The 1st IAAConference. Florence 2003

Art and Arms: Florence, City of the Medici.

When we gathered in Florence for the conference in late May 2003, we were rewarded with blue skies and hot sunshine. On the first morning Chris Dobson began the slide presentations with "As Tough As Old Boots", a study of how to reconstruct Cuir Bouilli: hardened leather armour. This was followed by Dr Alan Williams speaking on metallography, "The Armour of Cosimo I de' Medici and His Contemporaries" , and Matt Easton, who (along with Fabrice Cognot) spoke on, and demonstrated live, techniques from "Fior di Battaglia: The Martial Treatise of Fiore dei Liberi". After lunch the group was taken by coach to the Museo Stibbert. Here we were personally greeted by the museum Director, Dr. Aschengreen-Piacenti, and then given a private tour of the huge collection by Dr. Domenique Fuchs. At the end of the tour, we gathered in the ballroom of the Villa Stibbert for a handling session. The museum very kindly brought some wonderful object out of their cases for the group to examine, among which were a Tulwar owned by Tippoo Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore, and a pair of pistols made for Crown-Prince Ferdinando de' Medici in 1690.

Photos above from left to right:
A 'modest' display of rapiers, showing the vast scale of the Stibbert collection, and a beautiful and extremely rare fencing doublet.

Left: delegates getting to grips with a fine selection of swords during  the handling session in the elaborate ballroom of the Villa Stibbert.

During the following two days of the conference we also had presentations on: "Trasures of the Medici in the Wallace Collection", Francesco Alfieri's "La Scherma", by Gary Stewart and "Armours of the 'Pompeo Style' in the Collections of the City of Amsterdam" by Jan Piet Puype. Chris Dobson concluded the lectures with a presentation from his book on the battle panels painted by the famous Floreentine artist Paolo Uccello: "San Romano, the Art of War". We also got out and about in the city centre. We visited the church of Orsanmichele, the National Museum of the Bargello, the frescoed chapel in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi and the Cathedral.

Photo right: Delegates on a walking tour in the historic centre of Florence. Chris Dobson gives a presentation outside the church of Orsanmichele, about the early 15th Century statue of St. George commissioned by the guild of armourers and swordsmiths from the famous sculptor Donatello.

Of course we couldn't go to Florence without sampling a bit of the local food and wine, and in the evenings we enjoyed the hospitality of local restaurants and bars.

Photos below from left to right: the group enjoy a glass of wine with dinner at the restaurant 'Dante', and Jason Haggerty tackles the speciality of the house: the dreaded 'Pizza Gigante' (he won hands down).

The conference officially closed on the evening of the 1st of June, but some delegates and speakers stayed on into the following week. On the Monday morning we took a walking tour of the fortifications and tower houses of Florence.

Photos below from left to right: the group view the last full-height tower remaining from the 14th Century walls, the Porta San Niccolò, and the sun sets over Florence, and the first IAAConference.