C. Vieusseux

The descendants of the Buondelmonti built this grand palace at the beginning of the 1500s. In Dante’s times, there were two famous towers here, one at each edge of the current structure’s façade. To the left stood the tower informally called the “Basciagatta,” which was built by the Folcardini family in the twelfth century. To the right was the “Ribecca,” owned by the Scali family.

The building was purchased in 1819 by Vieusseux (pictured above), to whom this plaque is dedicated. It reads: “On this property, once belonging to the Buondelmonti, lived Giovan Pietro Vieusseux from Oneglia, lifelong champion of Italian civilization, who died here on April 28, 1863. The city of Florence dedicated this plaque to its famous citizen on May 2 of the following year.”

Vieusseux was born in 1779 in the Ligurian town of Oneglia to protestant parents who came to Italy from Geneva. After traveling throughout Europe for over two decades, Vieusseux finally settled in Florence - at the age of 40 - where he bought this palazzo. Following the northern European fashion of the day, he established here the Gabinetto Vieusseux, a sort of reading room where Florentines and foreigners could meet to exchange ideas or simply sit and peruse any of numerous European periodicals. Among the intellectuals who frequented the Gabinetto were Giacomo Leopardi, Alessandro Manzoni, Schopenhauer, Dostoevsky, Alexandre Dumas, Mark Twain, Kipling, D. H. Lawrence, Thackeray and many others.

Vieusseux was the founding editor of L’antologia, a literary magazine that lasted twenty years before being shut down for political reasons, and lent his support to other periodicals (including Archivio storico italiano) that were intended to promote the unification of Italy, politically and culturally.

Dante, on account of his moral compass and his role in the encouragement of Italian unity, was one of the figures who meant the most to the Gabinetto’s authors. Numerous are the calls in the pages of L’antologia for critical editions of Dante’s works.

In 1873, the Gabinetto left this location, moving to three others (including the Palace of the Guelph Party, 1923-40, where Eugenio Montale was its director) before finally settling in its present venue, Palazzo Strozzi, in 1940.

Next, we’ll wind our way toward Borgo Santi Apostoli, which was the street that ran between the eleventh-century walls and the edge of the river.

Forward to the next site.