| It is in fact this horse-shoe shaped palace, whose | | | | keep to certain basic rules which were to ensure |
| two wings stretch from Palazzo Vecchio to the | | | | that the newly reconstructed areas of the building |
| Arno, that actually creates the square itself; the | | | | could in some way be recognized from the |
| porticoes on the western side open off into Via | | | | original. Therefore a zig-zagging fracture line |
| Lambertesca, a narrow street that leads right into | | | | divides the floor of the huge Assembly Hall on the |
| the heart of the oldest part of the city, the | | | | first floor, to delimit the area that fell to the |
| mediaeval area that Vasari partly demolished to | | | | ground, and another line on the facade, a vertical |
| make room for his new creation.It was here that | | | | one this time, divides the ancient decorated walls |
| the mafia car-bomb exploded on the night of May | | | | from the new. Two large canvases by the painter |
| 27th 1993, on the corner between Via | | | | Bartolomeo Bimbi were unfortunately irreparably |
| Lambertesca and Via dei Georgofili, killing five | | | | damaged and could be replaced. This catastrophe, |
| people and causing damage to the artistic heritage | | | | however, led to some unexpected and |
| of Florence. The explosion seriously damaged the | | | | extraordinary results, like the discovery of seven |
| upper rooms of the Uffizi and disembowelled the | | | | small rooms, which were once part of the State |
| ancient house and tower of the Pulci family | | | | Archives, later walled up and forgotten and now |
| beneath it, from 1932 the seat of the historic | | | | available for the use of Academy of the Georgofili |
| Academy of the Georgofili, specialized in | | | | once more. Above all it revealed the existence of |
| agricultural studies and the conservation of the | | | | a well and staircase system that leads up from |
| territory since 1753. The tremendous sight is still a | | | | the cellars to the upper floors and which probably |
| vivid memory for all the rescuers who first | | | | is the last trace of the house that the Florentine |
| arrived on the scene after the explosion: this time | | | | land register of 1427 noted as being the property |
| the small palace of the Georgofili, which had | | | | of Jacopo di Francesco de' Pulci and father of |
| survived so many wars and floods, seemed really | | | | Luigi, a friend of Lorenzo Il Magnifico and author |
| to have suffered its death blow. One half of its | | | | of the poem "Morgante". The house and tower |
| facade (200 square metres) had been completely | | | | still bear the name of the Pulci family even today, |
| destroyed, shattered in the explosion, a huge pit, | | | | in spite of the fact that the building appears to |
| about ten metres deep, had opened up in the | | | | have passed to the Gherardini family after |
| interior, while the whole of the south wall, which | | | | 1433.The well and the staircase that winds around |
| faced onto the Courtyard of the Caldaie, was in | | | | it and reaches the top floor of the Uffizi Gallery |
| danger of collapsing, because it had been shifted | | | | are now free of the walls and plaster that once |
| 10 centimetres by the impact. The attic-flat that | | | | hid them; the grey stone archivolt and steps have |
| had been created at the top of the tower in the | | | | been restored in order to form a single and |
| early 20th century had crashed to the ground, | | | | harmonious unit with the various rooms of the |
| covering the bodies of the four people who lived | | | | Academy. Apart from being an unexpected |
| in it with rubble: the caretaker of the Academy, | | | | reward for all those who worked on restoring the |
| her husband and their two little daughters, one | | | | building, this discovery is yet another |
| aged nine and the other only two months. The | | | | demonstration of Giorgio Vasari's skill in |
| fifth victim was a student who lived in the house | | | | construction, as he managed to incorporate the |
| opposite, which was also directly hit by the | | | | ancient tower of the Pulci family into the |
| explosion.Florence has always replied to barbaric | | | | revolutionary architecture of the Uffizi without |
| acts such as this by immediately getting on with | | | | destroying it. |
| mending her wounds and rebuilding everything | | | | In fact the original project included plans to |
| that has been damaged "as it was and where it | | | | expropriate and demolish at least 43 houses and |
| was". Once the huge patrimony of books | | | | towers in order to build the new palace of the |
| belonging to the Academy (50.000 volumes plus | | | | "Uffici" or offices, but Cosimo de' Medici decided |
| 4.000 essays from the archives of the Georgofili) | | | | that this would be far too expensive in the long |
| had been carried away to safety and all the | | | | run and therefore the most of the buildings were |
| rubble removed, the walls that were still standing | | | | spared though they were eventually incorporated |
| were reinforced and the ones that had been | | | | into the new construction. The Tower of the Pulci |
| destroyed were reconstructed. Traditional | | | | and the results of this extraordinary restoration |
| techniques were combined with advanced | | | | work can be visited daily during the hours in which |
| technological solutions: the roof and bent tiles | | | | the Academy of the Georgofili is open to the |
| were made by hand, the corbels and capitals | | | | public and that is from Mondays to Fridays, from |
| carved by Florentine craftsmen but use was also | | | | 3.00pm to 6.30pm.Alberto Scarsi is Chief Editor at |
| made of mortar injections, chains, steel plates and | | | | : Your source for accommodations in Florence, |
| bolts. Great care was taken during restoration to | | | | Italy. |