Gardens of mistaken identity: The Giardino Delle Stalle in Florence and the Giardino dell'Arsenale in Pisa

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Gardens of mistaken identity: The Giardino Delle Stalle in Florence and theGiardino dell'Arsenale in PisaAnatole Tchikine aa Dumbarton OaksVersion of record first published: 25 Mar 2013.

To cite this article: Anatole Tchikine (2013): Gardens of mistaken identity: The Giardino Delle Stalle in Florence and the Giardino dell'Arsenale in Pisa, Studies in theHistory of Gardens & Designed Landscapes: An International Quarterly, 33:1, 39-51

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Gardens of mistaken identity: The Giardino Delle Stalle in Florence and the

Giardino dell’Arsenale in Pisa

anatole tchikine

History, by its very nature, is a constructed narrative. It draws on the pool of

available evidence, translates fragmentary data into facts, and connects these into

meaningful sequences. Guiding this process are methodological premises, con-

ceptual frameworks, and ideological or political pressures that dictate the selec-

tion and interpretation of historical material and tie it to the specific

circumstances of time and place. As the pool of evidence grows, older theories

usually become replaced with new ones. Although these could be similarly

selective, they generally have a wider factual base and therefore represent a more

advanced state of knowledge.

Certain historiographic schemes, however, are so deeply embedded in the

academic tradition that they resist any change. This is particularly likely if they

become imbued with nationalist or parochial sentiment. In this case, a typical

strategy of sustaining them is to ignore or downplay any contrary evidence and,

instead of addressing the facts, resort to guesswork and speculation. The result is

inevitably the fossilization of traditional schemes and their loss of explanatory

value.

An example of this approach is the classic article by Alberto Chiarugi (1953)

on the chronology of what he regarded as the three oldest botanical gardens of

Italy: Pisa, Padua, and Florence.1 The lasting impact of this work is now hard to

explain. Chiarugi was not trained as a historian: he was a prominent botanist and

a director of the botanical gardens in Pisa (1930–50) and Florence (1950–60).2

His article too was based on previously published research, without introducing

any new documents or facts. Yet Chiarugi’s chronology, having escaped critical

scrutiny, still remains a standard point of reference for modern scholarship.

Chiarugi’s article, in fact, was not a piece of objective research, but a state-

ment in a heated polemic that stemmed from the ancient rivalry between the

botanical gardens in Pisa and Padua. It therefore belonged to a distinct scholarly

tradition, which had its origin in the eighteenth century. Indeed, Chiarugi drew

extensively on the eighteenth-century writings of Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti

(1748, 1754) and Giovanni Calvi (1777).3 From their works he derived not only

his belief in the pioneering role of the botanical gardens in Medici Tuscany, but

also the wrong identity of two specific gardens that played a crucial role in his

narrative: the Giardino delle Stalle in Florence and the Giardino dell’Arsenale in

Pisa.4

The story championed by Chiarugi, in other words, was, both in its outline

and details, largely a product of eighteenth-century scholarship. Here is its brief

exposition. The botanical gardens in Pisa and Florence, according to this widely

shared view, were founded by Luca Ghini (1490–1556), who was invited to the

University of Pisa by Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici (ruled 1537–74, grand duke

from 1569) in 1544. Ghini practiced a novel method of teaching based on the

study of actual plants rather than their descriptions or depictions. For this reason,

the creation of his Pisan garden must have taken place at the time of his

appointment (which Chiarugi, surmising certain calendar differences, but con-

trary to the evidence of the university rolls,5 moved a year earlier, to 1543).6 The

founding of the Giardino dei Semplici in Florence, also associated with Ghini,

could be established with greater precision. Chiarugi dated it 1 December 1545,

when Cosimo I acquired this land from the nearby convent of S. Domenico del

Maglio.7 The two gardens, ostensibly, had an educational purpose and were

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closely interrelated in terms of management. In fact, Ghini supposedly remained

in charge both of them until his return to Bologna in 1554.8

Despite its specialist focus, Chiarugi’s argument had far-reaching implica-

tions. Its main objective was to demonstrate that the botanical garden in Padua,

begun on 7 July 1545, was not the oldest in Italy. Chiarugi successfully dealt with

this task. The Paduan garden, he declared, was not only preceded by the Orto

Botanico in Pisa, but also roughly contemporary with the Giardino dei Semplici

in Florence (founded in the same year). Less satisfactory, however, was

Chiarugi’s own account of the actual origins of the Orto Botanico and the

Giardino dei Semplici. It offered no new solutions to a number of specific

problems left unresolved by previous scholarship.

Some of these still require an explanation. For example, it is a well-known

fact that the botanical garden in Padua was founded by a decree of the Venetian

Senate. Yet there are no analogous documents concerning the creation of the

Orto Botanico in Pisa. Chiarugi explained this by referring to the traditional

portrayal of Cosimo I as a citizen-prince, who, in the early years of his rule,

seemingly tried to avoid any direct manifestations of his power. Issuing such a

decree, argued Chiarugi, would have encroached on the prerogatives of the

University of Pisa.9 In recent years, however, this conception of political

strategies of the Medici duke has been decisively challenged by Hank van

Veen (2006).10 Moreover, all transactions involving landed property were

meticulously recorded. Thus, even in the absence of a ducal decree, there

would have been notarial acts or their copies regarding the purchase or endow-

ment of land for the Orto Botanico. Surprisingly, none of this material has so far

come to light.

Further, in 1545 Florence did not have a university. Who in this case was

supposed to study in the Giardino dei Semplici? The answer, it seems, is that it

was intended for the same students who frequented the Orto Botanico. Yet, if

Ghini’s teaching was carried out in Pisa, why did he need another analogous

garden in Florence? In fact, he never mentioned the Giardino dei Semplici in

any of his writings or correspondence. Chiarugi’s suggestion that the Florentine

garden was used by Ghini’s students during their vacations does not appear

particularly convincing.11

This conception of a close, even complementary, relationship between the

botanical gardens in Pisa and Florence from the very time of their founding was

clearly built on Ghini’s presumed role as their creator. Chiarugi referred to this

as a self-evident fact. Yet, in the case of the Giardino dei Semplici, its association

with Ghini is of a relatively late origin. It was first mentioned only in a

seventeenth-century text, a guidebook to Florence (1684) by Ferdinando

Leopoldo del Migliore. According to this book, Cosimo I created the

Giardino dei Semplici for the cultivation and study of medicinal plants, obtain-

ing these from various ‘faraway lands’ with the help of experienced herbalists,

notably Ghini.12 Later, Targioni Tozzetti (1748) restated this claim, suggesting

that Ghini’s advice was instrumental in instituting both the Pisan and the

Florentine botanical gardens.13 He did not, however, produce any additional

evidence to substantiate this view. Thus, the conception of Ghini’s crucial role

in founding the Giardino dei Semplici remains mere conjecture, which acquired

the semblance of an established truth only through its persistent reiteration in

later historiography.

