Russians in Florence. Famous Russians about Florence

Felix Moiseevich Lurie was born in 1931 in Leningrad. Graduated from the Leningrad Mining Institute, Ph.D. Prose writer, publicist. Laureate of the “Northern Palmyra” literary prize. Lives in St. Petersburg.

Russians in Florence

Chapter from the book “Florence - the city of geniuses: a non-tourist guide.”

Russian merchants and diplomats have been in Europe since ancient times. The first to leave documentary evidence were the clergy who visited Florence in the summer of 1439, invited by Pope Eugene IV to continue the meetings of the Basel (Ferrara-Florence) Ecumenical Council. In the Church of Santa Maria Novella, Metropolitan Isidore of Moscow (Metropolitan 1436–1441. ├ 1462), at the head of the Russian embassy, ​​listened to speakers calling for the reconciliation of Orthodoxy with Catholicism and the unification of the Christian Church under the auspices of the Vatican. Evidence of this event has been preserved with a description of the debates that took place at the meetings of the council and the “walk of the embassy” from Moscow across Europe to Florence and back. Russian clergy were struck by Florence more than other European cities they had seen. Isidore, a passionate supporter of the unification of churches, signed the Union of Florence without hesitation. Upon returning to Moscow, he was imprisoned, from where the former metropolitan managed to escape in 1441. Once in Rome and converting to Catholicism, Isidore became a cardinal. His signature under the text of the union is still kept in Laurentian today.

Someone from the embassy kept travel notes, called “Walking to the Florence Cathedral.” This is the first description of European cities made by a Russian author. Twenty-one versions of “Walking” have reached us. Let's use the academic list and give a description of Florence from it:

“The same glorious city of Florenza is very great, and such was not found in the prescribed cities; The goddesses in it are beautiful and grand, and the chambers in it are built with white stone, the velmi are tall and cunning. And in the middle of that city flows a great and fast river named Rna; and a stone bridge was built on the river, it was wide, and there were floors on both sides of the bridge. In that city there is a holy goddess and in it there are a thousand beds, and on the last bed there are wonderful feather beds and drag blankets; the same was arranged by Khasrad, a weak newcomer and a stranger from other lands; the same ones are fed and clothed and put on shoes, and washed, and shiver honestly; and whoever can strike the hail with his forehead and go praising God; and a service was arranged among those beds, and they sang every day. There is a yin monastery, built cunningly and firmly with white stone, and the gates are iron; and the goddess is wonderful, and there are 40 services in her; and there are many relics of saints, and many precious vestments with stone, gold and pearls. There are 40 elders in it, but their lives do not leave the monastery, and no Miyans ever go to them; Their handicraft is as follows: the saints sew on the shrouds with gold and silk. In the same monastery there was a gentleman who was right there for us, and she saw everything... In the same city they make stones and Aksamites with gold. There are plenty of all sorts of goods, including olive orchards and tree oil. And now in that city there is a miraculous icon, an image of the pure Mother of God; and there are in front of that icon in the shrine of people who were healed for 6 thousand, waxed, in the image of those people who were shot, or if they were blind, or lame, or without arms, or a great man. Arriving on horseback, it was arranged as if he were alive, or one, or a wife, or a maiden, or a boy, or what kind of damage was on him, or what kind of enemy was in him, and how he was forgiven, or what kind of ulcer, so he became ready . And they make the same scarlet cloth. The same videh of ancient cedars and cypresses; cedar was like Russian pine, it looked a lot like it, and cypress had bark like linden, and needles like spruce, but few needles were curly and soft, and the cones were like pine. And in that city there is a great goddess built, the Mormor stone is white and black; And that goddess has a pillar and a bell tower, the same white stone is Mormor, and our minds cannot comprehend her cunning; and walk up the stairs and count the steps 400 and 50 (San Miniato al Monte. - F. L.).

In the 5th month of July, the former great council was held, and then I wrote letters of collection for how to believe in the Holy Trinity and signed Pope Eugenia, and King John of the Greeks, and all the Guardians, and the metropolitans, each signing the letters with their own hands.

In the same city we saw silk worms, and even then we saw how to eat silk from them.

On the same month, at 6, Pope Eugenia served mass with unleavened bread in the cathedral shrine in the name of the Most Pure Mother of God, and with him 12 guardinals, and 93 biscups, along with caplons and deacons. The Greek King John, sitting in his prepared place, beheld their services, and all his boyars with him; and the same metropolitan, sitting in the prepared places in the seven hierarchical rank, likewise the archimandrites, and the hartophylaks, and the priests, and the deacons of the ecclesiastical order, each in their own order, and the same Kaluger, sitting in the prepared places, serving with vision; the same goes for the laymen from Rus'; Those places are visible through people. If only there were enough people to be allowed in, there would be a lot of people strangled; but my father’s troops walked around in silver armor, and the clubs were trembling in their hands; and the future will not come; and now the candles are lit tremblingly in the hands, and those to the people mohakha, so that they do not attack. And after the service, she began to sing a prayer service with her family, and after the prayer service, the pope sat in the middle of that cathedral on the high throne prepared for him, and placed the amboys near him. And from the Latin curtains the name of Julian came out, and the Metropolitan of Nice, Visarion, brought the assembled letter; and Julian began to honor the Danish letter with great publicity, and after that the Metropolitan began to honor the Greek letter. And after reading the letters, the pope blessed the people. And then my father’s deacons began to sing praises to the pope, and then the king’s deacons began to sing praises to the king. And then the whole cathedral and all the people began to sing in Latin, and began to rejoice in the knowledge of forgiveness from the Greek.

And the king departed from the gathering from Florenza in the month of August 26. And having conducted it with honor, all the citizens and biskupi, and all the people of that city, with trumpets and pipes; and above him the sky was dressed with 12 people; and the horse under him was led by two warriors on foot, which were large cities.

On the month of September 24, the pope served in the Church of St. John the Baptist. And in the service of the Gardinalovs and Artsybiskupi and Biskupi, they dragged themselves into vestments, many of them. And then the Russians Isidore and the Greeks 12 sat down in the same robes, and the pope sat on the throne of the golden rank of hierarchs. And he went up to the high place of the biskup, in the name of Andrei, and began to honor the letter of blessing, and cursed the collection of bases. The Alaman lands did not come to the council before the pope, but held a council for themselves, not wanting to obey the pope; and having divided them he cursed them.

And on the same day Isidore and Avramia, the ruler of Russia, were blessed by the pope for Rus', and left Florenza for Rus' in the month of September at 6.”

The author shared his impressions of Florentine churches and monasteries, from the city itself, described the procedure for accepting and signing the union, solemn services in the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and the Baptistery of San Giovanni Battista, and the departure of the participants of the Ecumenical Council. It is appropriate to recall the fresco by Benozzo Gozzoli in the Palazzo Medici Ricardi depicting a procession of participants in the Council. The text mentions the Byzantine Emperor John VII Palaiologos, the Patriarch of Constantinople Joseph II, Pope Eugenius IV (pontificate 1431–1447) and the Nicene Patriarch Bessarion. Supporters of Eugene IV, who did not recognize the decisions of the Basel Council (1431–1449) and left its meetings, gathered in Florence. The pope's friendship with the ruler of Florence, Cosimo the Elder, contributed to success in many of the actions of these major figures in European history. Without the support of the guardian of the republic, perhaps Eugene IV would not have been able to retain the papal throne.

Two more testimonies from participants in the Russian embassy have been preserved: “The Exodus of Abraham of Suzdal” and “The Tale of the Eighth Council,” but they are of no interest to us.

About half a century after Metropolitan Isidore left for Moscow, the Russian monk, writer and publicist Maxim the Greek (1475–1556) lived and improved his education in Florence at the end of the 15th century in Florence at the end of the 15th century, who shared the views of Fra Girolamo Savonarola, who demanded the restoration of Christian virtues. In Moscow, he spoke out against the “debauchery” of the clergy. He was accused of deliberately distorting translations of holy books and conspiring with the Turkish ambassador, for which, by decision of the Council Court, he was sent into twenty-six years of exile.

On August 23 and 24, 1698, the steward Peter Andreevich Tolstoy (1645–1729), sent by Peter I on a trip to Europe, stayed in Florence. Here are some interesting sketches from his diary entries:

“Florence is a great place between great mountains on level ground. And in it lives a grand duke, that is, a great prince, who has a crown, that is, crowned, has under him also considerable other places and his dominion is considerable and populous.

