Custodian of Culture: Simonetta Brandolini-d’Adda
Lady Ripple is honoured to share the story of one of the most remarkable “Lady Ripplers” of Florence today.
By Allyson Volpe
Taking a stroll past the tremendous works of art that adorn the buildings and the piazzas of Florence, one is immediately made aware that at its historical center is a precious living museum both in its streets and within the halls of its museums and churches. Being one of the most iconic UNESCO World Heritage sites in all of Europe if not the world, there is an obvious emphasis and responsibility for the care of its great cultural legacy with its 700 years of artistic treasures and spirit of humanism that are tangible today.
“The art is not just Florentine. It is not just Italian. It belongs to the world,” states Simonetta Brandolini d’Adda, one of the founding patrons and president of the Friends of Florence, a charity that plays a significant custodial role in the restoration of the world’s most famous art. For twenty-one years, it is because of the dedicated persistence on the part of Simonetta, her board members and their patrons who have donated over $11 million to date, that the restoration of dozens of priceless works of art have been undertaken in Florence, guaranteeing their sound state perhaps into the next millennium. “I was very surprised that Friends of Florence has become much more successful than I ever thought it would be,” she remarks.
It is initiatives like that of the Friends of Florence that are so important for preservation of the plethora of artwork that needs restoration. “The cultural heritage contributes to a significant part of the Italian economy, and it is surprising that such a small amount of funds is allocated by the Italian State,” Simonetta explains. The Ministry of Culture’s budget continues to be slashed, compared to what is actually needed. Coupled with the crippling bureaucracy and new policies from incoming governments, the cultural patrimony is being strangled. “There is so much to be done here. It is overwhelming,” admits Simonetta. “It makes me sad to see how many treasures need restoration and are in grave dis-repair.”
For Simonetta, her passion for art began during a childhood spent primarily in Italy. Having an Italian mother from Rome and American father, she lived in Verona for many of her teenage years as her father worked within NATO. Returning to the United States during her late teenage years and attending university, Simonetta found the US a relatively unfamiliar country for her, and so enrolled in the Smith University programme where she studied Art History at the University of Florence. During her year abroad, she was fortunate enough to have studied under the tutelage of Mina Gregori, one of the top art historians of her time who later went on to be director of the Uffizi and a woman who greatly inspired Simonetta.
It was during this year that Simonetta met her future husband in Florence. In 1975, she moved back to Europe permanently after graduating from university to marry Count Girolamo Brandolini d'Adda and establish her new family in Florence. They created in 1982, The Best In Italy, a high-end luxury holiday rental business, which at that time was the first of its kind and even today offers some of the most spectacular villas for hire.
Through the Brandolini branch of her husband’s family in Venice, it was in the 1980s that Simonetta became aware of the remarkable foundation Save Venice. “It was a natural fit for me as I always loved the arts and art history,” Simonetta explains. “It was a very good charitable structure.” It was during her acquaintance with the charity that Simonetta began connecting with the likes of Robert Edsel, founder of the World Monuments Men Foundation and author of Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation’s Treasures from the Nazis. Robert later went on to found Monuments Men.
Realising that the same charitable structure of Save Venice would do well to safe-guard the treasures of Florence, the seed was planted in Simonetta’s mind to create the Friends of Florence. For a few years she had consulted and gathered advice and insight from several like-minded friends who also had a love and affinity for the great artworks of Italy. Then, enlisting the help of her sister Renee Gardner who lived in Washington DC, the reality of Friends of Florence was born in 1998 as a non-political and non-for-profit US based charity. Methodically, Renee and then Edsel helped her put together their by-laws and form a board of experienced members.
“When we started, we were very fortunate to have the direction of Antonio Paolucci, who at that time was Super-intendent of Fine Arts (before leaving for his post as Director of the Vatican Museums),” Simonetta explains. “He helped us to choose our first projects.” Little at the time did Simonetta think that Friends of Florence would be enlisted to restore some of the most renowned sculptures and artwork in the Western World. The first was the Rape of the Sabine by Giambologna in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Piazza Signoria. “It was in urgent need of reparation at the time,” Simonetta recalls. Friends of Florence then went on to restore all the other marble statues in the Loggia which were also in need of grave attention. Their next major project was to fund part of the restoration work on Michelangelo’s colossal masterpiece David. “We were fortunate to coincide with the 500th Anniversary of the David at the Accademia,” she smiles. The world-famous Uffizi Museum then enlisted Friends of Florence to restore its Tribuna, the octagonal room referred to as the ‘jewel box inside of the jewel box’ that houses the most important antiquities from the Medici dynasty. With the help of Friends of Florence, the 27-year restoration of Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise which were originally hung on the Baptistry of the Duomo, saw is completion in 2012. “With these huge projects we gained our momentum,” Simonetta continues. “There was so much to do, it snowballed.”