In fact, no sixteenth-century sources corroborate this claim. For example,

according to the writer and horticulturist Agostino del Riccio (1541–98), the

Giardino dei Semplici was founded in 1587 for Grand Duke Ferdinando I (ruled

1587–1610) by the Fleming Giuseppe Casabona (died in 1595).14 It was not,

however, the first Medici-owned botanical garden created in Florence. From

late 1577, Casabona, a herbalist to Ferdinando’s brother Francesco I (ruled

1574–87), grew simples — in this case, both medicinal and exotic plants — in

the courtyard of the grand-ducal Casino of S. Marco.15 After Francesco’s death,

his successor Ferdinando I, according to Del Riccio, decided to expand this

garden into a much larger nearby property, the Giardino delle Stalle. The result

was the creation of the Giardino dei Semplici.

This garden, in other words, supplanted two earlier ones. The first, much smaller

in size, but similarly intended for growing medicinal plants, was located at the

Casino of S. Marco. Casabona managed it between 1577 and 1587. The second

garden, the site of which the Giardino dei Semplici effectively occupied, was the

Giardino delle Stalle. This was the property comprising 36 stiora (c. 18 900 m2) of

land that Cosimo I, on 16 November 1545, acquired — or, more precisely, rented

‘in perpetuity’ — from the nuns of S. Domenico del Maglio.16 Its name derived

from the Medici stables (stalle), to which this garden was attached.17 Even in the

seventeenth century, this appellative was still occasionally used to refer to the

Giardino dei Semplici.18 The Giardino delle Stalle, however, did not originate as

a botanical garden, since the documents concerning its transformation in 1587–88

by Casabona explicitly state that he had to ‘adapt’ it for the cultivation of simples

(‘assettare detto giardino per e semplici et altre appartenenze’).19 What was its

original purpose?

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Important evidence in this respect is provided by this garden’s plan (1588),

which shows Casabona’s ideas for its modification (figure 1). Early Modern

botanical gardens, including the one in Padua, were usually laid out in a series of

rectangles.20 This not only allowed a coherent geometry of planting beds,

confined to each of these compartments, but also served as a rudimentary

means of botanical classification. The Giardino delle Stalle noticeably deviated

from this scheme. Its layout featured eight alleys leading to an octagonal fish-

pond, which contained an artificial island (isolotto). The latter was accessible by a

wooden bridge indicated by dotted lines, which apparently used to flip, throw-

ing visitors into the water.21 The corner areas, traversed by four diagonal alleys,

were planted with selvatico, groves of trees and shrubs that imitated a natural

wilderness. Owing to this radial, rather than orthogonal, layout, the garden’s

eight main compartments were shaped as uneven heptagons that did not quite

agree with the regular geometry of planting beds. This is evident in the

awkwardness with which Casabona’s knot-style planting patterns relate to the

angular outlines of these plots.

This radial layout with a shady selvatico, dark alleys covered with pergolas that

met vault-like (a mezza botte) above the head,22 and an overturning bridge

leading to an isolotto, leaves no doubt that originally it belonged to a pleasure

garden. Casabona left these features practically intact. The limited scope of his

interventions, which mainly concerned the design and arrangement of planting

beds, is probably explained by the fact that for the next 150 years the Giardino

dei Semplici continued to serve as a venue for social gatherings and courtly

entertainments. In the seventeenth century, for example, it had to accommodate

temporary wooden platforms for watching jousts that took place in the adjacent

stables,23 while the island was a preferred site for candle-lit summertime ban-

quets.24 Throughout that time, this garden remained a Medici property. It was

not intended to receive students or provide plant materials for their needs.

The creation of the Giardino delle Stalle was presumably due to its proximity

to the ducal stables, where Cosimo I, to practice horsemanship, added a manege

(cavallerizza).25 This connection soon proved mutually advantageous to both

sites. The garden offered an ideal recreational environment for the members of

the Medici family, their courtiers and guests, who participated in or viewed

equestrian exercises, while the manure from the horses’ stalls served to fertilize

the soil.26 The later Giardino dei Semplici, in fact, remained directly accessible

from the stables via a narrow entrance, which was permanently blocked only in

1739 by order of Grand Duke Francis Stephen of Lorraine (ruled 1737–65).27

Also, in 1550, Cosimo I transferred to Piazza S. Marco the ducal menagerie

(serraglio di fiere), previously housed in Palazzo Vecchio.28 Although it was not

directly connected to the Giardino delle Stalle, its location next to a garden was

certainly significant.

The creation of the Giardino delle Stalle is fairly well documented. Work had

begun no later than 31 October 1546, when the nuns of S. Domenico del

Maglio recorded that Cosimo I and his major-domo, Pier Francesco Riccio,

ordered the cutting of all the vines, fruit trees, and reeds left from the time when

this property had been managed as an agricultural holding.29 The layout must

have been largely complete by 18 December 1551, when Riccio, in a private

letter, referred to the Giardino delle Stalle as a ‘gem’ (gioia) that ‘everyone’

figure 1. Giuseppe Casabona (attributed), Plan of the Giardino delle Stalle, 1588, Pisa,

Biblioteca Universitaria, Ms. 464, fol. 60r (by permission of the Biblioteca Universitaria di Pisa).

the giardino delle stalle in florence and the giardino dell’arsenale in pisa

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desired to see.30 In March and April 1553, however, certain areas of this garden

had to be partially replanted, presumably owing to poor irrigation or drought.31

The next important stage in this garden’s development concerned its water

supply. In the early 1550s, Cosimo I initiated the construction of an aqueduct

that brought water from the stream Mugnone, a tributary of the Arno, to the

ducal stables in Piazza S. Marco. After reaching the city, it passed through the

Giardino delle Stalle as an open channel (gora).32 Built between March 1555

and February 1556, this part of the aqueduct cut through the garden’s north-

western periphery in a straight line.33 From there, water was carried to the

Medici stables, where a fountain of local sandstone in the form of a horse’s

head, carved in 1555 by the sculptor Nanni di Stocco (died in 1586), poured it

into a stone trough.34

The garden’s main entrance was from the street known as Via del Maglio or

Corsia delle Stalle (now Via La Pira). This was a modest — now substantially

modified — portal at the end of a blind masonry wall, close to the Medici stables

(figure 2). Judging by the inscription, it was built before 1557. This entrance

opened into the garden’s southern corner, the meeting point of three alleys that

led to the center of this property. In 1586, Francesco I turned the adjacent street

into a horse racing ground (lizza), dividing it lengthwise by a low parapet.35 The

two archways, visible in Stefano Bonsignori’s bird’s-eye-view map of Florence

(1584, 1594) (figure 3), presumably marked the ends of this racecourse. It

spanned the whole length of the garden, tying it even closer to the stables

both in functional and topographical terms.

