Grand Tour

In the 17th century, the grand-ducal collections on display in the Galleria degli Uffizi, with their mixture of works of art and precious and curious objects, were the prime attraction for foreign visitors. The organization of the arts under the rule of the Medici, who had brought in foreign craftsmen (tapestry weavers, illuminators, printers) in order to expand artistic activity at the court, also contributed to the interest in the city. There were many artists who came there to make drawings and copies, carry out surveys and study the architecture, like the Scotsman Robert Adam. That true open-air museum of sculpture that was Piazza della Signoria, in addition, already constituted the attraction it remains today.

The vogue for collecting was inaugurated by Lord Arundel in 1614 and grew widespread over the following century, partly through the good offices of Thomas Patch (who sold his caricature conversation pieces and views of the city to wealthier visitors - Brilli, 1993) or Francis Harwood, with his bronzes and figurative and decorative marbles.

Scientists visited the city as well, to converse with Galileo (like Hobbes and Milton) or his disciples, or to satisfy specific interests, like those of the botanist John Ray (1663-66), drawn by the scientific instruments, from microscopes to telescopes, that the mathematical knowledge and skilled craftsmanship of the Florentines were continually perfecting. As Brilli points out: «it was the Florence of Cosimo III in particular that established relations with the Royal Society in London, itself inspired by the Accademia del Cimento».

Great interest was stirred by the fame of the city’s bronze sculpture as well as its urban fabric, ranging from the paved streets to the palaces and civil architecture. The Renaissance palaces, which were highly appreciated at the outset, eclipsing the interest in religious architecture, would later come to be regarded as crude or excessively simple.