She had to fight her way forward the first ten years to develop a relationship with the city of Florence, who originally viewed Friends of Florence with suspicion and some sort of an ulterior motive. “They always asked the same question which was ‘Why are you doing this?’” Simonetta recalls. “My line was always that we are doing this for humanity because the artworks are for the benefit of everyone. We are creating an awareness of how important it is to safeguard our cultural heritage and ‘human memory’.” It was in 2012, that the work of Friends of Florence was given its proper recognition when they received the Gold Florin of Florence (Fiorino d’Oro), the highest honour the city gives. “They know us well now and are allowing us to denote our projects with our Friends of Florence plaques,” she explains.
With each new restoration they undertake, Friends of Florence is known to run a very efficient charity, which is important to their donors, 90% of which are American and the others from around the world. Most of the people work on a volunteer basis, including Simonetta, with the exception of a few part-time people on the payroll. “We are transparent and try to keep our costs low,” Simonetta explains. “At the beginning we were able to donate directly 97 cents to the dollar, now we are at 92 percent cents to the dollar with all the social media costs we have undertaken.” The performance of Friends of Florence is remarkable considering Italian state charges them 22% tax on each restoration project and the city government charges them their own tax, even for scaffolding costs.
The transparency and accountability of Friends of Florence is also established by the board of trustees and their tight control of project management which knows where the money is being spent, eliminating any misuse of funds, which more often times than not has been the case in Italy for many projects. “One of the most successful decisions taken by our board, is that we don’t give money to the museums directly. We pay directly to the restorers, the scaffolding people, the analytical technicians and any other hands-on people related to the project,” Simonetta explains. “We have complete control.”
Today, Friends of Florence manages about twenty projects a year both large and small. When restoration requests are made to the charity, it goes to the board to decide and once they have found funding for 60 percent of the amount needed, they begin work on the project. Simonetta is approached weekly by both museums, churches and restorers who suggest works that need attention. “We have a good relationship with restorers,” explains Simonetta. “We learn from these restorers and through our Friends of Florence Salone dell’Arte del Restauro prize, what work needs to be done in Tuscany and try to find donations to support them. I am seeing young people in restoration schools, learning the arts and art history. There is a healthy interest here in Italy.” With this in mind, since 2012, Friends of Florence took the decision to create a Restoration Prize every two years for projects under 20,000 euros.
Friends of Florence are now taking to the streets with an eye to the Tabernacle Shrines, twelve-hundred of which are to be found on many street corners and neighbourhoods in Florence and are in dire need. “Every project we are involved in tends to fuel my passion and outreach to others,” says Simonetta. “Be they restorers, art historians, persons who come to the presentations or simply visitors who remark about our work as they see the projects in the various museums, churches or sidewalks.”
Further afield from Florence, the mission of the charity is growing outwards towards greater Tuscany and inspiring others. One such project is their collaboration with the University of Florence preserving the fourteenth century carved pulpit of Giovanni Pisano in Church of San Andrea in Pistoia. They have also taken a decision to restore artworks by Tuscan artists outside of Italy, as they have done with a recent collaboration with the Prado museum in Madrid that houses Fra Angelico’s Annunciation or their desire to work with the Louvre in Paris with a possible Leonardo Da Vinci restoration. “With our model we are inspiring other people to set up the same charitable structures in different European cities to preserve their priceless works of art,” Simonetta remarks. “Through our work, people are becoming more aware that this work needs to be preserved. There have been requests for us all the time to do a Friends of Rome, or Friends of Naples.”
Simonetta has travelled and worked relentlessly to reiterate the importance of the Friends of Florence preservation work and expand awareness of their projects. “This is a full-time job for me, in addition to the full-time job I have of still running the family business,” she admits. Since 2006, she has collaborated with the world-renowned Aspen Institute three times a year, introducing them to specific restoration projects. She has created links with Stanford University and New York University. Currently she is in collaboration with The Vatican Museums in Rome. They have founded a ‘Council for the Future’ consisting of Florentines, Romans, other Tuscans, as well as Americans, which is trying to get the younger generation involved with the charity. With press offices both in New York and Florence, word of their major restorations is getting out to others. “I hope to make an effect upon those who see the beauty of the artworks and allow the important recognition of the restorers’ mission, upon the press who can share the importance of our preservation work, and to our benefactors who might be every more enthusiastic about taking on projects,” she explains.
The phenomenal hard work and contributions of Simonetta and the Friends of Florence has now made its impact on a national level. Recognizing her important contribution to culture, Simonetta was recently awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) -- the equivalent of a Knighthood from the Italian government.
Through her significantly successful work and foundation, Simonetta has inspired and employed countless others to realise the importance of preserving our cultural legacy or ‘human memory’ as she calls it. “Some of the success has come down to having a clear vision of what I wished to achieve on a long-term basis together with others who had the same passion for my vision and project,” she admits. “One needs to have a great deal of patience, show goodwill even through adversity and then have even more patience!”