Near the very site of Florence, there is a stone city of ancient construction with stone towers and gates of ancient fashion, but of considerable craftsmanship.

In Florence there are few houses of the heftiest proportions: all the houses are of ancient Florence. The entire city of Florence is paved with stone. And the chambers are high, three and four dwellings high, but the structure is simple, not architecturally speaking.

A large river flows through Florence, called the Arni. Four large stone bridges were built across that river, on stone pillars, between which there is one very large one, which I wrote about in my book above this, on which the silver row is built.

There are more than 200 monasteries and churches in Florence, which have a fair amount of decoration and are rich in silver and all kinds of church buildings.

In Florence the people are pure and very welcoming to farestieri (foreigners.- F.L.). Dresses are worn by honest people in French, and by other persons like Roman dress; and the merchants wear the same dress as the Venetian merchants - black; and the female sex in Florence cleans itself in the Roman style.

Honest people and rich merchants travel in large carriages and carriages; and there are many carriage horses in Florence; Also, wives and girls ride in carriages, well-cleaned, on good horses.

There are many rows in which merchants and artisans sit in Florence and plenty of all kinds of goods; There are also a lot of craftsmen of all kinds, and especially Florence boasts of their skill in making all sorts of things, great and small, from pink marbles, beautifully, flowers and living creatures, with a power as if picturesque.

In Florence, bread, meat, and all kinds of livestock are inexpensive, and there is plenty of it; there is also a lot of fish and inexpensive; and all kinds of fruits are plentiful and very cheap, and even more so there are a lot of good grapes, from which good wines are made, which are famous Florentine wines all over the world; and there are a lot of them, white and red, which are immensely tasty and non-drunk; and they will buy them there cheaply, and when they buy them, they will take them to distant places for the glory that there are glorious Florentine wines.

Osterium (hotel - F.L.) in Florence there are many in which there are good-sized chambers, and beds, and tables, and chairs, and armchairs, and good-sized beds, and tablecloths, and sheets, and white towels; Also, food and drink by farestir is fair and satisfying.

The vile people are pious, political and extremely respectful and truthful.

In Florence there are many pillars, on which are placed, in memory of ancient past times, famous people, carved in alabaster and from white stones, and on others, copper ones on horses, made with glorious work. In Florence, there are not many fountains, which are damaged, but they are of good craftsmanship, just not like those in Rome, and water does not flow from all the fountains in Florence. In Florence there are many fine craftsmen, painters of considerable Italian skill, who paint a fair amount and charge 50 gold rubles or more for one small image.”

Tolstoy's restrained description is interrupted by admiration for the cathedral and basilicas of Palazzo Pitti. It is not possible to establish where Tolstoy stayed (“osteria, which is called San Luntzi”).

About a year after P. A. Tolstoy’s visit, a group of Russian diplomats from the Grand Embassy arrived in Florence. Peter I, having received news of the Streltsy revolt, interrupted his trip to Europe and hastily returned to Moscow, visiting only Holland and Germany. Only part of the embassy participants traveled the entire intended route, among them was Prince Boris Ivanovich Kurakin (1676–1727), the future ambassador to Rome, London, Paris, etc. Presumably he is the author of the “Journal of Travel in Germany, Holland and Italy in 1697–1699” years, led by the Russians at the Grand Embassy to the rulers of different European countries.” Here are some entries from it regarding Florence:

“On the 27th [June 1698] we came to Florence to eat, the city is large, the streets are unclean, the houses are elegantly built, the endings are made of paper, rarely glass.

In the church was St. John's, a fairly large building, in one limit there were 60 unquenchable candles with lamps, 50 silver candlesticks, silver angels on the walls with candles, the ceiling was carved and gilded. There is also the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos, great, all made of marble.

Immediately I saw a church that has been under construction for 96 years, and half of it is still unfinished, everything inside is made of carved marble and jasper, everything is cut into stone, the work is so hard that it is impossible to believe: it takes three weeks to cut out one letter, and until now it was 22 million shuts (skudi) or efimki.

There was also a large one in the senator’s house, five chambers were decorated with marvelous writing, 15 chambers were decorated with colored damask, 2 tapestries, 5 different velvets, 2 marble, the best carved gilded, marvelous mirrors one and a half fathoms long, they were painted with skillful craftsmanship; He also has a library with two slotted globes, the very large one itself is carved and gilded.

I was right there in the yard where the horses are being trained; I was in the yard where there were all sorts of animals, lions, leopards.

I visited the Prince of Florence in the courtyard (Palazzo Pitti. - F.L.), where all sorts of things are collected, is called a gallery; the first thing I saw was the throne, made of marble of different colors, in the church that has been building for 96 years; a chamber with wonderful letters, another with portselios, a chamber with mathematical instruments, two large globes, a chamber with letters, here is a round table, which was made by 15 people for 30 years, costs several thousand in gold. The box is framed in gold with stones, emeralds, and yachts; two tables are made of jasper, on them there are bone vessels of marvelous workmanship. In the same chamber there is a vendor with crystal vessels and jasper stones set in gold. Right there in the chamber there is an emerald with earth, as if born from nature; there is a turquoise the size of a fist, the person of the king is made; There are enough rifle chambers. Diamond glorious in all the world, set with iron, 148 carats; at the throne there is a golden board with stones, a rich velma, for a new church that has been under construction for 96 years; It is a great supplier, it contains golden vessels.

The Prince of Florence had a stone magnet lying in the yard about two fathoms around, up to a man’s waist. There were marvelous cypress trees planted in the garden, fountains, a bowl made of one stone, 15 fathoms all around; there were, where there were different birds, 5 strophocamilas. They immediately saw a horse whose mane was 11 fathoms long; he measured it himself.”

Not a word about painting, perhaps because in Russia at that time there was no secular painting, except for parsun (portrait) painting. We have given three of the earliest descriptions of Florence belonging to Russian people. The first author paid main attention to temples, rituals, the Florence Cathedral, the second - to architecture, the third - to furnishings and jewelry.

As is known, until the second half of the 19th century, private individuals required the permission of the monarch to travel abroad from Russia. Some did not dare to submit a petition, others were refused, the voyage was allowed mainly to aristocrats with sonorous surnames or large industrialists. There were few Russians traveling around Europe, and they immediately attracted the attention of the natives.

In the late autumn of 1775, the Florentines drew attention to the Russian millionaire, owner of the Ural factories, Nikita Akinfievich Demidov (1724–1789), walking around the city. This was his second trip to the Apennine Peninsula. Among the numerous servants, the master was accompanied by the young talented sculptor Fyodor Ivanovich Shubin (1740–1805), “in order to more profitably examine the ancient monuments preserved by time.” This voyage is captured by the following record of the minutes of the meeting of the Council of the Imperial Academy of Arts dated February 27, 1776:

“We heard a letter from Mr. State Councilor of the Academy, honorary member Nikita Akinfievich Demidov, in which he sent as a gift to the Academy an alabaster likeness taken from the famous bronze church gates in Florence, made in ancient times by the famous artist Jean de Boulon. This likeness to Mr. Belyaev, accepted to be recorded in the register of immovable things and to Mr. Honorary Free Community Member to send a letter of gratitude on behalf of the Academy. And so that such a worthy gift in honor of the gentleman who gave in favor of the arts could be placed in a decent place for the Academy, then Mr. Adjutant Rector Gilet, taking upon himself this likeness, inspected to correct, under his authority, the damage that happened along the way.”

After the restoration by Shubin’s teacher Professor Nicolas Gillet (1709–1791) of the casts from the “Gates of Heaven” made by Lorenzo Ghiberti for the Baptistery of San Giovanni Battista, they were placed in the storerooms of the Academy of Arts. There the casts would have been lost among the plaster models, but the President of the Academy of Arts, Count A.S. Stroganov, who was simultaneously “correcting” the duties of the Chairman of the Commission on the construction of the Kazan Church, having once seen these casts, did not forget about their existence. Alexander Sergeevich visited Florence and remembered “the Florentine doors that amazed him.” As soon as they began decorating the facades and interiors of the Kazan Cathedral, Stroganov, at a meeting of the academy council on March 4, 1805, announced that a contract had been concluded with the foundry and embossing master Evdokimov and the artist Sokolov to decorate the doors of the main entrance of the cathedral, “which are made of alabaster at the Academy of Arts " Come to the superbly executed bronze copy, take a look at the St. Petersburg display of the creation of the great Ghiberti, it is 550 years old. Michelangelo himself, who was jealous of the works of his colleagues, called the Gibertian doors “The Gates of Heaven.” He was shocked by the ideal construction of the compositions with an impeccably thought-out perspective and the mastery of their execution.

