Santa Maria Novella
Railway Station
Royal (now Presidential) Lodge
Piazza della Stazione
External view of the Royal Lodge, ASCFi, Firenze, 1940, 1-4, p. 25.
A nationwide call for tender for the Travellers' Building in the railway station of Santa Maria Novella, issued on 20 August 1932, was won by the youthful and hitherto unknown "Tuscan Group" comprising Pier Niccolò Berardi, Nello Baroni, Italo Gamberini, Baldassarre (Sarre) Guarnieri, Leonardo Lusanna and Giovanni Michelucci.
Acknowledgements
An exhibition of designs in the Salone dei Cinquecento and Sala dei Duecento, in Palazzo Vecchio, was inaugurated on 8 March 1933. The building was part of a vast and highly functional railway complex which also included the main controls cabin and heating plant, an icon of the new Futurist city designed by Angiolo Mazzoni, and the Royal Lodge. The "Buffet Restaurant" was decorated by Ottone Rosai and Mario Romoli, while the Royal Lounge in the Royal Lodge was adorned with bas-reliefs by Mario Moschi and Giannetto Mannucci and with etchings by Rodolfo Margheri. Italo Griselli's rendering of The Arno and its Valley is set against the outside wall of the Lodge's VIP porch. King Victor Emmanuel III officially opened the complex on 30 October 1935.
The exhibition of designs for Florence's new railway station in the "Salone dei Cinquecento" in Palazzo Vecchio, ASCFi, Firenze, 1933, 3, p. 88.
The exhibition of designs for Florence's new railway station in the "Salone dei Cinquecento" and "Sala dei Duecento" in Palazzo Vecchio, ASCFi, Firenze, 1933, 3, p. 89.
Italo Griselli, The Arno and its Valley, "set against the wall of the Lodge's VIP porch overlooking the pool", ASCFi, Firenze, 1935, 9, p. 257.
The Tuscan Countryside (still in situ), painted by Ottone Rosai on one of the two "walls at the entrance to the buffet restaurant", ASCFi, Firenze, 1935, 9, p. 258.
King Victor Emmanuel III officially opens the railway station of Santa Maria Novella on 30 October 1935, ASCFi, Firenze, 1935, 10, p. 268.
Sweeping view of the new station from the belfry of Santa Maria Novella, ASCFi, Firenze, 1935, 10, p. 269.
The main façade of the Travellers' Building, ASCFi, Firenze, 1935, 10, p. 270.
"One side of the ticket hall: on the right you can see one of the doors leading through to the concourse area", ASCFi, Firenze, 1935, 10, p. 270.
"The huge tangle of tracks and a view of the platform roofing", ASCFi, Firenze, 1935, 10, p. 270.
"Concourse area: view towards the ticket hall", ASCFi, Firenze, 1935, 10, p. 271.
"Royal Lounge", ASCFi, Firenze, 1935, 10, p. 271.
"Travellers' Building: view towards the exit leading to Via Valfonda", ASCFi, Firenze, 1935, 10, p. 272.
"The arrivals canopy", ASCFi, Firenze, 1935, 10, p. 272.
"Detail of the building on Via Luigi Alamanni", ASCFi, Firenze, 1935, 10, p. 272.
Municipal Technical Office, Sketch for the decoration of Piazza della Stazione to mark the Führer's visit, May 1938. ASCFi, Fondo disegni 73/38.
9 May 1938: Hitler and Mussolini leave the station, from a photo album of Hitler and Mussolini in Florence, ASCFi, Album Foto Hitler e Mussolini a Firenze.
