Tuscan pottery has obtained a further recent prestigious recognition.
In fact Borgo San Lorenzo will be the 40th “City of Ceramics” in Italy and 4th in Tuscany. This thanks to the recognition received by the Italian Ministry of Economic Activities. Certainly a good business card for those wishing to know this artistic reality at the gates of Florence. Without forgetting a nice holiday in a truly delightful still unknown corner of the Tuscan countryside. The Tuscan pottery in Borgo San Lorenzo is identified with the prestigious history of the Manifattura Chini. So finally the Mugello will be included within the great scions of national and international ceramics.
It all started when Galileo Chini founded the “The art of ceramics” factory in Florence in 1896. Soon his cousins Chino, Pietro, Guido and Augusto also entered society. There followed also prestigious prizes and awards at the Turin exhibition (1998-1902) and the 1900 Paris Universal exibition.
The Tuscan pottery of this factory is very beautiful and is often inspired by the Art Nouveau-Liberty floral motifs. We also find female figures with a clear Botticellian influence for some sifted through the Pre-Raphaelites’ experience.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Galileo Chini became one of the leading exponents of Italian Liberty. His fame as an artist also reached the Far East. In fact he was called to Bangkok to paint the Palace of the Throne. In 1906 Galileo and Chino Chini founded the “Fornaci San Lorenzo” factory in Borgo San Lorenzo. The mark was a grill surmounted by a lily in honor of the Christian martyr San Lorenzo patron of the town.
The new factory will produce refined majolica, often characterized by a metallic luster cover. A vast production sector will be dedicated to architectural coatings, which still enrich many of the Mugello buildings. The San Lorenzo furnaces will also produce wonderful stained glass windows, lamps and chandeliers. The factory, after various vicissitudes, still continues to produce artistic ceramics suitable also for contemporary luxury furnishings.
The Chini museum is housed in the beautiful Villa Pecori-Giraldi located in the center of the town of Borgo San Lorenzo. The rooms of the villa were finely decorated in the late nineteenth century by the exponents of the Chini family. It mainly preserves pictorial, ceramic and architectural interventions of the great Galileo Chini. Galileo Chini as already mentioned, is one of the leading exponents of Italian Liberty. The Chini museum also houses a surprising collection of vases, stained glass and artistic objects from the Manifattura Chini (Art of Ceramics and Fornaci San Lorenzo).
The “Chini Lab” educational workshop for children is also part the museum. It is divided in different sections as to give children a truly outstanding artistic and sensorial experience.
In Borgo San Lorenzo and its surroundings a Liberty route was built to allow tourists to better appreciate the Mugello.