IT’S autumn in Florence, the perfect time to enjoy the Italian city. Most of the tourists have migrated for the winter season, inexplicably preferring the inferno of the Arno valley in July and August. In the old Santa Croce quarter, standing elegantly with its perfectly symmetrical marble façade, is one of the most prestigious Franciscan churches in the world. With its magnificent frescos, sculptures and stained-glass windows, the Basilica of Santa Croce is tranquillity itself. Its artworks and religious symbols are of such beauty that reverence or joyful contemplation are the only fitting responses. Yet, I didn’t come here for artistic joy. I came here to find the tomb of one of the most notorious names in political history, that of Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527).
On the right-hand side of the nave, alongside memorials commemorating Michelangelo and Dante, lies Machiavelli’s tomb. Incongruous, you might think. A modest tomb compared with the others, it is a simple sarcophagus made of white Carrara marble under a Latin inscription: ‘Tanto nomini nullum par elogium’ (‘No eulogy is equal to so great a name’). Seated on the sarcophagus is an allegorical depiction of Politics holding a medallion with a portrait said to capture the great man’s likeness. The sharp, shrewd, skinny profile bears an uncanny resemblance to Tony Blair. Are my reflections on Machiavelli’s relevance in contemporary politics playing tricks on me?
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der October 23, 2024-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der October 23, 2024-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Give it some stick
Galloping through the imagination, competitive hobby-horsing is a gymnastic sport on the rise in Britain, discovers Sybilla Hart
Paper escapes
Steven King selects his best travel books of 2024
For love, not money
This year may have marked the end of brag-art’, bought merely to show off one’s wealth. It’s time for a return to looking for connoisseurship, beauty and taste
Mary I: more bruised than bloody
Cast as a sanguinary tyrant, our first Queen Regnant may not deserve her brutal reputation, believes Geoffrey Munn
A love supreme
Art brought together 19th-century Norwich couple Joseph and Emily Stannard, who shared a passion for painting, but their destiny would be dramatically different
Private views
One of the best ways-often the only way-to visit the finest privately owned gardens in the country is by joining an exclusive tour. Non Morris does exactly that
Shhhhhh...
THERE is great delight to be had poring over the front pages of COUNTRY LIFE each week, dreaming of what life would be like in a Scottish castle (so reasonably priced, but do bear in mind the midges) or a townhouse in London’s Eaton Square (worth a king’s ransom, but, oh dear, the traffic) or perhaps that cottage in the Cotswolds (if you don’t mind standing next to Hollywood A-listers in the queue at Daylesford). The estate agent’s particulars will give you details of acreage, proximity to schools and railway stations, but never—no, never—an indication of noise levels.
Mission impossible
Rubble and ruin were all that remained of the early-19th-century Villa Frere and its gardens, planted by the English diplomat John Hookham Frere, until a group of dedicated volunteers came to its rescue. Josephine Tyndale-Biscoe tells the story
When a perfect storm hits
Weather, wars, elections and financial uncertainty all conspired against high-end house sales this year, but there were still some spectacular deals
Give the dog a bone
Man's best friend still needs to eat like its Lupus forebears, believes Jonathan Self, when it's not guarding food, greeting us or destroying our upholstery, of course
