Piero's Balconies
Can you step into a work of art? Well, yes you can.
There are journeys and walks that leave you speechless, and you’ll encounter one of these at a Renaissance Terrace, a discovery that will suddenly metamorphose into poetry, history, art and culture.
The painter Rosetta Borchia and the geologist Olivia Nesci have in fact discovered in the modern-day landscapes of Montefeltro the same backgrounds depicted by Piero della Francesca in some of his most famous works.
The artist has in fact rendered immortal the hills of the Adriatic coastline and the Appennines between Pesaro, Urbino and Rimini, through the perfect scenes of his paintings.
These two "landscape hunters" analysed and studied the settings in Piero della Francesca’s artworks, and found their matches in numerous modern-day landscapes. The project eventually expanded and real, proper terraces were built to reveal these painter’s “vistas”, which the researchers have called “Renaissance views”.
New research has uncovered further terraces, and this time, the panoramas bring to mind those of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.
These rediscovered landscapes, painted five centuries ago, are distinguishable and recognisable thanks to the cliffs, crags, peaks and spires that emerge along the once abundantly swollen rivers, offering a truly unique and exhilarating experience.
Here are a few that you can find along the Rimini Riviera.
Petrella Guidi
In Petrella Guidi, a delightful medieval village in the Upper Marecchia Valley, a terrace has been set up to allow views of the landscape of “The Baptism of Christ” by Piero della Francesca, now in the National Gallery in London, a monumental work with an extremely rigorous set of mathematical relationships.
Pennabilli
In Pennabilli sul Roccione, we discover a landscape from the “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci, with an up-close view of the location of the bridge and the Senatello valley.
Montecopiolo
Finally, two more Renaissance Terraces can be found in the in the hamlets of Montecopiolo: in Pugliano, we can admire the panorama of the “Resurrection”, a fresco by Piero della Francesca, painted when della Francesca was working in Arezzo on the frescoes of the Legend of the True Cross; in Monte Palazzolo, meanwhile, we can find the “Nativity” from Piero della Francesca's final artistic phase.
For more information on the Renaissance Views