{"id":9945,"date":"2016-06-26T19:49:37","date_gmt":"2016-06-26T17:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/?p=9945"},"modified":"2016-06-26T19:49:37","modified_gmt":"2016-06-26T17:49:37","slug":"appennine-colossus-florence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/appennine-colossus-florence\/","title":{"rendered":"The beauty of the Appennine Colossus"},"content":{"rendered":"

The beauty and richness of this place can not be represented\u00a0by written words<\/em><\/p>\n

These are the words that the French philosopher Michel de Montaigne<\/strong> uses to describe Medici’s Villa di\u00a0Pratolino<\/strong>, an unusual<\/strong> and suggestive destination<\/strong> at the gates of Florence<\/strong>, surrounded by woods<\/strong>, meadows<\/strong> and lakes, that hides a secret marvel, a creation of the Flemish sculptor Giambologna<\/strong>, known as the \u00a0Appennine Colossus.<\/p>\n

The Appennine Colossus,\u00a0half man and half mountain<\/h2>\n

\"Appennine<\/p>\n

Among\u00a0the green, a giant<\/strong> statue<\/strong> stands: a mysterious figure of ten meters, half man<\/strong> and half mountain<\/strong>, seems to come from the small lake. It’s a thoughtful<\/strong> giant<\/strong>, covered in mud and lichen within which there are still two small<\/strong> rooms<\/strong>, one of them inside the giant’s head. They say\u00a0that once the rooms and the mysterious caves built within it were many more, and that inside the\u00a0head there was\u00a0a fireplace that blew the smoke out through the\u00a0nostrils.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

The Appennine Colossus has been there for 500 years, in the midst of one of the largest parks in Tuscany that\u00a0from\u00a02013 was recognized World Heritage<\/strong> Site by Unesco.
\nThe Villa di Pratolino, also known as Villa Demidoff, was bought by Francesco I de Medici in 1568 that surrounded it with woods\u00a0and wonders, water games and labyrinths. It was the largest park of the estates of the Medici, but when\u00a0Francesco\u00a0died it was abandoned until the Grand Duke Ferdinand III of Lorraine turned it into a romantic garden, destroying the house. In 1872 the Russian Prince Demidoff bought the park and in part he renovated. Although some art works of the park have disappeared over the centuries, the charm and ineffable beauty<\/strong> of this green oasis and\u00a0the fairy-tale atmosphere remain.<\/p>\n\n\t\t