I Granduchi e la Stanza del caffè

Among the works housed at Villa La Quiete are the Portraits of Grand Duke Peter Leopold and his wife Maria Theresa of Bourbon, presented here after restoration by Lisa Venerosi Pesciolini. 

These are two paintings that meet the canons of official portraiture, copies of portraits already included in the Grand Ducal collections, and known in numerous versions.

Through archive research, Donatella Pegazzano has succeeded in giving a name to the author, adding a new small piece to the all-female history of Villa La Quiete: Maria Diomira Franchi, a Florentine painter of whom very few memories are preserved and who rightly joins the list of the many women who have animated this place.

The two paintings, stolen years ago, are today returned thanks to the recovery of the Carabinieri of the Florence TPC Unit.

Together with the return of the paintings, Maria Maddalena Grossi discusses at length the progress of the project for the restoration, study and valorisation of the heritage of Villa La Quiete and its availability, as well as Raffaele Niccoli Vallesi's curious chapter on the accounts of lunches and breakfasts that the royal family loved to eat here.