The productive diversification and elevated artistic quality of the Chini Furnaces allowed a significant presence in the architectural fabric of the Mugellan territory, intervening in characterizing vast urban areas or the insides of private homes and of places destined to the public, like churches, cemeteries and town halls. Above all, in consequence of exceptional events, like the catastrophic earthquake in 1926, Chini manufacturing was called upon for commitments of remarkable importance.
Thus they contributed to the work of restoration of numerous buildings, amongst which a lot of Mugellan churches, like the large stained glass windows in the chapel of the Company of the sanctuary of the Holy Crucifix, while on occasion of the Franciscan celebrations, works connected to the figure of the saint of Assisi were carried out, such as the tabernacle of St. Francis, located beside the Parish Church of San Lorenzo, and the complex decoration of the Franciscan cenacle in the convent of the Capuchins of St. Carlo.
Regarding private buildings, the following should be pointed out: the Pecori Girali Villa with its internal decorations, to which Galileo himself was not unrelated, and the beautiful spiral staircase; the mural decorations of the villa of Valdastra; the entire complex of the small Chini Villa in all its decorative wealth; the decorations of the façade of the Mercatali house in Ronta and the small villas in Viale della Repubblica, dating back to the first years of the century which acquire particular significance for their decorations and for the urban complex which they determine.
In the field of the assignment of a religious nature, the Chinis sometimes realized really monumental complexes, like that of the Misericordia, where Galileo intervenes and realizes the fresco of the apse of the church, real caskets of art as it is possible to define the Chapel in Poggiolo -Salaiole, or works like the stained-glass windows of the Parish Church of San Giovanni Maggiore (1912) or the solemn and hieratic fresco of the apse of the Parish Church of San Lorenzo, also carried out by Galileo in 1906 and in which the neo-medieval fashions and the art nuoveau culture find a happy synthesis.
Lastly the Town Hall of Borgo San Lorenzo should be underlined, among the works of a public nature, which reassumes all the aspects of the varied activities of the Chinis, to whom we owe the entire mural decoration, the stained-glass windows of the great skylight and the windows, the beautiful ceramic floor in the Mayor’s room and parts of the wooden furnishings.
Itinerario Liberty - Planning and Realization - Stefano Pelosi - www.stefanopelosi.it