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Summary of these posts so far:

• The first three posts in this series provided some general information for travel: answers to questions I wish I’d known enough to ask before I went to Italy. The first, on planning, packing, and flights, is here. The second, on car rentals and driving in Italy, is here. The third is on Italian restaurants and the hotel we stayed at, here.
• The Academy, visiting museums in general, and trains to Florence: here.
• Florence’s Cathedral, a.k.a. the Duomo, markets in Florence, restrooms, and footwork: here.
• Museo dell’Opera dell Duomo, with a few words on the Baptistery and Campanile: here.
• Uffizi Gallery, Loggia dei Lanzi, and a few more words on parking in Florence: here.

Pietre dure means “hard rocks”, so the Museo dell’ Opificio delle Pietre Dure (at 78 Via degli Alfani, Florence) is the Museum of the Workshop of Hard Rocks. This a gem of a museum, especially delightful if you’re tired of people talking to you about Masaccio, linear perspective, and/or the differences between fresco, oil, and tempera paint. There are no docents and few labels. Go there just to look at beautiful designs in gorgeous colors, executed with flawless precision.

What is pietre dure?

During the height of the Roman Empire – the 1st century AD to the 3rd or 4th century – artisans created two different types of long-lasting floor and wall coverings from stones. One was mosaic (opus tessellatum), in which small, more or less uniformly shaped pieces of different colors are arranged to form a pattern.

The other type of floor and wall decoration from stone is opus sectile (“cut work”). For this type the pieces aren’t uniform: they are carefully cut and shaped to fit together to form an image. Five-year-olds (or you, or me) can arrange mosaic tiles into a pleasing pattern. Opus sectile, on the other hand, requires considerable knowledge and training. The artisan must pick stones of the right color, carefully cut them to shape, and sand down the surface so it’s level.

During the Middle Ages large-scale opus sectile faded away, as did most art of high-quality workmanship. But starting in the 15th century, Renaissance artists, scholars, and collectors, who admired all things Roman, revived the art. They called it, in Italian, pietre dure (“hard stones”) or commesso fiorentino. The stones used ranged from marble and granite to semi-precious gems.

In 1588 Ferdinando I, a Medici, reorganized the artists’ workshops in Florence’s Uffizi. He and other Medici especially favored the workshop (opificio) that was creating examples of pietre dure in semi-previous stones. The Medici displayed superb examples of pietre dure at the Pitti Palace, and sent others as gifts to the crowned heads of Europe. Many examples of pietre dure are in royal (or formerly royal) collections in France, Germany, and elsewhere.

The Opificio continued to create marvelous works until the late 19th century. At that point, its holdings of unfinished artworks and unused stone were used to create a museum, the Museo dell’ Opificio delle Pietre Dure. A few trained artisans at the Opificio still practice conservation and restoration work.

Sample works in pietre dure

These works date from the 16th to late 19th centuries. Enjoy the pretty pretty, and don’t worry about the dates. The museum’s guidebook gives more information, if you’re interested.

This tabletop with a parrot at the center is at least 3 x 3 feet.

In the detail of the parrot tabletop below, you can see that the “shading” isn’t added in paint: it comes from the natural variations within the semi-precious stones.

In this landscape, I love the artisan’s choices for stones for the sky, sea, and fields.

Another landscape, this time with an owl and its prey at center.

The owl’s wings, the leaves, even the sky, all look realistically shaded because of the bits of stone that the artisan chose.

On the decorative panel below, you can see very clearly that the shading is the result of variations in the stones.

Another decorative panel. Usually the surface finish is smooth as glass, but this one is in low relief.

This cabinet, three feet high or so, has a small inset of pietre dure on each door.

A gorgeous pair of sconces.

Centerpieces of a pair of tabletops with musical instruments and flowers.

Centerpiece of another fabulous tabletop. Look at the way the ribbons seem to ripple!

Table with roses and shells: intricate work, surface smooth as glass.

One of the latest pieces in the Museum’s collection, completed at the Opificio in 1879.

Mezzanine

The upper level of the Museo includes some of the tools and workbenches of the artisans who worked in the Opificio centuries ago. There are also a couple hundred samples of semi-precious stones, prudently gathered by the Medici for future use. At the very end of the mezzanine (far left in this photo) is a video that explains exactly how works in pietre dure are created. Don’t miss it!

Next up in this series of posts on Tuscany: San Lorenzo, the Medici Chapel, and the Chapel of the Princes in Florence. The Chapel of Princes has jaw-dropping pietre dure work.

More

• To see more works of pietre dure in Florence, visit the Palazzo Pitti and the Cappella dei Principi (Chapel of the Princes) at San Lorenzo. More on the Chapel of the Princes in a future post.
• Small examples of pietre dure are available for purchase in a few shops in Florence: I visited Pitti Mosaici on Piazza de’ Pitti, and Le Pietre nell’Arte, Via Ricasoli. At either one, a small view of Florence (8 x 10″ or so?) was US$500 or $600.
• Another example of pietre dure: the 16th-c. Farnese Table at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• After 7 years, I’m ending my Sunday Recommendations. For examples of favorite recommendations from past years, click here. My next project is Timeline 1700-1900, which will appear decade by decade on Substack. Subscribe to my Substack to read and discuss the Timeline, or follow me there to hear about my current work.