Water that passed through the Giardino delle Stalle was probably insufficient

to irrigate the whole property. For this reason, some of this resource was

diverted to a new octagonal fishpond, built between April and September

1565.36 Positioned at the crossing of the eight central alleys (whose number

must have determined its geometrical form), this reservoir was surrounded by

plane-trees (platani), which created abundant shade.37 The isolotto that rose in the

middle of this fishpond was also octagonal in plan. Originally, it could be

reached only via a single bridge from the alley that led to the Medici stables.

The cruciform arrangement of four bridges, familiar from this garden’s later

representations, was probably introduced in the seventeenth century (figure 4).

The main feature of the garden’s isolotto was a fountain carved in 1565 by the

sculptor Antonio Lorenzi (died in 1583). Judging by its eighteenth-century

depiction,38 it included two basins — octagonal at the bottom and circular at

figure 2. Giardino dei Semplici, sixteenth-century entrance from Via La Marmora (photo: the

author). The inscription reads: ‘COSMVS MED DUX FLORENTIAE II’ (‘Cosimo Medici

Second Duke of Florence’), the title that Cosimo I bore until 1557, when he officially became the

Duke of Florence and Siena. Masonry walls on either side of this gate were replaced with iron

railings in the 1930s.


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the top — connected by a baluster-like shaft. Originally, it also featured four

colourful birds of variegated marble (marmo mistio di Seravezza): a goose, a heron, a

crane, and a merganser duck (oca marina).39 Together with similar sculptures

representing other birds or sea-creatures and executed in white marble,40 they

probably perched on the rim of the octagonal receiving basin. This fountain

continued to decorate the Giardino dei Semplici until the second half of the

eighteenth century, when it was reported to be in a state of utter dilapidation,

with both its basins ruined by ice and the shaft nearly crushed by the weight of the

upper of these receptacles.41 It was removed after 1783,when the whole garden, by

order of Grand Duke Peter Leopold of Lorraine (ruled 1765–90) was temporarily

converted into a model agricultural property, the Orto Agrario Sperimentale.

Lorenzi’s association with the Giardino delle Stalle was probably the main

reason why its layout was traditionally attributed to his teacher, the sculptor and

engineer Niccolo Tribolo (1500–50).42 No sixteenth-century sources, how-

ever, seem to corroborate this view. Notably, Giorgio Vasari, in his biography of

Tribolo, makes no mention of the artist’s involvement with this garden. Lorenzi

was known to finish some of the projects left incomplete by his former master.

These included the two main fountains and the statue of Aesculapius at the ducal

figure 3. Stefano Bonsignori, Nova pulcherrimae civitatis Florentiae topographia accuratis-

sime delineata, 1584 (second edition issued in 1594, reissued in c. 1660), Florence, Kunsthistorisches

Institut (detail) (courtesy of the Kunsthistorisches Institut, Florence). In the centre is Piazza

S. Marco, marked by a column. To the right, indicated by the number 154, is the Medici menagerie

and, further to the north, the ducal stables with the Giardino delle Stalle. Directly across from the

stables, on the opposite side of the friary of S. Marco, is the Casino of S. Marco.

figure 4. Plan of the Giardino dei Semplici, seventeenth century, Florence, Museo di Storia

Naturale, Sezione Botanica (by permission of the Universita degli Studi di Firenze). Casabona’s

house is indicated by a rectangle in this drawing’s lower left corner.


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villa at Castello near Florence.43 Yet the date of Lorenzi’s work on the Giardino

delle Stalle, which occurred 15 years after Tribolo’s death, leaves no doubt that

this was an independent commission.

Tribolo’s best-known project was the Medici garden at Castello. Its design was

based on the principle of juxtaposing separate elements — such as a lawn, two

fountains (one hidden in a labyrinth of trees), a retaining wall with grottoes, and a

selvatico with a trapezoid fishpond — leading uphill from the villa. The connections

between them became apparent as the viewer moved through the garden. In the

layout of the Giardino delle Stalle, by contrast, unity was achieved not through a

sense of spatial progression, but by creating identical vistas from a fixed viewpoint

in the garden’s centre. Its effect, in other words, was aimed essentially at a static

viewer. This was mainly due to the fact that the Giardino delle Stalle, although

connected to the ducal stables, was not designed in relation to a princely residence.

Both the house of the gardener in its northern corner (visible in Bonsignori’s map)

and a slightly larger dwelling, built for Casabona in the adjacent portion of the

selvatico, were superimposed on this self-contained plan (see figures 3 and 4).

The garden’s transformation by Casabona in 1587–88 was largely restrained

by this pre-existing layout. New planting was confined to the eight central

compartments, which were assigned the letters from A to H.44 Within these,

Casabona introduced smaller divisions with individual numbers, each contain-

ing plants of a specific kind.45 The whole arrangement was then recorded in a

special, now lost, manual, so that the names and locations of different species

could be easily identified.46 Other work involved mainly routine jobs, such as

raising and repairing old masonry walls and cleaning the sewer that passed

through the garden in the direction of the stables (and then towards the church

of SS. Annunziata).47 Importantly, the garden’s principal features — such as the

isolotto, the fountain, and the system of alleys — were not affected by these

changes in any significant way.

The creation of the Giardino dei Semplici drew out a wide range of con-

temporary responses. On 7 November 1587, for example, the Florentine aca-

demician Lorenzo Giacomini informed the leading Bolognese naturalist Ulisse

Aldrovandi that Casabona had been put in charge of this project (‘ . . . le posso

dire esser vero . . . del esser stato assegnato a messer Giuseppe [Casabona] il

giardino detto delle stalle per Giardino de’ semplici’).48 He added that the new

site was superior to the previous one (at the Casino of S. Marco), being

substantially larger and receiving more sun. Writing on 21 December 1587,

the horticultural theorist and republican sympathizer Giovan Vettorio Soderini

similarly commented on the location of the Giardino dei Semplici. He noted,

however, that the surrounding area had originally been endowed to the city’s

university (Sapienza) by the fifteenth-century politician Niccolo da Uzzano

(1359–1431). How could one expect — jeered Soderini — that this property

would instead house the Medici stables and menagerie, and now also ‘a glorious

garden of simples’ (‘un memorabile semplicista’)!49

Soderini’s sarcasm was aimed directly at Casabona’s patron, Ferdinando I,

who, like his father and brother, spared no expense and effort to promote the

status of their dynasty. To his republican opponents, the Giardino dei Semplici,

conceived on a very ambitious scale, was yet another vainglorious monument of

the Medici rule, created with the sole aim of boosting the prestige of the new

grand duke and satisfying his intellectual curiosity. Other than that, it had no

ostensible scholarly purpose or justification. Indeed, during the seventeenth

century, this garden’s circumstances continued to depend on the whims and

interests of the successive Medici grand dukes, who nearly reduced it to a place

for growing fruit and flowers.50 Only in 1879 did it finally become attached to

the University of Florence. By this stage, however, this was a completely

different garden, without its sixteenth-century waterworks, pergolas, plane-

trees, and the isolotto. Its layout was based on the late eighteenth-century grid-

like plan inherited from the Orto Agrario Sperimentale.

