 During the Mid-1800's the Macchiaioli movement exploded in
Florence, (shortly after the French Impressionist period which
similarly opposed naturalism). Fattori, Lega, Signorini, Sernesi,
D'Ancona, Borrani, supported by the theorists Cecioni and
Martelli, who used to frequent the Michelangelo coffee house in
Via Larga, gave birth to a new conception of painting based on
the "macchia" technique (literally "stain"):
in other words the coloured blobs
of light and darkness that the eye percieves. This was also an
answer to the new scientific theories on light and colour that
were emerging.
Giuseppe Poggi's urbanistic planning was aimed at giving the town
an international aspect. Old walls were demolished to make way
for new residential areas and a great deal of classical and
pre-renaissance-styled villas and stylish palaces, not altogether
without a certain monumental dignity, (for example the buildings
along the Arno). The town houses built in long orderly rows;
imitate in miniature, just like the 18th Century houses did, the
style of the suburban villas.
Some interesting buildings were erected in the mid-1800's
following the international lines of 'metal architecture', such
as the San Lorenzo market by Mengoni, (who also designed the
famous Milan Gallery), Sant'Ambrogio market building and the
beautiful greenhouse in the Horticultural Garden by Roster, who
was also the author of the refined Tivoli gardens along the Viale
dei Colli.
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