The stained glass window on the facade of the parish church of S. Giovanni Battista in Cornacchiaia depicts the “Beheading of the Baptist” and directly recalls the title of the church. Although devoid of marks or inscriptions, the style of the depiction, with its robust and geometrically volumetric design, the lively dramatic and expressive tone, the decorative richness and certain unmistakable elements, such as the spiral decoration to the left of the executioner, allow it to be attributed to the Chini Manufactory. Probably conceived by Tito Chini during the second half of the 1920s, it is a dazzling example of…
Author: Paolo Guidotti
The chapel was realized, together with the kindergarten destined for the children of the hamlets of Salaiole, Gricignano, Poggiolo of which it is part, by the duchess Maria Grazioli Lante della Rovere, whose original family, that of the Lavaggi marquesses, possessed property in the area. The duchessewanted to dedicate the small building to the memory of her two sons killed during the First World War, Vincenzo and Riccardo, whose saints, having the same names, are the titular saints of the chapel. Completed in 1923, from drawings by the village surveyor, Carlo Maggi, who obtained it from the old granary, the…
Built starting in 1929, the San Francesco rest home is adorned with works executed by the San Lorenzo Furnaces and decorators from the Chini family. In the square in front of the entrance stands a brick tabernacle, inside of which is a ceramic panel depicting Saint Francis, signed by Augusto Chini and dated to the sixth year of the Fascist era (1928). Inside the building, just past the entrance, we find another image of Saint Francis, sculpted in almost full round by Guido Calori, a sculptor closely associated with the Chini manufactory. Created in the 1940s, it was donated by…
The villa-farm, property of the Minerbetti family since the sixteenth century, passed by marriage to the Torrigiani family, princes of Scilla, in the middle of the last century. It was the Torrigiani family who commissioned the decoration, which likely extended across several rooms, from Dario Chini. Today, only a complex heraldic design remains in the loggia on the ground floor of the villa, which is enclosed by windows and used as a lemon house. The design commemorates various members of the Minerbetti family who lived in the 14th and 15th centuries and their deeds, alongside the coats of arms…
The millennial parish church of St. Giovanni Maggiore, which retains its remarkable bell tower and a splendid marble ambo from its original 12th-century structure, is significantly altered on the inside, where numerous works by the Chini family can be admired. As early as 1843, Pietro Alessio Chini painted the ceiling of the central nave, depicting the Baptism of Christ, framed by a beautiful motif with artificial perspective consoles, a refined vegetable festoon, and other grotesque, plant-like decorations. The decoration of the money-bag (the apsidal basin) and possibly the chapel at the head of the left nave are also attributed to…
The small parish church of St. Mary in Pulicciano rises on the summit of a panoramic hill, once home to a fortified castle belonging to the Municipality of Florence. The present building dates from the end of the 19th century, and in 1908, it was reopened for worship after being decorated on the inside by the Chini brothers. On July 24, 1927, the lunette on the façade, created by the San Lorenzo Furnaces based on designs by Galileo Chini, was solemnly inaugurated. The lunette, made of polychromatic majolica, depicts the Assumption of the Virgin, set against a vast and luminous…
The church, dating back to the 11th – 12th centuries, but having undergone several reconstructions, was noted by Father Lino Chini in the last century for the work of Pietro Alessio Chini, who decorated Montefloscoli among other parish churches between 1860 and 1862, though he did not specify the subject or location of the painting. It is most likely that Pietro Alessio painted the small vault of this chapel, which still today features a Madonna with Child surrounded by small angels, set against a background that illusionistically portrays an open sky. The painting, now heavily damaged and difficult to interpret,…
The small rural parish church was originally built in the 13th century, rebuilt in the 18th century, and later further modified. Between 1865 and 1870, Pietro Alessio Chini also worked on it, frescoing the image of the titular Saint and the four Evangelists. Today, no trace remains of these paintings, but the church preserves other works by the Chinis, from two successive generations. Inside, a Baptismal Font made of ceramic with metallic luster decoration in relief appears to come from the production of the San Lorenzo Furnaces for the Berzieri Thermal Baths in Salsomaggiore (1920–1923), where the same piece can…
The church of St. Mary in Olmi, of ancient origin but with its current appearance dating to the last century, preserves an important group of works from the San Lorenzo Furnaces. The church was heavily damaged by the 1919 earthquake. In 1935, the façade was rebuilt, and during that restoration, its central oculus, previously semicircular, was redone. This is also when the stained-glass window depicting Christ the King, which now fills the oculus of the façade, was installed. Iconographically, the stained glass recalls other earlier works from the Fornaci San Lorenzo, such as the lunettes in the churches of Pulicciano…
The Villa of Valdastra was originally an ancient farmhouse belonging to the Servite Fathers of the Most Holy Annunciation, who were dependent on the Convento of Montesenario. The villa shows traces of the numerous modifications it has undergone over the centuries. In a small sitting room inside the villa, one can admire a beautiful Liberty-style ceiling framing, featuring a continuous frieze of tulips. The frieze is interrupted in line with the windows and the glass door that connects the room to a larger hall. Above the door, a panel is painted with two swans facing each other on a small…