Between N. A. Demidov’s two Italian travels, Nikolai Nikitich Demidov (1773–1828), the most outstanding Russian Florentine, was born into his family. A representative of the richest family, Russia's envoy to the Tuscan court, an extremely educated man, Nikolai Nikitich devoted the second half of his life to charity and patronage of the arts, dividing fabulous sums between Russia and Italy. Of course, Russia received more, but Italy bestowed honors on him. Grateful Florentines elected Demidov an honorary citizen of the city, named the square (Piazza Nicola Demidoff) overlooking the Arno embankment after him, and installed a marble monument dedicated to him by Lorenzo Bartolini. Palazzo Serristori stretches along the Arno embankment for a whole block. Its end faces Demidoff Square. It housed the residence of Nikolai Nikitich; later the palace was owned by Napoleon's brother Joseph Bonaparte (1768–1844), where he died. Today, part of the palazzo is occupied by the “Demidoff Institute - a primary school for men and an orphanage.” Its premises overlook Via San Niccolo, parallel to the Arno embankment, and a small palace garden. Nikolai Nikitich founded an art museum and art gallery in Florence, in which he collected works of famous artists, very valuable marble and bronze sculptures and a lot of different rarities. He built a charity home for the elderly and orphans at his own expense, allocated special capital for its maintenance, and donated large sums to churches. When facing the facade of Santa Maria del Fiore, grateful Florentines decorated it with the Demidov family coat of arms.

Nikolai Nikitich's heir, his son Anatoly (1812–1870), acquired the principality of San Donato near Florence. Living for a long time in Italy, Anatoly Nikolaevich was engaged in collecting Roman and modern sculpture. He was helped in many ways by the future art critic V.V. Stasov, who acted as secretary. After the death of Anatoly Nikolaevich, all the property of this branch of the Demidovs passed to his nephew, Pavel Pavlovich Demidov (1839–1885). In 1872 he acquired the Pratolino estate. Villa Pratolino was built by Bernardo Buontalenti in 1568–1581 for Bianca Capello, lover of Duke Francesco I de' Medici. In 1872, Pavel Pavlovich Demidov, with the permission of Alexander II, accepted the title of Prince of San Donato. Pavel Pavlovich donated significant sums to the maintenance of canteens for the poor and shelters. He and his wife Elena Petrovna, nee Princess Trubetskoy, were elected honorary citizens of Florence.

Along the routes laid by the Demidovs, Russians flocked to the Apennine Peninsula, wanting to see a distant overseas country. Princess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova (1744–1810) reached Florence in March 1780. A participant in the palace coup of 1761, lady of state of Empress Catherine II, the future president of the Russian Academy dedicated two paragraphs to Florence in her notes:

“In two days we passed through Parma, Placencia, Modena and settled for a longer time in Florence, where the art gallery, churches, libraries and the natural history cabinet of the Grand Duke kept us for more than a week.

His Highness ordered to give me several copies not only of local fossils, having duplicates of them, but also of other parts of the world collected by Cosmas Medicis, whose genius illuminated Italy at the dawn of the renaissance of science.”

The notes of the ambitious Dashkova contain mainly descriptions of lavish receptions, dinners in her honor, and conversations with philosophers and politicians. Florence aroused only philistine curiosity in the princess.

The “Italian Diary of 1781” by Nikolai Aleksandrovich Lvov (1751–1803), a talented architect and versatile educated person, has been preserved. The records testify to the interest in the arts shown by Lvov, his assessments are original when describing temples, museums, palaces; in the Palazzo Vecchio, the architect was most struck by the collection of clothes of the Medici family; the Palazzo Pitti delighted him: “Palazzo Pitti. A rustic, good building with a courtyard better finished than the main façade. Behind the onago there is a large formal garden belonging to this castle, called the grandino de Boboli. There are many good statues in it, especially around the round cage at the bottom.”

Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich and his young wife Maria Fedorovna in September 1781, under the name of the Northern Counts, went on a trip to European countries. For four months they traveled through the Apennines, in Florence they were received by the Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopold, the second ruler from the House of Lorraine. The heir to the Russian throne received an excellent education, loved and knew art, and drew well. Based on his sketches, the Florentine Vincenzo Brenna completed the design of the Mikhailovsky Castle in St. Petersburg. What they saw in Florence shocked Pavel Petrovich and Maria Fedorovna.

Our outstanding comedian Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin (1745–1792) visited Florence on visits in 1784–1785. Having an agreement with the St. Petersburg antique dealer and second-hand book dealer Klosterman, he purchased works of Italian art for his stores, while at the same time acting as a commission agent for the Count Panin family. Fonvizin's letters are saturated with all sorts of everyday discontents; in them he constantly grumbles and complains about the lack of comfort, basic hygiene, and his boring pastime.

In 1786–1790, Chamberlain Vasily Nikolaevich Zinoviev (1755–1816) traveled around Europe, but his stay in Florence was not reflected in the diary entries of this travel enthusiast.

Near Piazza Santissima Annunziata, the famous bibliophile, actual privy councilor, senator, Count Dmitry Petrovich Buturlin (1763–1829) acquired the Palazzo Montauti-Niccolini (Palazzo Buturlin) in 1817; he and his descendants lived in it for a hundred years. Alexander Ivanovich Turgenev (1789–1871), brother of the Decembrist defector Nicholas, often visited Florence. Carrying out diplomatic assignments for the Russian government in Europe, he sought to visit his beloved city. Let us recall that Nicholas I entrusted A. I. Turgenev with the funeral of A. S. Pushkin. The sociable Turgenev met in Florence with the future chancellor, Prince A. M. Gorchakov, the Vielgorsky family and others.

With the simplification of bureaucratic procedures when processing travel abroad, an inexhaustible stream of Russians poured into Europe. Writers, artists, composers, historians, philosophers flocked to Florence; in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries, hundreds of Russians visited it, dozens settled for a long time and forever. A Russian colony, an Orthodox Church, and emigrant revolutionary groups appeared in the city. Among them, the most famous are M. A. Bakunin, N. D. Nozhkin and L. I. Mechnikov, the brother of the famous physiologist. There were few of them, they lived in seclusion, huddled in the outskirts, and did not leave addresses. The surviving memories are colorless; they do not represent any interest in describing Florence or everyday sketches.

The two-story Orthodox church in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the Nativity of Christ was built in 1899–1903. according to the design of M. T. Preobrazhensky, stylized as old Moscow-Yaroslavl churches. The first rector of the Church of the Nativity, Archpriest Vladimir Levitsky (1843–1923), wrote on November 8, 1899: “If Dante in one place of his “Hell” claims that “there is no greater sadness than in its days to remember the days of irretrievably past joy.” , then this truth can also be turned to the opposite meaning: there is no greater joy than experiencing sadness, knowing that it will not return, or better, speaking in the Gospel, not remembering sorrow for the joy that replaced it. God gave this gospel joy to the Russians living in Florence on Saturday, October 16th. When they, with all possible splendor and solemnity, and most importantly - with genuine Christian enthusiasm, celebrated the foundation of their new true Russian church - the first in Italy.

This matter began a long time ago, back in the 70s, on the initiative of the late Metropolitan Isidore in Bose, who repeatedly and persistently invited him to take care of the implementation of the idea first expressed by the late Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, who lived in Florence until 1873. Vladyka Isidore, insisting on the construction of a temple with a splendid purely Russian appearance and precisely where his co-name, the unfortunate false metropolitan of Moscow, so shamefully betrayed the honor and independence of Orthodoxy by accepting the Florentine Union, probably had in mind to atone for this shame, to restore the honor of Orthodoxy, to demonstrate clearly its vitality and stability and all its superiority over the outwardly magnificent Roman Catholicism.”