Does this mean, however, that until 1879 the Giardino dei Semplici was not

really a botanical garden? This concept, for the exponents of the Italian academic

tradition, always entailed a didactic purpose. From their perspective, the private

ownership of the Giardino dei Semplici would have been simply incompatible

with its presumed educational role. This ultimately gave rise to a rather implau-

sible theory that this garden somehow duplicated the functions of the Orto

Botanico in Pisa, catering for the same students and being managed by the same

personnel.51 Yet, rather than providing a ready matrix for figuring out the

people and events associated with the Giardino dei Semplici, the history of its

Pisan counterpart was similarly rife with uncertainty and contradiction.

The main problem concerned its property status. The founding of the Orto

Botanico in Pisa did not seem to involve the endowment of land. For Chiarugi,

this was not a real issue: in his opinion, a botanical garden, particularly one

expressly associated with teaching, could only belong to a university. As proof,

he cited Ghini’s letter (4 July 1545) to the ducal major-domo Pier Francesco

Riccio, which stated that the Orto Botanico was intended to be ‘of benefit for the

students’ (‘d’utile alli scolari’).52 Chiarugi’s citation, however, was incomplete. In


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the original, Ghini wrote that he wanted to found ‘a garden that would gratify His

Excellency [Cosimo I] and be of benefit for the students’ (‘ . . . un giardino che sera

di piacere a S[ua] E[ccellenza] et d’utile alli scolari’).53 The creation of the Orto

Botanico, in other words, was a matter of princely pleasure as much as of scholarly

usefulness. This suggests a more complicated set of purposes that brought this

garden into existence than the purely didactic role assumed by Chiarugi.

The most challenging aspect of the history of the Orto Botanico in Pisa

concerns the choice of its three successive locations. These were identified in a

book (1625) by Domenico Vigna, its seventeenth-century custodian, who relied

on the oral testimony of his older contemporary Camillo Mazzoli. The latter

was a student of Andrea Cesalpino’s (1519–1603), Ghini’s successor as professor

of botany (lettura de’ semplici) at the University of Pisa. Mazzoli believed that

originally the Orto Botanico ‘had been situated in a place called ‘‘Giardino

dell’Arsenale’’, where the [ducal] galleys were kept’ (‘positum erat Loco dicto al

Giardino dell’Arzinale [sic], quo loco fiunt Triremes’) (in other words, in the

immediate vicinity of the Medici Arsenal) (figure 5).54 Indeed, Vigna saw there a

storax tree, sycamore figs, and a date palm, whose combination he thought was

unusual for a non-botanical garden.55 Later, according to Mazzoli, the Orto

Botanico was moved to the area of the church of S. Viviana, near the convent of

S. Marta (in the eastern periphery of the city). Its final, more central, location

was in Via S. Maria, not far from the Campo dei Miracoli (see figure 7).

Mazzoli’s evidence, although certainly reliable, was incomplete on at least

two accounts. Firstly, it did not explain why during the sixteenth century the

Orto Botanico had to be moved on three separate occasions, each time being

recreated in a different part of the city. Secondly, it did not provide a chron-

ological framework for these relocations. This task was carried out only in the

second half of the eighteenth century by Giovanni Calvi (1777), a professor of

medicine at the University of Pisa. By that stage, however, the dating of the

Orto Botanico was no longer a matter of purely academic discussion. It had

become an instrument in the perennial debate regarding the precedence (antic-

hita) of the botanical gardens in Pisa and Padua.

Calvi’s only chronological terminus was the creation of the Orto Botanico in

Via S. Maria, begun by Casabona in 1592. From then onwards, this garden’s

development was documented in the university’s archive. Its earlier history,

however, remained obscure due to the lack of such records. In this situation,

Calvi’s solution was to tie the chronology of the Orto Botanico to that of the

Medici Arsenal. He noted, for example, that in 1563 Cosimo I had founded the

military Order of Knights of St Stephen to uphold his active maritime policy. This,

according to Calvi, must have necessitated the Arsenal’s expansion, resulting in the

relocation of the original Orto Botanico.56 The date of this garden’s founding was

determined in a similarly arbitrary way. Calvi established that the nuns of S. Vito,

whose property the Arsenal occupied, had been forced to vacate their convent on

27 October 1544.57 Although this date had no apparent relevance to the history of

the Orto Botanico, for the scholar it had one major advantage. It preceded the

founding of the botanical garden in Padua (7 July 1545) by eight whole months.

While generally in agreement with Calvi, Chiarugi was not entirely satisfied with

this date. Indeed, why did Ghini — who, given Chiarugi’s own laborious demon-

stration,58 was already in Pisa in 1543 — have to wait for the convent of S. Vito to be

dissolved? The nuns, presumably, had their own ‘giardino segreto’, a medicinal

(physic) garden. This, according to Chiarugi, must have formed the original nucleus

of the Orto Botanico.59 Soon afterwards, following the convent’s demolition, this

figure 5. The Medici Arsenal in Pisa (photo: the author). The building on the right, which is

attached to the Arsenal, is the former convent of S. Vito.


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garden must have expanded into the adjacent area between the old Pisan fortress,

the Cittadella Vecchia (figure 6), and the Medici Arsenal, where it became known

as the Giardino dell’Arsenale. It was moved again in 1563, leaving behind just a few

trees that Vigna discovered there over half a century later.

Perhaps the most puzzling aspect of the Giardino dell’Arsenale is the fact that,

despite its ostensible destruction, it continued to appear in later maps and city

views. For example, it features in the late seventeenth- or early eighteenth-

century Pianta Scorzi (see figure 7), occupying a large trapezoid area near the

Ponte al Mare, between the Cittadella Vecchia and the Medieval walls. Scholars

tend to explain this as a case of persistent cultural memory, a tribute to the

evident importance of the Orto Botanico in the city’s history.60 Yet the fact that

the local historian Alessandro da Morrona (1741–1821) visited the Giardino

dell’Arsenale around 1790, noting there two funerary urns of white Parian

marble (‘quelle due bellissime urne sepolcrali di marmo pario, che noi circa

all’anno 1790 nell’orto presso l’arsenale mediceo ritrovammo’),61 suggests that

this cartographic peculiarity might, after all, not be a conscious aberration.

The key to this riddle is provided by an inventory of Cosimo I’s (16 February

1568), which, among his various Pisan properties, mentions:

Un giardino nella Cittadella Vecchia murato at[t]orno tutto fruttato, di staiora

sessanta in circa;

Un giardino di semplici ataccato al sudetto [giardino], fossa in mezzo, di staiora

sette in circa, lo lavora Maso di Zanobi da Prato.62

In other words, inside the Cittadella Vecchia, the duke owned a large walled

garden planted with fruit trees, about 60 stiora (c. 31 500 m2) in size. Adjacent to

this property was a much smaller garden of simples — most likely rectangular in

plan, with a drainage ditch crossing in the middle — that occupied only 7 stiora

(c. 3675 m2) of land. In 1568, it was cultivated by the gardener Maso (Tommaso)

di Zanobi da Prato.63 There is no doubt that this was the garden referred to by

Mazzoli and Vigna, which clearly was not destroyed in 1563. Its history,

however, is the subject of another, forthcoming, study.

