (winter) 7:30 p.m. (summer) Tuesday through Sunday
Days of closure
Closed on the 1st and last Monday of each, January 1, May 1, and December 25

The Costume Gallery occupies the 18th century Palazzina della Meridiana, a wing of the Pitti Palace overlooking the Boboli Gardens. The collection comprises six thousand items including costumes dating from the 16th to the 20th centuries, theatre costumes and accessories.

It is the only museum of the history of fashion in Italy and one of the most important in the world. A selection is exhibited in rotation every two years. There are frequent special exhibitions devoted to particular aspects of the collection.

The Boboli Gardens
Address
Piazza Pitti 1
50123 Firenze (FI)
Ticket
Full euro 7,00
Reduced euro 3,50
combined ticket for Museo degli Argenti, Costume Gallery, Porcelain Museum and Bardini Gardens
Ticket office accepts only cash payments

Opening hours
Open from 8.15 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. (winter) 7:30 p.m. (summer) Tuesday through Sunday
Days of closure
Closed on the 1st and last Monday of each, January 1, May 1, and December 25

These gardens comprise the largest monumental green area in Florence. Their history goes back over four centuries, for Cosimo I commissioned the designs from Niccolo Pericoli, known as Tribolo, in 1549. Work was continued by Ammannati, Buontalenti and Parigi the Younger. Noteworthy places are: Buontalenti's Grotto (1583), the Amphitheather with the Roman basin and the Egyptian obelisk at the center, Neptune's Fishpond, the statue of Plenty by Giambologna and Tacca (1563), the Grand Duke's Casino, the Cavalier's Garden, Parigi's Fountain of the Ocean.