The Loggia del Mercato Nuovo (New Market), popularly known as the Loggia del Porcellino, is a historic building in Florence. The city also has the Loggia del Mercato Vecchio (Old Market), located in the modern Piazza della Repubblica.
The loggia was built around the middle of the 16th century in the heart of Florence, just a few steps from the Ponte Vecchio. Initially, it sold silk and luxury items, later - the famous straw hats, and today it sells mainly leather goods and souvenirs. Statues of prominent Florentines were to be erected in the corner niches, but only three were made - the first leader of the Chompi Rebellion (the Combers Guild), Michele di Lando, historian and statesman Giovanni Villani, and sculptor and artist Bernardo Chennini.
The monument of the Loggia is the Fontano del Porcellino ("Piglet Fountain") - a copy of the bronze figure of a wild boar by Pietro Tacca.
The wild beast was a symbol of Tuscany, whose forests were rich in these animals and hunted since ancient times. In 1612, Cosimo II Medici commissioned the talented sculptor Pietro Tacca, one of Giambologna's best students, to make a copy of a boar based on an ancient marble sculpture given to his ancestor by Pope Pius IV during a visit to Rome in 1560. The bronze sculpture was intended to decorate the Palazzo Pitti, however, due to the sculptor's employment in many other projects of the Duke, in 1620 only a wax model was made. The casting of the bronze sculpture took place only in 1633. During this time, the duke died, and Ferdinand II Medici, who came to power, decided to turn the magnificent sculpture into a fountain.
A place in the Mercato Nuovo loggia was chosen for the fountain, both for aesthetics and for the needs of Florentine merchants, who traded here in various precious fabrics, such as silk, brocade, woolen fabrics.
In 1640, a bronze pool was built in the form of a wetland - the habitat of wild boars - with the image of various aquatic plants, amphibians, reptiles and mollusks. Water flowed from the boar's snout. In 1897, due to severe wear and tear, the pool of the fountain was recast. In 1988, the whole composition was replaced by a new one, made in the studio of Ferdinando Marinelli, and the former work in 2004 was exhibited at the Bardini Museum.
The Florentines themselves affectionately nicknamed the boar - "parcellino", which translates as "pig". And then such a ritual was invented for the fountain. If you put a coin under the beast's tongue, and then release it, it will slip under his hooves in the place where the lattice for water drainage.
If the coin slips into its narrow slits, your wish will surely come true. Well, if by, then not fate. Another ritual obliges to rub the boar's nose, which is why it is now rubbed to shine. And this is not surprising - the flow of tourists seeking to fulfill their desires in this way is inexhaustible.
By the way, many "relatives" of Porcellino have found refuge in different cities and countries - in Sydney, Australia, in Bavaria, Bavaria, in Brussels, in the Danish town of Holstebro, in the gardens of Butchart Gardens in Canada, again in the Tuscan town of Rippecia. in the Louvre.
And the marble original of the boar sculpture (3rd century BC) is still in the same Florence in the Uffizi Gallery.
The loggia was built around the middle of the 16th century in the heart of Florence, just a few steps from the Ponte Vecchio. Initially, it sold silk and luxury items, later - the famous straw hats, and today it sells mainly leather goods and souvenirs. Statues of prominent Florentines were to be erected in the corner niches, but only three were made - the first leader of the Chompi Rebellion (the Combers Guild), Michele di Lando, historian and statesman Giovanni Villani, and sculptor and artist Bernardo Chennini.
The monument of the Loggia is the Fontano del Porcellino ("Piglet Fountain") - a copy of the bronze figure of a wild boar by Pietro Tacca.
The wild beast was a symbol of Tuscany, whose forests were rich in these animals and hunted since ancient times. In 1612, Cosimo II Medici commissioned the talented sculptor Pietro Tacca, one of Giambologna's best students, to make a copy of a boar based on an ancient marble sculpture given to his ancestor by Pope Pius IV during a visit to Rome in 1560. The bronze sculpture was intended to decorate the Palazzo Pitti, however, due to the sculptor's employment in many other projects of the Duke, in 1620 only a wax model was made. The casting of the bronze sculpture took place only in 1633. During this time, the duke died, and Ferdinand II Medici, who came to power, decided to turn the magnificent sculpture into a fountain.
A place in the Mercato Nuovo loggia was chosen for the fountain, both for aesthetics and for the needs of Florentine merchants, who traded here in various precious fabrics, such as silk, brocade, woolen fabrics.
In 1640, a bronze pool was built in the form of a wetland - the habitat of wild boars - with the image of various aquatic plants, amphibians, reptiles and mollusks. Water flowed from the boar's snout. In 1897, due to severe wear and tear, the pool of the fountain was recast. In 1988, the whole composition was replaced by a new one, made in the studio of Ferdinando Marinelli, and the former work in 2004 was exhibited at the Bardini Museum.
The Florentines themselves affectionately nicknamed the boar - "parcellino", which translates as "pig". And then such a ritual was invented for the fountain. If you put a coin under the beast's tongue, and then release it, it will slip under his hooves in the place where the lattice for water drainage.
If the coin slips into its narrow slits, your wish will surely come true. Well, if by, then not fate. Another ritual obliges to rub the boar's nose, which is why it is now rubbed to shine. And this is not surprising - the flow of tourists seeking to fulfill their desires in this way is inexhaustible.
By the way, many "relatives" of Porcellino have found refuge in different cities and countries - in Sydney, Australia, in Bavaria, Bavaria, in Brussels, in the Danish town of Holstebro, in the gardens of Butchart Gardens in Canada, again in the Tuscan town of Rippecia. in the Louvre.
And the marble original of the boar sculpture (3rd century BC) is still in the same Florence in the Uffizi Gallery.
Translated automatically from Ukrainian. View original
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