Money for construction was given by all the noble families who had long lived in Florence and formed the Russian colony. There have been many Russians in the city since the beginning of the 19th century, when the Russian charge d'affaires to the Grand Duke of Tuscany in Florence was Nikolai Fedorovich Khitrovo, the husband of Elizaveta Mikhailovna Khitrovo, a friend of Pushkin, and the stepfather of Dolly Fikelmon, also a friend of Pushkin, Vyazemsky and many other most brilliant representatives of Russian culture of the first half of the 19th century. The Buturlins, Demidovs, Uvarovs, and Olsufievs lived there. The descendants of the Buturlins and Olsufievs still live there, as well as the granddaughter of Archpriest Levitsky - doctor, artist, poet Nina Adrianovna Kharkevich. And the great-great-granddaughter of Pushkin, charming, graceful as a gazelle, Anechka Vorontsova-Turi, is now in charge of the affairs of the Russian Florentine church.

Pushkin is remembered not only in connection with the names of Khitrovo and Fikelmon. Here, in Florence, his classmate Nikolai Korsakov lived and died, who before his death wrote a couplet for his monument:

“Passer, hurry to your native country!

Ah, it’s sad to die far from friends.”

Korsakov died in 1820. Fifteen years later, another lyceum student, Gorchakov, erected a monument on his grave with this couplet, changing only two letters: instead of “die,” he wrote “die.” And the former lyceum director Engelhardt wrote in his diary: “Yesterday I had a letter from Gorchakov and a drawing of a small monument, which he erected to our poor troubadour Korsakov under a thick cypress tree near the church fence in Florence. This sad gift made me very happy” (O. B. Maksimova).

N. F. Khitrovo (1771–1819), major general, served in Florence in 1815–1817; his widow is E. M. Khitrovo (1783–1839), daughter of M. I. Kutuzov.

The iconostasis and some cult objects of the lower church came from the Demidov Church in San Donato in Polverosa; The iconostasis of the upper church was made with funds donated by Nicholas II. Today the temple plays the role of the center of the Community of Russian Florentines. Sunday services are solemnly held, and all of Russian Florence flocks to them - mainly the descendants of emigrants. There are not so many of them, but no less than the English whom we saw at Sunday mass in the Chapel of St. Luke in the Basilica of Santissima Annunziata. The Orthodox Church is located in a good location inside a green park and is in excellent condition.

It’s strange, but in the memoirs and letters of those who visited Florence there are many negative reviews about this great city. We couldn’t find words worthy of Florence from our wonderful artists O. P. Ostroumova-Lebedeva, A. N. Benois, M. V. Dobuzhinsky; D. I. Fonvizin, P. I. Tchaikovsky, F. M. Dostoevsky, A. A. Blok scolded her mercilessly for little things unworthy of attention; pale, restrained praise was written by D. S. Merezhkovsky, V. V. Rozanov, I. M. Grevs, who admired her; A. I. Herzen, A. A. Akhmatova, N. S. Gumilyov almost did not notice her. Almost the only exception is P. P. Muratov, the author of the excellent book “Images of Italy”. He traveled for a long time in the Apennines, many believe that it was he who discovered true Italy in Russia. Generations were brought up on his book, they became engrossed in it, it polished their taste and awakened their love for art. Muratov’s close friend B.K. Zaitsev wrote about “Images of Italy”: “In Russian literature there is nothing equal to them in the artistry of the experience of Italy, in the knowledge and grace of execution.”

Pavel Pavlovich Muratov (1881–1950) was born in Bobrov, Voronezh province, into the family of a military doctor, graduated from the Cadet Corps, then in 1903 from the capital’s Institute of Railways. Cold, rainy St. Petersburg did not deter the young engineer from its architectural beauties, museums, theaters and libraries; he moved to Moscow, where his older brother, an officer, lived. There he left the engineering field, served as an assistant librarian at the university, curator of the department of fine arts and classical antiquities of the Rumyantsev Museum, and wrote essays about the Russian-Japanese War for newspapers.

We know almost nothing about Muratov’s childhood or his personal life. The formal things that happened to him in the first thirty years of his life did not at all presuppose what followed. There has been some kind of qualitative rebirth, a leap. Pavel Pavlovich, with his talents, accumulated knowledge, impeccable taste and realized works, won a special place of honor in the history of Russian culture, during the triumph of the Silver Age. He owns two outstanding works: the book “Images of Italy” and the creation of the magazine “Sofia”. Then there was the front, the Cheka, emigration, difficult life in a foreign land and an unknown death in Ireland.

Muratov wrote about Italy with such love and devotion, with such tenderness and quiet passion, with the deepest knowledge and such elegant literary language that hardly anyone can surpass him. Others wrote in such a way that some of them were ashamed - with misunderstanding, irritation, and bitterness. Only a few - with love and gratitude, but no one rose to Pavel Pavlovich Muratov. He opened Italy for Russians, but only those who visited it can truly appreciate his texts.

O heart, you are ungrateful!
And pink almonds for you,
And the mountains rising above the Arno,
And the smell of herbs, and the brilliance of the distance...
N. Gumilyov

R The Russians left a serious mark on Florence. And not only with inscriptions in Russian,
but also buildings and financial donations, poems and musical works...
I’ll start with the main thing today - with the material. The Demidovs were especially successful in this. This is a monument to Demidov and his son.

Demidov in Roman clothes... a naked girl is sitting on the left... probably a sister...))) we will return to the monument later)))

The Demidov dynasty of Russian miners was known for its charity. They often lived abroad for a long time and did not skimp on donations. For this, monuments were erected to them, squares were named after them, and medals were cast in their honor. It was customary to earn money in Russia and spend it in Europe even in tsarist times... alas.

For the contribution to the facade of the culture of Florence, on one of the most beautiful and famous cathedrals in the world - the Florentine Santa Maria del Fiore, there is a coat of arms of the Demidovs.

Back in 1587-1588, a decision was made to build a new façade. The old facade, which existed only at the level of the first tier, was dismantled. A competition was announced, but work was not started until the mid-19th century. Either there was no money, or the boards of trustees were torn apart by scandals. Only in 1871, Emilio de Fabris won a new competition for the right to design the facade. The government of Florence launched a fundraising appeal. After all, we have to finish this construction someday!

That’s when Pavel Pavlovich Demidov donated a large sum of money to the municipality to cover the façade of the cathedral with marble. So large that his coat of arms was placed in a place of honor. (Unfortunately, I was unable to find the amount of the amount). The work began in 1876 and was completed in 1887. And this magnificent, stunning neo-Gothic facade appeared, made of multi-colored marble - white, green and red, decorated with sculptures and carved ornaments. And much of the credit for this goes to Pavel Petrovich Demidov.

The coat of arms of Pavel Demidov - Prince of San Donato, representing a shield divided into four parts, covered with a small shield with the coat of arms of the Demidov family, in the upper part of which there are three mining vines, and in the lower part - a hammer. In the four divisions of the coat of arms, the emblems of the coats of arms of the city of Florence are located in a checkerboard pattern - silver lilies and a Greek cross, which reflects the belonging of the territory of the Villa San Donato to Florence. It is located in a place of honor. The first one on the right from the entrance to the Cathedral.

Demidov, on the outskirts of Florence, bought the property of San Donato from the monks of Santa Croce and began building a villa, which his son, Anatoly Demidov, later completed and turned into a magnificent palace, housing his grandiose art collection in it. Several generations of the Demidov family lived in this villa and did charity work in Florence. “The most generous philanthropist in Italy” is what Stendhal called Nikolai Demidov. As the Russian envoy to the court of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, he built a school (it still exists and bears the name of the Demidovs), a hospital, and homes for the elderly and orphans.

Grateful Florence erected a monument to Nikolai Demidov, which still stands in the square named after him - Piazza Niccola Demidoff on the Arno embankment.

Somehow he looks like Putin. Probably efficiency and authority. About the sister at her feet... this figure sitting with a laurel wreath at Demidov’s feet symbolizes the gratitude of the population of Florence. Like... everything we can... we are ready to give the best... just make contributions...

At the corners of the pedestal there are four allegorical sculptures - Nature, Mercy, Art and Siberia. I didn’t find out which Siberia exactly it was. None of them send chills down your spine.

The embankment is nearby... everything is beautiful. But tourists pass by and no one sees that the monument is to a Russian philanthropist. They think some local emperor. Italians know how to erect monuments to Russians. I would like to erect a monument to Julius Caesar in Moscow like this... in a Russian helmet, with a mace and on a good Russian horse...)))) and write low in Mongolian (so that no one would guess) to whom exactly. But Julius Caesar did not spend money on Russia...

