The New Lands Museum | Sala 8 - LE NUOVE COMUNITÀ - Museo delle Terre Nuove
Nella sala sono conservate maioliche e oggetti di uso quotidiano rinvenuti durante gli scavi archeologici del Palazzo.
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Room 8

THE NEW COMMUNITIES

This room contains majolica pottery and everyday items discovered during archaeological excavations in the Palazzo. The video shows the inhabitants of the Castello di Ricasoli deciding whether to move to, and become terrazzani in, Castel San Giovanni. It seeks to show that it was not so easy to leave one’s condition of serf to live as a citizen in a “new and free” land and become a member of a new community.

Insights


ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS

The last restoration of the building, carried out in 1986-1990, was preceded by a major excavation campaign that helped clarify its history. In the course of the investigation, numerous artefacts were recovered, with a wide range of ceramic and glass artefacts datable to a chronological span between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, thus dating back to the period in which the palace had been the seat of the Vicegerents of Valdarno and thus bearing witness to the regular and continuous presence of Florentine officials. The archaic majolicas, probably of local production, are influenced by Arezzo and Siena, while fifteenth-century ceramics come from the Florentine area, and in particular Montelupo, testifying to how San Giovanni had achieved its own political and commercial solidity. The less valuable ceramics are probably of local manufacture, as is the glass, whose industry was among the traditional manufacturing activities of San Giovanni: mainly blown glass tableware has been found. In general, these artefacts tell the story of those who lived in the palace and help to define its development: a vitality that was initially discontinuous and weak, especially during the fourteenth-century phase, which then became more assiduous during the development and consolidation phase of the institution of the vicegerency, only to decline progressively from the seventeenth century onwards. Forty-eight coins were also found, eight of which date back to the Roman imperial age and are of importance to the history of the town. While the ancient pieces were probably gathered up along with the soil used in the town, the rest are small coins of wide circulation: as Boldrini and De Luca write, they are the ‘small change’ that was accidentally lost. Although often in a poor state of preservation, their mintage – from all over Italy – underlines how the town was a lively trading centre and an important stop for travellers and merchants of various origins.
(The text is taken from the museum guide, edited by Claudia Tripodi and Valentina Zucchi, Sagep, 2024)