Rare view of Florence from Arno river with Pignone Foundry.

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Rare view of Florence with Pignone Foundry.
Late 19th century.

With Tuscan landscape on the reverse side.
Technique: oil on wood.
This two-sided painting is a very interesting document of the view of Florence, from the Arno river, in the direction of the Oltrarno district with an industrial district that no longer exists.
Some ancient buildings can be seen: Santa Rosa tower (part of the medieval walls), further in the distance - Santo Spirito bell tower. In the other distance -Forte Belvedere at the top of the Boboli Gardens.
The representation of industrial buildings, on the other hand, are extremely rare, also due to their pre-existence in Florence.
In 1842, an entrepreneur from Tuscany opened a metallurgical plant in the Pignone district, near the San Frediano gate.
The district becomes a manufacturing agglomeration of the city, hosting tanneries, the Gasometer, manufacturers of majolica, glue, etc. The factory will be distinguished by the production of metal lamp posts, railings and benches.
But above all, technological experimentation is noteworthy, such as the use of internal combustion engines in a fixed location, built in 1858 based on a project by Barsanti and Matteucci, intended to replace the steam engine in industrial processing.
Wandering around Florence you can still see many balustrades, gates, gratings and lights from the Florentine nineteenth-century palaces produced by the Pignone workshops. In 1918 the factory was moved to another district of the city, in Rifredi.