In Florence, they opened cheap canteens for the poor, shelters, and transferred a large sum of money to the municipality to cover the façade of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore with marble. For these donations, Pavel Pavlovich and his wife were elected honorary citizens of Florence, and in 1879 a gold medal was struck in their honor using money collected by subscription. In 1880, as a sign of gratitude for the donations made by the prince to the city, the Demidov family coat of arms was placed on the facade of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (see above).

His son Anatoly, who was called the “king of malachite,” presented Nicholas I with a grandiose malachite rotunda in 1835. To this day, this exhibit is one of the most expensive in the Hermitage. A few years later, he donated 15 tons of selected malachite to the treasury for the construction of columns and pilasters of St. Isaac's Cathedral under construction. In Florence, at the Villa San Donato, which he inherited, he collected a grandiose art collection, which was considered one of the best in the world. Just like his grandfather and father, Anatoly Demidov patronized artists. Karl Bryullov, who was then living in Italy, commissioned a grandiose canvas “The Last Day of Pompeii”, O pays for it, shows it first in Rome, then in Milan and Paris, and then brings it to St. Petersburg and gives it to Nicholas I, knowing full well that he will transfer it to the Academy of Arts and it will become the property of the Fatherland. Thus, thanks to Anatoly Demidov, the Italian public was able to get acquainted with a masterpiece of Russian art, and Russia received an invaluable creation of the great master. But the patron of the arts who paid for this painting was twenty years old at that time!

He married in 1840 Matilda de Montfort, the niece of Napoleon Bonaparte, a relative of Nicholas I. It was then that Grand Duke Leopold II of Lorran granted Anatoly the Tuscan title of Prince of San Donato, but (!) Nicholas I did not allow him to wear it in Russia.

The most famous Russian Florentine was Pavel Pavlovich Demidov (1839-1885), who often lived with his family in the family Villa San Donato, and then in the former Medici estate of Pratolino, which he acquired.

Church of the Nativity and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. It was not just built with the Demidovs’ money. They also took a long time to get permission for construction from the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Russian temple on Via Leone Decimo is known not only for its beauty. This is the first Russian church built in Italy. True, a temple was built in Nice even earlier, but it almost immediately ended up on French territory.

Russian and Italian craftsmen worked together on the temple. Like the Savior on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg, the church is decorated with majolica and mosaics. Following the model of northern Russian churches, it consists of an upper (cold, summer) and lower (warm, winter) temple. The decoration of the lower church was mainly donated by the Demidov princes - this is a unique interior of the house church of Russian aristocrats of the mid-19th century. As before, now the lower church is used for worship in winter, and during Holy Week a procession of the cross takes place to the upper church.

In the 20s, the USSR authorities began to lay claim to the church building, but this attempt was unsuccessful (since that time the temple has been under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople). M.P. provided great support to the temple. Demidova, the heiress of a family of famous philanthropists who settled in Florence in the 19th century.

Florence has always been the center of Russian cultural life in Tuscany.

Dostoevsky lived here and, admiring the views of the city, wrote the novel “The Idiot.” From the gardens of Boboli Hill one can see the huge villa of N.F. von Meck, where Tchaikovsky worked.

It is now decorated with a commemorative plaque: “In this villa in 1878, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky lived and worked, who, having arrived to the gentle Tuscan hills from the spacious Russian plain, realized the immortal harmonies of both lands.”

Pyotr Ilyich received this house from his philanthropist Nadezhda von Meck and chose it personally. Well, no matter where the great Russian musician lives :)))

In addition to music, Tchaikovsky also wrote poetry. The poem “Lilies of the Valley” was begun in Florence:

“When at the end of spring I pluck for the last time
Favorite flowers, melancholy presses on my chest,
And to the future I prayerfully appeal:
At least once again I want to look at the lilies of the valley..."

However. Perhaps it was in Florence that he realized that these things were not his... and now we love him for something else...))) The last time Tchaikovsky saw the city on the Arno was in 1890, when he wrote “The Queen of Spades” and sketched a sextet, meter and I had no idea that this was my final visit to Florence.

Brodsky also loved Florence. And then he even received a local coin for his contribution to world poetry...

There is always a river flowing under six bridges.
There are places where I fell with my lips
also to the lips and with a pen to the sheets.
I. Brodsky

What am I? Let the imperishable lines of our masters speak for me about Florence...

Florence, you are a tender iris;
For whom I alone yearned
Long, hopeless love...

Oh, the hopelessness of sadness,
I know you by heart!
Into the black sky of Italy
I look like a black soul.

There are cities to which there is no return.
The sun beats on their windows, like on smooth mirrors...
I. Brodsky

In an ancient city, alien and strangely close
The tranquility of a dream captivated the mind.
Without thinking about the temporary and base,
You wander along the narrow streets at random...
S.Cherny

The beaten city trembles below
Cleaved anthracite.
Gods and Muse,
Like a grandmother, tenderly forgotten...
E. Schwartz

You need different words.
Another, terrible time.
...Now the Signoria has become menacing,
And in front of her are two fires...
N. Gumilyov

In addition, in the 1980s, director Andrei Tarkovsky visited Florence and the Russian temple.

But the modern Russian contribution, alas, is mostly... like this...

Info and some photos are cynical (C) from different places on the Internet and are supplied with my equally cynical comments. I especially took a lot of information from Wikipedia and here

The Demidovs, who became the princes of San Donato Demidoff in Italy, amazed the imagination of Italians with their fabulous wealth, patronage of the arts, and charity. The Demidovs especially loved Florence. They made their fortune by exporting rare metals to Europe - the Demidovs owned rich mines and factories in Nizhny Tagil.
The first of the Demidovs to appear in the capital of Tuscany was Nikita Nikitich Demidov (1773-1828). This Demidov chose a diplomatic career over entrepreneurship and in 1815 moved to Florence, taking the position of Russian envoy at the Tuscan court. The title Prince of San Donato was first introduced in 1840 by the Tuscan Grand Duke Leopold II for Nikita Nikitich's son Anatoly so that he could marry Matilda Bonaparte, the niece of Napoleon I, without compromising her status as a princess.

Among the Russians who lived for a long time in Florence, the Demidov family occupies an exceptional place. The Demidovs lived on a grand scale: their country estate was even considered the second most magnificent palace after the palace of the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

The memory of the Demidov patrons is still carefully preserved in Florence. The Demidovs are the only ones to whom the square on the embankment of the Arno River in the San Niccolo quarter is dedicated, and the street Via della Villa Demidov in the Novoli area, where their country residence was located. The Demidov family is immortalized in the majestic monument to Nikolai Nikitich Demidov. This magnificent monument is located on the square named after Demidov.

Photo

The inscription on the pedestal of the monument reads: “So that the residents of the San Niccolo quarter always have before them the living memory of Commander Nikolai Demidov, a tireless and generous benefactor, his son Anatoly donated this monument to the city of Florence in 1870.”
The monument was commissioned by the sculptor Lorenzo Bartolini Anatoly Demidov for the park of the family residence, and in 1870 it was donated by the customer to the municipality of Florence. Then the city authorities decided to install it on the square named after Demidov, where it still stands. The location was not chosen by chance: it was on this square in the palace of the counts of Serristori that Nicholas lived for several years, showing himself to be a generous philanthropist and trying to alleviate the plight of the poor population of the San Niccolo quarter.
In the city on the Arno River, Nikolai Nikitich compiled a rich art gallery. He gladly commissioned famous artists for his own portraits and portraits of his family members.

Nikolai Nikitich Demidov (1798-1840). From the collection of A. Tissot Photo

He founded an orphanage and a free school for boys, which taught, among other things, painting, silk making, weaving, shoemaking and printing. He also took care of maintaining a doctor, who had to live in the same area and who could be called at any time. The doctor was also required to regularly examine the school children.
Nikolai Nikitich died in Florence on April 22, 1828. By his will and with the permission of Emperor Nicholas I, his body was transported from Italy to Russia and interred in Nizhny Tagil. To his two sons, who already represented the sixth generation of the dynasty, Nikolai Demidov left a fortune twice as large as what he received from his father.
Anatoly Nikolaevich (1812-1870) continued his father’s charitable work and, in addition to financing a school and maintaining a doctor, founded a pharmacy where the poor were given free medications. But on Via del Giardino Serristori in the San Niccolo district there is a nursing home named after Demidov (Residenza Sanitaria Assistenziale Demidoff); on Via San Niccolo above the entrance to the school for poor children there is a cast-iron coat of arms of the Demidovs with their motto “Acta non verba” - "Deeds, not words." The square and the monument are evidence that the Demidovs were faithful to this motto, leaving a lasting trace of their presence in Florence through their deeds.
In the Palatine Gallery of the Pitti Palace in Florence there now hangs a ceremonial portrait of A.N. Demidov brushes by Karl Bryullov.

