The Medici: people of Mugello - Family portraits from the Uffizi Gallery

The new edition of "Terre degli Uffizi", the project to enhance the artistic heritage of all of Tuscany, brings four precious family portraits of the first two grand dukes of Tuscany, from the Uffizi Gallery, to the noble rooms of the Palazzo dei Vicari in Scarperia.

The exhibition "The Medici: People of Mugello - Family Portraits from the Uffizi Gallery" (May 19-November 5) aims to evoke the long and widespread Medici presence in the countryside and towns of Mugello, the legendary land of origin of the House. 

The first purchases (1260-64) by Averardo de' Medici were followed by those of Giovanni di Bicci, which included the stately home of Trebbio and, in 1443, the properties expanded to include the acquisition of Cafaggiolo. The transformation of Trebbio and Cafaggiolo into "ville di delizia" entrusted by Cosimo il Vecchio to the architect Michelozzo di Bartolomeo, stands to confirm the family's economic interests and the unfailing passion for hunting exercised in the large wooded area that united the two mansions. 
Before becoming duke of Florence, Cosimo de' Medici had spent his adolescent years in the castle-villa of Trebbio and, in the early days of the duchy, the presence in the summer months of the prince and his wife Eleonora di Toledo was frequent and alternated between this villa and Cafaggiolo. With Francesco I, the grand ducal attention shifted to Pratolino, in a mountainous and impassable area purchased in 1568 to erect there the villa of the same name with the garden of wonders invented by Bernardo Buontalenti to house the prince, his beloved Bianca Cappello and his many distinguished guests. 

Among the four portraits of the noble consorts featured in the Scarperia Exhibition, that of Bianca Cappello represents a very welcome return to Mugello since it is the frescoed portrait from the Church of Santa Maria a Olmi in Borgo San Lorenzo, detached in 1871 to be consigned to the Florentine galleries.