The original Orto Botanico was evidently much smaller than was assumed by

Chiarugi. It was also located inside the Cittadella Vecchia and therefore not

attached to the Medici Arsenal (see figure 6). For this reason, its history had

nothing to do with the ‘secret garden’ of S. Vito or the different phases in the

Arsenal’s construction. For one thing, the convent was never demolished. Instead, figure 6. The Cittadella Vecchia in Pisa, view of the, Torre Guelfa (photo: the author).


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it was incorporated into the fabric of the Arsenal, which, apart from the galleys,

had to house their supplies and production workshops. The convent’s garden, the

existence of which is documented, similarly served the Arsenal’s needs. From the

1540s, it was used for growing various produce needed for the galleys’ crews.64

As to the actual Giardino dell’Arsenale (or the Giardino della Cittadella, as it was

known in the sixteenth century),65 it was founded by Cosimo I in early 1565. This

was a large orchard (‘[un] giardino di piu sorti di frutti’),66 with various sorts of citrus

and other fruit trees, such as apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, loquats, cherries,

plums, apricots, figs, pomegranates, almonds, and olives.67 Most of these came

from Medici properties, although some plants and grafts had to be purchased or

solicited from private and monastic gardens in Florence and Tuscany. Planting took

placebetween January andMarch1565.68 Itmust havebeen finishedby 19 June 1565,

when Alberico Cybo Malaspina, Marquis of Massa, commented on the new garden’s

rapid progress, notingorange and lemon trees that, hehoped,would soon bear fruit.69

Less than two years later, in March 1567, Cardinal Agnolo Niccolini, a close

associate of Cosimo I, visited the Giardino dell’Arsenale during his stay in Pisa.70

He described it as beautiful and properly managed (despite seeing it in early

spring, when there was still little greenery), praising an espalier of lemons and

citrons (cedri) that he found particularly well maintained. Yet the rest of this

garden, according to Niccolini, required a lot of work, with its soil filled with

rubble and in need of manure and cultivation. Also, given its substantial size, it

probably had problems with water supply until the building of an external

cistern (conserva), begun on 17 April 1567.71

After the death of Cosimo I in 1574, the Giardino dell’Arsenale was bequeathed

to his son Pietro de’ Medici (1554–1604),72 who is mainly remembered for killing

his wife, Eleonora (Dianora) de Toledo, in 1576. Much of Pietro’s subsequent life

was spent in Spain, where he accumulated substantial debts. In 1581, this allowed

figure 7. Pianta Scorzi, late seventeenth–early eighteenth century, Pisa, Museo Nazionale

di San Matteo (by permission of the Soprintendenza per i Beni APSAE per le province di Pisa e

Livorno). Contrary to the usual convention, this map is orientated south–north, with the Campo

dei Miracoli appearing in the lower right corner. The large garden directly to the south of the

cathedral is the Orto Botanico founded by Casabona in 1592. A smaller garden to the east, by the

city walls, was created after 1674 by Cosimo III on the land rented from the Lanfranchi family. It

was located some distance to the north from the area of the former church of S. Viviana. The

Giardino dell’Arsenale is shown by the Arno on the upper right.


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Francesco I, his main creditor, to seize most of his brother’s properties.73 One of

these was the Giardino dell’Arsenale, which thereby returned into the grand-ducal

possession. In the early 1580s, it was mainly used for growing lemons, oranges, bitter

oranges (melangole), and other agricultural produce, without, however, generating

much income.74 For this reason, from 1584, this garden was managed privately,

with the grand duke receiving annual rent in place of fruit.75

The Giardino dell’Arsenale probably continued to serve as an agricultural

property until the end of the Medici dynasty in 1737. Later paintings and prints

show this garden overgrown with trees,76 suggesting that after that time it was

largely neglected. This, however, gave the whole area a distinctly romantic

stamp (figure 8). Perhaps for this reason, in 1821, Shelley chose it as the setting

for one of his most enchanting poems (‘Evening. Ponte al Mare, Pisa’).77 This

scenic corner of the city, however, was not destined to last. In the 1840s, a new

railway bridge was built to the west of the Cittadella Vecchia. In 1869, the Ponte

a Mare suddenly collapsed during the flooding of the Arno. Finally, by the end

of the nineteenth century, the Giardino dell’Arsenale was destroyed to make

room for a military barracks. After that, it disappeared from the city’s maps,

while its memory remained, blending tradition and reality, historical facts and

historiographic constructs.

Thus, both the Giardino delle Stalle in Florence and the Giardino dell’Arsenale in

Pisa perished almost without trace, leaving a wide scope for conjecture and spec-

ulation. The aim of this study is not just to reconstruct the nature and ownership of

these gardens, defining their actual role in the system of Medici properties. Its more

important objective is to draw attention to the set of false premises and assumptions

regarding their origin and purpose, which, although no longer sustainable in the

light of new documentary research, continue to dominate modern historiography.

As a consequence, the current history of botanical gardens in sixteenth-century

Medici Tuscany needs to be corrected and partially rewritten. This study is intended

as the first, tentative, step in this direction.

Acknowledgements

This article, an earlier version of which was presented at the Annual

Conference of the Renaissance Society of America (RSA) in Washington,

DC, in March 2012, is a product of several years of research, carried out

mainly in the archives and libraries of Florence and Pisa. During this

time, I benefited from advice and critical feedback of many scholars

and friends, both in America and Italy. These include, in alphabetical

order, Sheila Barker, John Beardsley, Mirka Benes, Sonja Dumpelmann,

Edward Goldberg, Michael Lee, Paolo Luzzi, Dario Matteoni, Chiara

Nepi, and Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi. Although some colleagues might still

disagree with my conclusions, I would like this essay to be an invitation to

a further, constructive and open, dialogue. My main thanks go to John

Dixon Hunt and Raffaella Fabiani Giannetto, who followed my research

with tremendous interest and offered their support and encouragement at

every stage of my work.

Dumbarton Oaks

figure 8. Jakob Philipp Hackert, The Ponte a Mare in Pisa, 1799, Greifswald,

Pommersches Landesmuseum (Pommersches Landesmuseum, Greifswald). The trees of the

Giardino dell’Arsenale are visible behind the wall on the extreme right.


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notes

1. Alberto Chiarugi, ‘Le date di fondazione dei primi

Orti Botanici del Mondo’, Nuovo giornale botanico

italiano, 60/4, 1953, pp. 785–839.

2. For Chiarugi, see Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 24

(Rome: Istituto della Inciclopedia Italiana, 1980), pp.

605–607.

3. Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti, ‘Praefatio’, in Pier

Antonio Micheli, Catalogus plantarum horti caesarei

florentini . . . (Florence: Paperini, 1748) (hereafter

cited as Targioni Tozzetti, 1748); Giovanni

Targioni Tozzetti, Prodromo della corografia e della topo-

grafia fisica della Toscana (Florence: Stamperia

Imperiale, 1754) (hereafter cited as Targioni

Tozzetti, 1754); Giovanni Calvi, Commentarium inser-

viturum historiae pisani vireti botanici academici (Pisa:

Pizzorni, 1777).

4. It should be noted that Chiarugi did not specifically

refer to the Giardino delle Stalle, considering this

synonymous with the Giardino dei Semplici. Cf.

Chiarugi (as in note 1), p. 793, note 3.

5. See Jonathan Davies, Culture and Power: Tuscany and

its Universities 1537–1609 (Leiden and Boston: Brill,

2009), Appendix V.

6. Chiarugi (as in note 1), pp. 811–815.

7. Chiarugi (as in note 1), p. 787.

8. Chiarugi (as in note 1), p. 794. Chiarugi erroneously

gives 1555 as the date of Ghini’s departure.

9. Chiarugi (as in note 1), pp. 801–802.

10. Henk Th. Van Veen, Cosimo I de’ Medici and his Self-

representation in Florentine Art and Culture (Cambridge,

New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town,

Singapore, and Sao Paulo: Cambridge University

Press, 2006). The original Dutch edition appeared

in 1998.


12. Ferdinando Leopoldo del Migliore, Firenze citta nobi-

lissima illustrata (Florence: Stella, 1684), pp. 238–239.

13. Targioni Tozzetti, 1748, p. XV (referring to Del

Migliore in note 8).

14. Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firence (hereafter

BNCF), Targioni Tozzetti, 56, I, fols 74v–75v. Detlef

Heikamp transcribed and published part of Del

Riccio’s treatise entitled ‘Del giardino di un re’.

Detlef Heikamp, ‘Agostino del Riccio. Del giardino

di un Re’, Il giardino storico italiano, edited by Giovanna

Ragionieri (Florence: Olschki, 1981), pp. 60–123.

15. Although Casabona’s name appears on Medici court

rolls in 1577 (‘Giuseppe di Casabuona fiam[m]ingo

scudi 10’), his garden is not mentioned in Ulisse

Aldrovandi’s account of his visit to Florence during

that year. This date is therefore a terminus post quem for

this garden’s founding. See Archivio di Stato di Firenze

(hereafter ASF), Manoscritti, 321, p. 209; Ulisse

Aldrovandi e la Toscana: carteggio e testimonianze documen-

tarie, edited by Alessandro Tosi (Florence: Olschki,

1989), pp. 210–222 (‘Itinerarium seu rerum in itinere

florentino, romano et tyburtino collectarum catalogus’).

This garden’s original location in the courtyard of the

Casino of S. Marco is indicated in Raffaello Borghini, Il

Riposo . . . (Florence: Marescotti, 1584), p. 586 (refer-

ence to ‘[i]l cortile, dove sono i semplici . . . ’).

16. Although the contract for the acquisition of the

Giardino delle Stalle was signed on 16 November

1545, Chiarugi, for some reason, preferred the date

of 1 December 1545, when payments for this garden

officially began. ASF, Corporazioni Religiose

Soppresse Dal Governo Francese, no. 108, 121, fol.

101r; Chiarugi (as in note 1), pp. 787–788.

17. This is how this garden is usually described in the

inventories of Medici properties and other related

documents. See ASF, Scrittoio delle Regie

Possessioni, 4113, fol. 88v (‘Uno giardino fatto

nuovamente et attaccato con le stalle . . . ’,

1566); ASF, Mediceo del Principato, 5158, fol.

808r (‘Un sito et edifitio chiamato le stalle con

una cariera dreto alla chiesa di San Marco insieme

con il giardino contiguo, et annesso alle dette

stalle’, c. 1574–76); ASF, Scrittoio delle Regie

Possessioni, 4117, fol. 1r (‘Uno giardino appicato

con le sudette stalle . . . ’, c. 1580–87). The

Giardino delle Stalle and the stables were also

unified in terms of financing and management,

both being the responsibility of the Capitani di

Parte Guelfa (commissioners for public works).

18. See, for example, ASF, Miscellanea Medicea, 370,

insert 19 (7 February 1626); ASF, Manoscritti, 137,

fol. 98r (Francesco Settimanni, Diario fiorentino, XI,

with reference to 11 July 1661).

19. ASF, Capitani di Parte Guelfa, numeri neri, 756, fol.

375r (1 February 1588). See also ASF, Capitani di

Parte Guelfa, numeri neri, 1470, fol. 314r (25

October 1589).

20. See Girolamo Porro, L’horto de i semplici di Padova . . .

(Venice: Porro, 1591), referring to the division of the

Paduan garden into four squares (spaldi).

21. Alfredo Reumont, ‘Descrizione di Firenze nell’anno

1598 di Lodovico Principe di Anhalt’, Archivio Storico

Italiano, Nuova Serie, 10/2 (1859), p. 114.

22. These are mentioned both by Del Riccio and Del

Migliore. See BNCF, Targioni Tozzetti, 56, I, fol.

197r; Del Migliore (as in note 12), p. 239.

23. ASF, Mediceo del Principato, 3124, fol. 178r (‘ . . . Et vi

erano a goderla vista da ottanta dame giovane sopra un

palco in un giardino del gran duca, che risponde nella

cavalerizza, dove e solito starsi a vedere correre i cava-

lieri’, an undated avviso, late April–early May 1604).

24. ASF, Manoscritti, 136, fol. 22v (Francesco

Settimanni, Diario fiorentino, X, with reference to 27

August 1545). For the transcription of this document,

see Anatole Tchikine, ‘Giochi d’acqua: water effects in

Renaissance and Baroque Italy’, Studies in the History

of Gardens and Designed Landscapes, 30/1, 2010, p. 74,

note 42.

25. Del Migliore (as in note 12), p. 240.

26. Reumont (as in note 21), p. 114.

27. Biblioteca Botanica della Universita di Firenze (here-

after BBUF), Manoscritti, 97, fol. 303r (‘Copia del

motu propria di S[ua] A[ltezza] R[eale] [Francis

Stephen of Lorraine]’, 6 July 1739).

28. Agostino Lapini, Diario fiorentino (Florence: Sansoni,

1900), p. 108.

29. ASF, Corporazioni Religiose Soppresse dal Governo

Francese, no. 108, 121, fol. 26v.


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30. ASF, Mediceo del Principato, 406, fol. 617v. For a

partial transcription of this document, see Anatole

Tchikine, ‘Horticultural differences: the Florentine gar-

den of Don Luis de Toledo and the nuns of San

Domenico del Maglio’, Studies in the History of Gardens

and Designed Landscapes, 30/3, 2010, p. 235, note 31.

31. ASF, Scrittoio delle Fortezze e Fabbriche, Fabbriche

Medicee, 2, fol. 54l–r.