K.P. Bryullov. Portrait of Anatoly Nikolaevich Demidov on a horse. Photo

Another Florentine philanthropist Pavel Pavlovich Demidov, 2nd Prince of San Donato (1839-1885), nephew and heir of the childless Anatoly Nikolaevich, opened schools, orphanages, and set up cheap canteens for workers. In 1879, the grateful population of Florence presented Demidov with a gold medal with the image of him and his wife and the address delivered by a special deputation. On this occasion, the municipality elected the Prince and Princess of San Donato as honorary citizens of Florence.

Louis Gustave Ricard (1823-1873). Pavel Pavlovich Demidov, 1859. Photo

When Pavel Demidov decided to leave Florence in 1880, he donated his home church to the Orthodox Church and sold his magnificent collection at auction. The financial result of the auction turned out to be insignificant. The Palace of San Donato was destroyed.

A.A. Kharlamov (1840-1925). Portrait of four children from the second marriage of Pavel Pavlovich Demidov: Aurora (1873-1904), Anatoly (1874-1943), Maria (1877-1955) and Pavel (1879-1909)). Pratolino, 1883. Photo

Grateful Florence also noted the contribution of Pavel Demidov, who allocated a significant amount for the final decoration of one of the most beautiful cathedrals in the world - the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.

The coats of arms of the donors were placed on the façade of the cathedral. The location and size of the coats of arms were determined by the amount contributed.

The Demidovs' coat of arms turned out to be one of the largest and in the most honorable place - on the main facade, first to the right of the central portal.

Pavel Pavlovich's daughter from his second marriage is Maria Pavlovna Demidova, Princess of San Donato before her marriage, and in her marriage Princess Abamelek-Lazareva (1877-1955) - the last representative of the famous family, whose destinies were closely connected with Florence. Maria Pavlovna - beautiful, smart and educated, was also a wonderful ballerina.
When, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Princess Maria Pavlovna married Prince Semyon Semenovich Abamelek-Lazarev (1857-1916), one of the richest people in Russia, she received as a dowry from her mother the family estate of Pratolino, located on the outskirts of Florence. In 1916, Maria Pavlovna was widowed: her husband was killed in the Caucasus. He left his wife the luxurious Villa Abamelek in Rome and a large account in an Italian bank. After the October Revolution, all the property of the Demidovs in Russia was nationalized. But in Italian and other European banks, Maria Pavlovna retained significant capital in her accounts, which allowed her, continuing the family tradition, to carry out charitable activities.

N.P. Bogdanov-Belsky. Portrait of M. P. Abamelek-Lazareva, 1900s. State Hermitage Museum

Maria Pavlovna was the head of the Russian church in Florence. She compiled entire lists of monthly benefits to Russian emigrants, individuals and entire institutions. She helped many people - the Sergius monastery in Paris, the monastery of St. Nicholas in Bari, the Athonite monks, the Valaam monks and many private individuals. The princess supported the Kuban Cossack choir created in Florence. M.P.'s troubles Demidova’s work on organizing the destinies of her compatriots usually received a favorable response from the Florence Commune and the University of Florence.
In 1935, in memory of her husband, the princess founded the National Home for Seriously Ill Participants of the First World War. In 1939, in the suburb of Pratolino, she rented housing for poor people left homeless.

Maria Pavlovna with guests in Pratolino, 1913 Photo

The last of San Donato left no heirs, and all her property passed to her nephew, the Yugoslav Prince Pavel Karadjordjevic. Prince Paul took the most expensive items from Florence, and he simply abandoned the princess’s correspondence and her archive. And all this would have been lost if the Italians had not picked up these pieces of paper in Russian, which were simply scattered in Pratolino, and would not have put it all away for the time being in the archives of the province of Florence.
Good memory of Princess M.P. Demidova is still alive in Florence. Her grave is sacredly preserved in Pratolino, next to the family’s home church. There is a marble tombstone on the grave, and people still bring flowers here, remembering the owner and her good deeds...

Photo

The princess, who managed to save significant funds, maintained the villa in good condition for a long time. She invested a lot of effort and money in preserving this unique historical and cultural monument. After the death of the childless princess, the villa, created according to the plans of Francesco I de' Medici in the 16th century, went through several owners and was bought by the Italian state. Now there is a museum here, the villa building is surrounded by magnificent gardens with numerous pavilions, sculptures and fountains.

Photo commons.wikimedia.org User:Sailko

A worthy tribute to the memory of the last of San Donato is also the preservation of the archive of M.P. Demidova and his publication. The archive also preserves documents related to the fate of the Abamelek-Lazarev villa in Rome. But that's a completely different story, and someday I'll tell it...

Russian Florence, oddly enough, exists not only in the historical past. This is happening thanks to people who are trying to help their compatriots preserve the memory of Russia in Italy. The President of the Association of Russian Compatriots in Florence, Valeria Sergeeva, talks about Russians and modern Russian culture in Tuscany.

‒ Valeria, how did you end up in Italy?

‒ The story is banal - I met an Italian and got married. In the early 1990s, my husband participated as a volunteer in a charity project for humanitarian aid at the hospital named after. K. A. Rauchfus (St. Petersburg), and I was the organizer from the Russian side. We visited each other for several years, I continued to lead various Russian-Italian projects as a manager. And then the Russian crisis of the 90s hit, my husband, a designer, received a very good job offer in Florence, and I moved to Italy.

Students of the Russian parochial school in Florence and their parents

Like St. Petersburg, Florence is a cultural city, but it is much smaller than my hometown and lives at a slower pace. I, like everyone else, had to go through a difficult period of adaptation and find my place.

The Florentines are a special “nation”; their favor must be won over years. There were very few Russians here at the time of my move. As in many other countries, the Russian diaspora centered around the Orthodox Church. Her intellectual center is Father George and Mother Nina, as well as Anna Vorontsova, a descendant of the Pushkins, who at that time was the head of the Russian church.

‒ One of the serious problems of emigration is that a person finds himself outside the usual cultural and social circle.

- Of course, if only because at first it is difficult to express your thoughts in another language at the desired level. I personally can't complain. Gradually, thanks to joint Russian-Italian projects, I developed my own social circle.

In 2005, we opened the Fontanka company to organize large cultural events. For example, for five years we conducted the project “Russians in Florence”, dedicated to the Demidov dynasty.

Historians, art historians and philologists from different regions of Italy gathered at the famous “Villa Demidoff” in the suburbs of Florence. This villa, along with other architectural monuments of Florence, is an indisputable Russian cultural heritage in Italy. The Demidovs financed schools, hospitals, orphanages in Italy and, of course, patronized art.

Then in 2009 we opened the Center for Russian Language and Culture in Florence. A year ago, our association changed its status from “cultural” to “social”. Omitting numerous bureaucratic details, I will only say that this status gives us the full right to teach, in particular, the Russian language.

- Yes, there has never been anything like this in Tuscany before. There is only the Italy - Russia Cultural Society, which offers paid Russian courses for foreigners. Nowadays Russian as a foreign language is in fashion. To get our own premises, we had to go through almost all the circles of hell, just like Dante. It is very difficult to find a place that meets the standards of working with young children. Subsequently, it became possible to rent premises from one of the Florentine schools directly, with the consent of the city hall. Imagine when we started, we had 20 kids in one single room! The children were conditionally divided by age, and teachers worked for free.

− How did you understand that there was a request, a need, to organize a Russian school?

− A teacher at the University of Florence, Irina Vladimirovna Dvizova, contacted me. Several of her Russian students really wanted to support the Russian language in their children. University graduates had a philological background, but did not know how to organize the learning process. One of I. V. Dvizova’s students, Anna Alexandrova, became the coordinator and co-founder of the center. We can say that it is largely thanks to her that our school not only exists, but is also becoming more and more popular.

In recent years, the Russian diaspora has been changing. There are wealthy people here who come to live for a while, and those who come to work under contracts. Many of our students’ mothers are tour guides. Italian fathers are incredibly proud that their children speak Russian. By the way, our school also has Russian language courses for Italian dads.

