Villa Pecori Giraldi

BORGO SAN LORENZO – The Villa of Rimorelli, for a long time owned by the noble Florentine family Pecori Giraldi, has medieval origins. It was built as a fortress for the Giraldi family, originally from Borgo San Lorenzo. In 1748 it became the property of the Count Antonio Pecori, who added the surname Giraldi to his own. The current appearance of the building is due to the restoration work organised by the General Guglielmo Pecori Giraldi in 1902. The building develops on two floors, and it is provided by a Renaissance-style façade, crowned by a crenellated tower inspired by the nearby Michelozzo’s villa in Cafaggiolo.

Artistic works

The villa’s broad interior, which develops around two square courtyards, has its own architectonic hub in the large entrance hall on the ground floor. This is characterised by the presence of important pictorial decorations consisting predominantly of numerous coat-of-arms and heraldic companies related to the Pecori Giraldi family as well as to the others related to it. Much of the pictorial decoration is due to the various components of the Chini family: starting from Leto Chini, to whom probably are due the coat of arms of neo-medieval taste, dating back to 1902, to Galileo, author of some splendid coat of arms characterized by ‘elegant liberty linearity’ (for example the refined coats of arms of Camilla Sebregondi and Iacopo, Neri and Francesco Giraldi, as well as those of Francesco Guglielmo Pecori giraldi and Piera Altoviti). Decorations are also due to Tito, whose intervention dates back to the years following the earthquake of 1919: elements include the heraldic symbol of the second wife of the General Pecori Giraldi, Lavinia Morosini, dated 1920-1921. But is mainly the great wall panel with St. George that kills the dragon which attracts the attention of the spectator. This is painted with extraordinary Pre-Raphaelite taste by Galileo Chini before 1914. The painting is provided with perfect graphic elegance and chromatic liberty in fairy-tale and medieval chivalry style. Inside other rooms of the villa there are decorations of the Chini manufactory: fireplaces, paintings and pottery decorations. The Manifattura Museum has been housed for a number of years inside Villa Pecori itself. In addition to the aforementioned decorations belonging to the building, many of the objects (majoliche, grès, painted glass, paintings) of the Borgo San Lorenzo manufacturing history and of its main exponents (Galileo, Tito, Augusto, Chino Chini).

Interior and external photos