32. ‘ . . . e lungo la muraglia dalla parte occidentale

scorre un ruscello copioso d’acque molto commodo

a’ servigi di esso [giardino]’. Francesco Bocchi and

Giovanni Cinelli, Le bellezze della citta di Firenze . . .

(Florence: Gugliantini, 1677), p. 17. The garden’s

description was added by Cinelli in the seventeenth

century.


Medicee, 2, fols. 2l, 15l, 120l–r, 139l–r.


Medicee, 2, fol. 139r. For this fountain, see also ASF,

Capitani di Parte Guelfa, numeri neri, 1463, fol. 270r

(3 July 1568).

35. Vincenzo Follini and Modesto Rastelli, Firenze antica

e moderna illustrata, III (Florence: Grazioli, 1791), pp.

244–245.

36. Work on this fishpond is mentioned in a letter from

Cosimo I to Vieri de’ Medici (10 April 1565): ‘ . . . Et

al giardino delle Stalle darete perfectione secondo che

da noi vi fu commesso et non altrimenti, quanto al

vivaio et altre cose, perche� vogliamo sia a volonta

nostra et non d’altri’. ASF, Mediceo del Principato,

220, fol. 86r. For payments, see ASF, Mediceo del

Principato, 220, fols 89r (2 May 1565), 93r (29 May

1565); 225, fols 3v (29 June 1565), 6v (28 July 1565),

8v (25 August 1565), 12v (28 September 1565).

37. A later document (‘Relazione dello stato dell’imperial

giardino dei semplici . . . ’, 5 October 1758) mentions

‘platani . . . posti accanto [alla gran peschiera] dugento

anni fa’. BBUF, Manoscritti, 97, fol. 93r.The age of

these trees suggests that they were planted in the

sixteenth century.

38. See illustration in Micheli (as in note 3), p. 1.

39. Marble for these birds is mentioned in a letter (15

June 1565) from Tommaso de’ Medici (on behalf of

Cosimo I) to Matteo Inghirami: ‘Alla rice[v]uta di

questa vi piacera dare ordine di fare cavare et mandare

qui a V[i]eri de’ Medici quattro pezzi di marmo

mistio i quali hanno da essere d’altezza di braccia

uno 3/4 l’uno et grossi per ogni verso braccio uno,

che hanno a servire per fare una oca, uno aghirone,

una grua et una oca marina. Piaceravi farli cavare alle

sudette misure et quanto prima indirizzarli qui a

M[esser] V[i]eri de’ Medici et da lui valervi della

spesa, perche� hanno a servire per il giardino delle

stalle di Firenze di S[ua] E[ccellenza] I[llustrissima]

[Cosimo I]’. ASF, Mediceo del Principato, 221, fol.

2r. See also ASF, Miniere, 105, fol. 15r.

40. See the description of this fountain in Giorgio Vasari, Le

Opere, edited by Gaetano Milanesi (Florence: Sansoni,

1906), VII, p. 636: ‘ . . . ed ultimamente [Antonio

Lorenzi] ha fatto, nel belissimo giardino delle stalle,

vicino a San Marco, bellissimi ornamenti a una fontana

isolata, con molti animali acquatici fatti di marmo e di

mischi bellissimi . . . ed oltre a queste, va tuttavia nuove

opere facendo per il Duca [Cosimo I], di animali, di

mischi et uccelli per fonti, lavori difficilissimi . . . ’.

41. BBUF, Manoscritti, 97, fol. 760r-v (an eighteenth-

century document entitled ‘Memoria’, unsigned and

undated).

42. See, for example, Chiarugi (as in note 1), p. 793;

Fernando Fabbri, ‘L’Orto Botanico di Firenze’,

Agricoltura, 12/4, 1963, p. 74; Alessandro Tagliolini,

Storia del giardino italiano: gli artisti, l’invenzione, le

forme, dall’antichita al XIX secolo (Florence: La Casa

Usher, 1988), p. 173.


Medicee, 2, fols 117l–r. This work was carried out in

1555–56.

44. BNCF, Targioni Tozzetti, 56, I, fol. 74v.

45. Cf. Heikamp (as in note 14), p. 75.

46. BNCF, Targioni Tozzetti, 56, I, fol. 75r.

47. A full account of this work, carried out between 14

November 1587 and 28 February 1589, is found in ASF,

Capitani di Parte Guelfa, numeri neri, 1467, fols

341r–342v.

48. See Ulisse Aldrovandi e la Toscana . . . (as in note 15),

p. 406.

49. ‘Dove aveva ad albergare la Sapienza ora allogia la

bestialita, e vi crescono le stalle alla barba di Niccolo

da Vagliano [Niccolo da Uzzano], che cio prevedere

non pote, e detro a se nell’orto fare un memorabile

Semplicista’. Published in Francesco Domenico

Guerrazzi, Isabella Orsini, duchessa di Bracciano

(Florence: Le Monnier, 1844), p. 197.

50. See, for example, BBUF, Manoscritti, 97, fol.

53r–55v (‘Memoria presentata al Principe per il rego-

lam[en]to della Societa [Botanica]’, an undated docu-

ment addressed to Grand Duke Francis Stephen of

Lorrain).

51. Cf. Chiarugi (as in note 1), p. 794; Fabbri (as in

note 42), pp. 74–75.


53. ASF, Mediceo del Principato, 1171, insert 6, fol.

256r.

54. Domenico Vigna, Animadversiones sive observationes in

libros de historia, et de causis plantarum Theophrasti . . .

(Pisa: Marchetti and Massini, 1625), ‘Notabile

descriptio . . . ’, unpaginated.

55. Vigna (as in note 54), ‘Notabile descriptio . . . ’,

unpaginated (‘ . . . & ibi etiam adhuc virescit pulcher-

rima Arbor Storacis, Sycomori, & vasta Palma’),

p. 105 (‘Reperitur etiam alia Storacis Arbor hodie in

Viridario dell’Arzinale vocato, una cum Sycomoro,

& Palma ingenti quae superat in Altitudine Moenia

ipsa Pisana’).

56. Calvi (as in note 3), p. 59. Calvi refers to 1562 as the

year of this Order’s founding because of the

Florentine-style ab incarnazione calendar dating

(according to which the year began on 25 March).

57. Calvi (as in note 3), pp. 34–35, note ‘b’.

58. See above, note 6.


60. Cf. Fabio Garbari, Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi, and

Alessandro Tosi, Giardino dei Semplici: l’Orto botanico

di Pisa dal XVI al XX secolo (Pisa: Cassa di Risparmio,

1991), p. 15.

61. Alessandro da Morrona, Pisa illustrata nelle arti del

disegno (Livorno: Marenigh, 1812), II, pp. 282–283.

62. ASF, Scrittoio delle Regie Possessioni, 4115, fol. 114r

(‘Campione di beni di Cosimo I’, 1568). Another


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copy of this inventory is in ASF, Scrittoio delle Regie

Possessioni, 4114.