There is another “section” - these are girls who married Italians very early and came to the country without having time to develop culturally. They learn basic family values, but cultural foundations sometimes remain in the background - there is no time to go to museums when your kids are growing up. And yet, many parents come to us even from other cities - this is their great merit!

‒ Why is it so important to teach Russian to children who still hear Russian at home?

- That’s the point, they don’t hear it that often! Most Russian women not only have husbands, but the entire environment around them is Italian. Therefore, it is difficult to convince a child of the value of the Russian language, that it is necessary to really teach it, read books... Our main task was precisely to teach Russian as a home language - something that many of our students were deprived of at home. In addition, many children born in Italy do not always travel to Russia. We provide them with the cultural background that they miss growing up in Italy. This is not only basic Russian grammar, but also Russian cultural traditions, customs, and most importantly - direct communication. Therefore, the creative center is the optimal opportunity for socialization.

Classes at the Center for Russian Language and Culture

- Rumors began to spread about us. Then, through friends and acquaintances, we found a room with 5 rooms, and the number of children increased, but the problem remained - there were few teachers. An interesting contradiction: there are many more Russians in the city, but there are only a few professional philologists or teachers among them. In addition, we are actually a semi-volunteer organization and the funds are very small.

Next, the problem of literature arose - if at first it was impossible to download anything from the Internet, now there is a large selection, but many things are not suitable for the topic. We go to seminars and conferences, buy Russian textbooks, but we often find that they are not entirely suitable for our children. Example: how to “translate” to Italian children about slush in autumn and snowfall in winter, when they have seen snow maybe a couple of times, and only in the mountains?

Now we have about 90 children studying, 10 groups are constantly working. Mostly children come on Saturday. Moreover, Russian in importance for many is in last place among additional classes, after football, dancing, gymnastics, music, since we are a creative center of additional education.

Our current goal is not to organize a school with strict requirements - there is no demand for this. There is a need for a socially comfortable environment with educational elements. For example, now we have folk art lessons - we not only draw and sculpt, but also introduce children to Russian folk art. We recently started a course where they tell how Khokhloma and Gzhel arose. We are pleased to know that sometimes children like us more than in an Italian school, and they are happy to come to our classes.

‒ We often talk about the “Russian trace” in Florence...

- Yes, it exists, and it is very significant. By the way, in Florence, many Russian nobles are buried in the ancient Lutheran cemetery Allori. Because the cemetery is private, sites must be paid for regularly. But many descendants are long gone, so the time will come when all these remains from unpaid graves will be reburied in one mass grave. Currently, a Russian specialist on the Demidovs, Lucia Tonini, is finishing a book about the history of Russian cemeteries. The situation with Russian burials throughout Italy is approximately the same, and we are trying to draw the attention of the Russian government to the fate of these graves.

We have already mentioned the Demidovs, after whom a villa with a park remained and who donated an iconostasis to the Orthodox Church. There was once a ballet school here, where ballerinas of the Mariinsky Theater taught. Dostoevsky, who wrote the novel “The Idiot” here, left a “trace” in Florence: a memorial plaque on the house in which the writer lived is located not far from Piazza Pitti. Tarkovsky's son lives in Florence. The mayor's office gave him the apartment in which his great father lived. And, of course, Tchaikovsky, who adored our city. He wrote a lot here, but perhaps the most striking work is the opera “The Queen of Spades”.

In 2011, we worked on the project “Russians in Florence. One day with Tchaikovsky”, which included concerts, readings of excerpts from Pushkin’s “The Queen of Spades” and literary lectures in the famous Oblate library. Based on the composer’s correspondence, we created and conducted a tour of the places where Pyotr Ilyich himself walked.

‒ Tchaikovsky wrote the famous “Memories of Florence” after visiting Italy?

- Certainly. But in Florence itself he composed “The Maid of Orleans” and “The Queen of Spades”. Nadezhda von Meck rented a villa for Tchaikovsky three hundred meters from her villa Cora, on the Florentine hills. It was in this villa that Tchaikovsky wrote “The Maid of Orleans”. When relations with von Meck broke down, Pyotr Ilyich continued to travel to Florence, where he rented an apartment on the banks of the Arno River. There he completed “The Queen of Spades” in 40 days.

In letters to friends, he describes in detail his time in Italy. In contrast to our ideas about the bohemian life of musicians, the composer’s day was strictly scheduled. He worked to order, he was pressed for deadlines. The house where there once was a small hotel where Tchaikovsky lived is not marked with any sign. This memory is needed by everyone - both Russians and Italians, who highly value our culture, and, of course, our children, who, I hope, will be proud to be related to the great Russian culture. And this tablet may turn out to be another small step towards this, another real “trace” in Russian history.

WHAT MADE the Russian soul to the banks of the Arno? Probably, what was missing at home was soft bliss, snowless winters, light skies, smooth lines of Tuscan hills, narrow streets, statues of Madonnas and saints, smiling passers-by, “the ability to live,” wicker bottles of “Chianti”... And , of course, evidence of that gigantic rise in human strength, which is called the Renaissance.

Florence cannot leave indifferent - and especially the Russian person, sensitive to beauty and myths and preferring extremes. And he idolizes her, declares his love, like, for example, Tchaikovsky and the vast majority of Russian visitors to the city, or, disappointed in his illusions, curses her, like Blok.

The history of our relationship with the capital of Tuscany goes back centuries. The very first (we know) description of a Russian trip to Western Europe is a trip specifically to Florence, to the famous Council of 1439. In the Orthodox consciousness, this city will become a symbol of worthless attempts to unite with the “Latins,” and modern ecumenism will be called a “return to Florence.” Paradoxically, this negative memory will bring to life a unique monument - an amazingly beautiful Russian temple, with which its builders tried to atone for the “sin of the Union” (this initial pathos of the building is now forgotten).

But if a Russian pilgrim in Italy passed through Florence in transit and strived further - to Rome (or better yet, to Bari, to St. Nicholas), then the Russian intellectual deliberately arrived here - to Dante, to the luminaries of the Renaissance.

There were also Russian “dacha residents” who chose Tuscany to improve their health, and remained to live here, striking the Florentines with their generous patronage of the arts, breadth of life, and strange antics.

Then - emigrants, whom our homeland scattered widely around the world in different “waves”. However, there were few of them here: this city is not for homeless people.

Finally, already in our era, travelers for whom the classic Venice-Florence-Rome tour was invented, confirming that Florence is a classic. There are many Russian travelers here, and this will always be the case.

PALAZZO BUTURLIN ON VIA DEI SERVI

In 1818, the family of Count Dmitry Petrovich Buturlin, one of the most original people of his time, arrived in Florence after a long journey. The Buturlins became the first Russians to “emigrate” to Italy. What forced the native Muscovite to leave his homeland - God knows. The official motive was, as always, “health status.”

In Moscow in 1812, on the ashes of his library, one of the largest in Europe, Buturlin said: “God gave, God took away.” And in Florence he assembled a new library, no less than the previous one. The Count settled with her, like a real gentleman, in the very center of the city, in one of the best mansions, in the Palazzo Montauti-Niccolini, now considered a classic of the Renaissance. The townspeople, as expected, renamed it Palazzo Buturlin, and so the palace was designated on the map of Florence for almost a century. In 1918, on the 100th anniversary of the family’s arrival on the Apennine Peninsula, the impoverished descendants of Count Dmitry Petrovich sold their Palazzo, leaving their coat of arms on the facade as a keepsake.

DEMIDOV SAN DONATO

Pavel Pavlovich Demidov, Prince of San Donato (1839-1885), continued the philanthropic traditions of his family; one of his benefactions is immortalized on the facade of the Florence Cathedral. Looking at the elegant bulk of Santa Maria del Fiore, it is difficult to imagine that not so long ago its facade was made of torn, untreated stone: in the Middle Ages, the townspeople did not have enough funds to complete the construction of the cathedral. In the mid-19th century, the city fathers called on all wealthy Florentines to donate to a new marble façade. Demidov singled out the most, for which he later saw his family coat of arms in the most honorable place - to the right of the main entrance. The Italian Demidovs received the princely coat of arms along with the title from the hands of local rulers - the Grand Dukes of Tuscany. The coat of arms combines the Ural pickle and the fleur-de-lis of Florence.

