Gozzoli, a new museum in Castelfiorentino

FLORENCE, ITALY – The city of Castelfiorentino has got a brand new museum in a building designed specifically for the frescoes of one of the most important painters of the Renaissance.

The Museo Benozzo Gozzoli was conceived and constructed for the purpose of giving a home to the frescoes which Benozzo painted for two chapels built near the city.

The frescoes, which have recently been completely restored, are those of the Tabernacolo della Madonna della Tosse (Chapel of Our Lady of the Cough) and those of the Visitation.

The frescoes were first detached from their original location, where they had been exposed to the inclemency of weather and to the floods of the Elsa River, and placed temporarily in the City Library.

Benozzo Gozzoli was from Florence, but given his mastery he was commissioned work in many areas of Tuscany and of Italy. He however lived and worked for a long period in the Valdesa territory. The new Museum offers a comprehensive view of all his works with the aid of multimedia technology, and connects them to the territory by referring to the places where the works were realized.

The Tabernacolo della Madonna della Tosse was frescoed in 1484. This chapel, situated on the road which leads to Castelnuovo d’Elsa, became important to folk devotion. The townsfolk would take their children to this chapel to preserve them from the ‘bad cough’, which was wide-spread and from which children sometimes died.

The Tabernacolo della Madonna delle Grazie (Chapel of Our Lady of Grace), or of the Visitation, was built in 1491. Besides the hand of Benozzo, that of his sons, and helpers, Alesso and Frencesco, can also be detected. The scenes from the life of the Virgin in the fresco were taken from the apocryphal Gospels.

The project of the new museum was accomplished thanks to the generous support of the bank, Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze. The museum was created with didactic purposes and is at the disposal of the local schools. One school in particular – the Istituto Secondario Enriques, in Castelfiorentino – worked alongside the local authorities during the development of the museum project. This accounts for the two images on the museum logo: one shows a detail from one of the frescoes, and the other was created by a student from the graphic-design class of the school.

The museum website is well made and full of information and pictures. It is open Mondays and Fridays from 9 to 1pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 7 pm, Saturdays and Sundays from 10.00 to 12.00 and from 16.00 to 19.00. Admission: € 3, concessions € 2. Info: 0571 64448. BE GO Museo Benozzo Gozzoli – Via Testaferrata Castelfiorentino. www.museobenozzogozzoli.it.