63. Maso, presumably, was a brother of Domenico di

Zanobi da Prato, who was referred to as the ‘giardi-

niere de’ Semplici in Citta della vecchia’ in 1564. See

Giovanni Arcangeli, ‘Brevi notizie sull’Orto

Botanico Pisano’, Bullettino della Societa Botanica

Italiana, 6 (1900), p. 172.

64. ASF, Mediceo del Principato, 508, fol. 750r (Lotto

Mancini to Prince-Regent Francesco de’ Medici, 8

August 1564, referring to ‘[l’]ortolano . . . il quale

s’era ubrigato [obbligato] d’ac[c]onciare l’orto di

San Vitto [sic] perche� piu e piu volte il luoghot[e-

nent]e [Piero] Machiavelli m’ha detto che io trovassi

uno che lo riducessi a buon termine come era a tempo

de’ M[esser] Luca Martini perche� di presente e tutto

trasandato e raconciandolo sarebbe d’utile assai alle

galere’). Piero Macchiavelli (the son of Niccolos) was

the commander of the ducal galleys. Luca Martini was

in charge of the Arsenal in Pisa in 1547–61.

65. ASF, Mediceo del Principato, 225, fol. 74r (reference

to ‘[il] giardino nuovo della Cittadella Vecchia’, 20

February 1567). Chiarugi too thought that this was

another name for the Giardino dell’Arsenale. See

Chairugi (as in note 10, p. 815).

66. ASF, Mediceo del Principato, 220, fol. 71r (Cosimo I

to Girolamo Lucchesini, 11 January 1565); cf. fol. 71v

(Cosimo I to Alamanno Salviati, 11 January 1565:

‘Volendo fare qui in Pisa uno giardino di frutti di

varie sorte . . . ’).

67. ASF, Mediceo del Principato, 220, fols 71r–72v

(Cosimo I to Matteo Inghirami, Girolamo

Lucchesini, Vieri de’ Medici, Alamanno Salviati,

Andrea ‘fattore’ [bailiff] at Castello, Francesco di Ser

Iacopo, Leonardo de’ Nobili, 11 January 1565). For

further instructions and reminders, see fols 73v–74r

(Cosimo I to Vieri de’ Medici and Matteo Inghirami,

16 January 1565), 74v (Cosimo I to Matteo

Inghirami, 19 January 1565), 76r (Cosimo I to Vieri

de’ Medici, 27 January 1565), 77r–v (Cosimo I to

Matteo Inghirami, 31 January 1565), 78r (Cosimo I

to Vieri de’ Medici, 7 February 1565).

68. For payments, see ASF, Mediceo del Principato, 220,

fols 75v (23 January 1565, ‘per pag[a]re le spese d’uno

nuovo giardino che facciamo fare in Pisa’), 79v (14

February 1565, ‘per finir’ di pagar’ le spese del nuovo

giardino di Pisa’), 83v (26 March 1565, ‘per pagar’ le

spese della muraglia et cultivatione del nostro nuovo

giardino di Pisa’).

69. ASF, Mediceo del Principato, 516, fol. 407r (Alberico

Cybo Malaspina to Cosimo I, 19 June 1565): ‘ . . . ma

perche� non sarebbe con gusto mio, se prima non mi

rallegrassi seco del bel giardino, che in sı breve tempo,

ho ritrovato ch’ella ha fatto qui in Pisa, ho voluto

d’avantaggio far’ con lei quest’offitio, et tanto piu,

quanto che li aranci, limoni, et altre piante, non solo si

sono attaccate in stagione molto contraria, ma che

presto ne promettano il frutto, che piaccia a Iddio di

lassarlo godere per longhissimi anni a V[ostra]

Ecc[ellen]za [Cosimo I]’.

70. ASF, Mediceo del Principato, 1871, fols 360v–361r

(Agnolo Niccolini to Cosimo I, 15 March 1567): ‘Io

mi sendo d’assai buona voglia, secondo l’eta mia, et

gli accidenti passati. Vo a riveder’ qualche volta il suo

giardino da Ponte a Mare. Et sebene per in sin’ ad

hora, non essendo finiti li alberi, et venuta la verdura

dell’herbe, non appariscie interamente la dolcezza

sua, nondimanco e bello et ben’ tenuto. Et sopratutto

si e ben’ conservata, et distesa la spalliera de limoni, et

cedri, massime essendo nella maggiore parte di ques-

t’altri horti, et secchi et appassiti, fassi bella la macchia

et li frutti ci provano maravigliosamente, parendomi

vederli tutti salvi. Il restante del piano del giardino ha

bisogno di spesa cultivatione, et d’aiuto di concime,

per essere (come la sa) terreno stato coperto, et in

molti luoghi ripieno di calcinacci’. The expression ‘da

Ponte a Mare’ must refer to the garden’s location

rather than the place from which it was viewed. I

am grateful to Edward Goldberg for clarifying the

reading of this passage.

71. ASF, Mediceo del Principato, 225, fols 83v–84r

(Cosimo I to Giovanni Caccini, 17 April 1567):

‘[F]acciate fare la conserva del’acqua per il servitio

del nostro giardino nuovo nel luogo fuori del detto

giardino dove si disegno che stessi meglio, pero

mettetevi mano subito, et quanto alla tenuta di essa

fatela di quanto vi parra conveniente’.

72. ASF, Mediceo del Principato, 5158, fol. 810v

(where the Giardino dell’Arsenale is referred to as

‘l’horto, piantato presso alla Porta a Mare di quella

citta [di Pisa]’).

73. See ASF, Miscellanea Medicea, 297, inserts 2 and 3.

74. ASF, Scrittoio delle Regie Possessioni, 7041, fols

38l–r (1583–84), which also mentions capers (cap-

peri) and beans (fave) that grew in this garden. Part of

this property was taken by a small vineyard (cf. the

reference to ‘barili sei di vino . . . avuto quest’anno

per vendem[m]ia di detto giardino [della Cittadella

Vecchia]’). For an earlier mention of bitter oranges,

see ASF, Mediceo del Principato, 225, fol. 72v

(Cosimo I to Zanobi Marignolli, 18 February

1567): ‘Poi che voi dite che le melangole del nostro

giardino della Cittadella Vecchia cascono fatele

corre e pigliatene quello spediente che giudicate

piu profittevole’.

75. ASF, Scrittoio delle Regie Possessioni, 7041, fols.

338r, 425l; ASF, Capitani di Parte Guelfa, numeri

neri, 1468, fol. 429v.

76. See Emilio Tolaini, Forma Pisarum: storia urbanistica

della citta di Pisa (Pisa: Nistri-Lischi, 1979), pp.

214–215.

77. Percy Bysshe Shelley, The complete poetical works, III

(London: Slark, 1881), p. 170.


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Documents

Gardens of mistaken identity: The Giardino Delle Stalle in Florence and the Giardino dell'Arsenale in Pisa