The rich Demidovs showered so many blessings on Florence that it was natural for a monument to appear here to the founder of the Italian branch of the Demidovs, Nikolai Nikitich. The sculptor Lorenzo Bartolini depicted Demidov hugging his son, at the feet of the sculpture he placed an Italian girl - an allegorical object of good deeds, and in the corners of the pedestal - allegories of Art, Mercy, Pleasure and even... Siberia - as the source of the untold wealth of the family. Siberia is the only one in the monument fully clothed and wearing a hat: an image of cold.

The square itself is named after Demidov. This is natural - here is the palazzo where he lived, and right there is the school he founded. For a Russian in Florence, it is patriotic to make appointments not “at David’s,” but “at Demidov’s.” And don’t forget that in Italian you have to say “Demidoff” and with the emphasis on the first syllable.

One fine day, the Demidovs got tired of living in a cramped city, and they bought an estate, which they soon nicknamed the “second grand ducal palace.” Actually, they had two such estates: one in San Donato, by the name of which they were given the princely title and of which only minor fragments now remain, the second in Pratolino. It has retained its architectural ensemble of the Medici era, but has noticeably become Russified. In the center of the park, the Russian owners erected a copy of the monument to Nikolai Nikitich, which stands on Demidov Square, in the halls of the palace they hung paintings by Russian masters (primarily Karl Bryullov, who was patronized), and even the flower arrangements in the flower beds were supposed to remind of Russia.

The last Italian Demidova (married to Abamelek-Lazarev) died childless in 1955, leaving everything to her nephew, Prince Pavel Karageorgievich of Yugoslavia. He sold the villa with all its decorations at a Sotheby's auction, and after various ups and downs, the estate found its current owner - the Florentine province, that is, the district administration. This is how the new park-museum “Villa Demidoff” appeared.

Several years ago, the Italian public was alarmed by the loudly announced intention of the Russian government to return its foreign property. In the lists compiled by someone, “Villa Demidoff” was also listed, which had always been a private property. The cautious “district council”, so as not to disturb Russia’s appetite, decided to rename “Villa Demidoff” to “Villa Pratolino”.

However, everyone calls it the old way.

TCHAIKOVSKY HOUSE AT VIA SAN LEONARDO, 64

This house entered the consciousness of Florentines with this name - Casa di Tchajkovskij - especially after 1997, when the house was sold at auction and the local press wrote about it. However, the composer had several addresses in Florence, because of all foreign cities he preferred the city on the Arno, not stingy with compliments. Other addresses - the Sofitel Hotel on Cerretani Street (where the composer stayed in February - March 1878) and the Washington Hotel (spring 1882 and spring 1890) - are not so romantic and do not evoke the desire to hang a memorial plaque on them with the words: “Here the composer nourished his immortal harmonies from the endless Russian plains and gentle Tuscan hills.” These are the words from the plaque at Villa Bonciani, on one of the most beautiful streets in Florence - San Leonardo. Not far from this mansion, Nadezhda von Meck, who rented a “creative dacha” for the composer for the winter of 1878, also lived in a hotel. Nadezhda Filaretovna walked in front of Tchaikovsky’s house every day, but never went inside. But she received scores from him every day (the composer composed “The Maid of Orleans”) - and notes, which are often quoted when they talk about this bright period of the composer’s work.

DOSTOEVSKY

We do not know exactly in which house on Pitti Square Fyodor Mikhailovich and Anna Grigorievna stayed. Dostoevskaya wrote: “...At the end of November 1868, we moved to the then capital of Italy and settled near Palazzo Pitti. The change of place again had a favorable effect on my husband, and we began to explore churches, museums and palaces together.”

Having lived like this for almost a year, the Dostoevskys left for Germany, for Dresden - the birth of Lyubochka was approaching, and Anna Grigorievna wanted to give birth in a country whose language she spoke.

Even in the absence of a reliable address, the townspeople decided to commemorate Dostoevsky’s stay. So a memorial plaque appeared on house no. 22 on Pitti Square with a cautious beginning: “In these places he lived...”

Information about the life of the Dostoevskys in Florence is scanty. But the couple's favorite place is known. Dostoevskaya, who was expecting a child, writes: “I was prescribed by the doctor to walk a lot, and every day Fyodor Mikhailovich and I went to Giardino Boboli (the garden surrounding the Pitti Palace), where, despite January, roses were blooming. Here we basked in the sun and dreamed about our future happiness." The Boboli Garden (emphasis on the first syllable) was once the private garden of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany.

During his four-year absence from Russia, Dostoevsky was madly homesick. Florence helped him out a little: here, according to Anna Grigorievna, “there was an excellent library and reading room with two Russian newspapers,” and the writer “went there every day to read after lunch.” The library, the so-called Viesse Cabinet, was founded at the beginning of the last century by a Swiss philanthropist with the aim of overcoming local provincialism: the main European publications were received here. The library still operates, although in a different location, in the Palazzo Strozzi. And its current user can sign in the library register - following Theodore Dostoewsky.

Florentine authorities, like local authorities in Russia, like to come up with names in memory of certain events or people. Many of these names are not used, and no one knows about their existence. An inconspicuous path in the city park "Kashiny" is called the alley (viale) named after Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. The only building on the alley is a post with this name. If you want to stump a Florentine, ask him how to get to viale Dostoevskij.

OLSUFEVA'S HOUSE

Maria Vasilievna Olsufieva is better known in Italy than in her homeland. However, she was born in Italy: her mother had a trusted Florentine midwife.

Among the five children of the tsarist army colonel Count Vasily Olsufiev, who fled with his family from Soviet Russia, daughter Maria retained her Russianness to the greatest extent. During the “thaw,” she became interested in the new Soviet literature, which was not accepted among the first wave of emigrants, and began translating. The first was Dudintsev's novel "Not by Bread Alone", translated, at the insistence of the publisher, in a record time - 25 days. Then followed Shklovsky, Okudzhava, Yevtushenko. The translator’s efficiency is amazing: about fifty books have come from her pen, including such complex authors as Andrei Bely, Platonov, Mandelstam, Pilnyak, Bulgakov.

Maria Vasilievna began to visit the USSR, where she was received warmly. Everything changed with the beginning of the persecution of Solzhenitsyn. The exiled writer himself pointed to Olsufieva as a desirable translator of the Gulag Archipelago, and from then on Maria Vasilievna became persona non grata in the Soviet Union. A new stage of her activity began - assistance to human rights activists, primarily Sakharov.

Olsufieva died in 1988, a little short of the radical changes in Russia, which, no doubt, would have welcomed her again with honor.

Maria Vasilievna’s daughter carefully preserves the old furnishings, library, and family heirlooms.

TARKOVSKY'S HOUSE ON SAN NICCOLO STREET, 91

One of the surprises of modern Florence is the inscription above the intercom: TARKOVSKY. By opening the phone book, you can find out the exact address. The house on San Niccolo Street is the last place of his settled life. The room where he wrote the script for his last film, Sacrifice, is now uninhabited; the widow, now deceased, set up something like a home museum here. Here is the director's desk, personal belongings, and an icon of his heavenly patron, the Apostle Andrew. This room is located on the roof of a medieval palazzo, towering above other roofs and reminiscent of a ship's wheelhouse or the nave of a basilica.

In his diary, the maestro wrote: “Florence is a city that restores hope.” Tarkovsky became imbued with it during the filming of Nostalgia: Tuscan landmarks - frescoes by Piero della Francesca, the unfinished cathedral in San Galgano, the swimming pool in Bagni Vijoni (scene with a candle) - became the silent heroes of the film. When the director found himself homeless and wandering around Europe, the Florentine city hall showed nobility by providing him with housing in the ancient quarter of San Niccolo. Now another Andrei Tarkovsky lives here - the director’s son.

BRODSKY

Brodsky and Italy are an example of a happy relationship: the poet admitted that he felt good in a country where so many women resembled his mother. The poet’s love for Venice, forever sealed by his will, is well known; less known is that Joseph Brodsky was an honorary citizen of Florence and the owner of a premium gold florin - an exact copy of a medieval Florentine coin. He received this title and the accompanying award from the local municipality for his contribution to world culture. On a March day in 1996, in the Palazzo Vecchio, Brodsky, surrounded by city fathers and stylized standard-bearers, received these florins and decree from the hands of the mayor, and then read poetry - including about Florence. That was the poet's last visit to Italy.