Salone Rosso

The monumental ceiling fresco in the “Salone Rosso” was painted by Augusto Burchi and his colleagues in 1893. The decoration is wholly dedicated to the glorification of the patrons and their families. The central ceiling panel represents the winged figure of Fama, floating down from heaven blowing her trumpet. She is accompanied by two putti; one of them carries a lyre, while the other is balanced on a branch. This scene is surrounded by a monumental stucco frame, bordered on the outside by undulating palm branches and garlands of fruit supported by paired mythical creatures. The four borders rising from the corners of the coved ceiling, and converging on this central panel, are adorned with paired putti supporting elaborate trophies bearing the arms of either the Budini or Gattai families. The large lateral compartments in the coving surrounding the central pictorial panel comprise arched niches contain grisaille representations of the nine Muses. A tenth figure is included for purposes of symmetry; it supports a tablet inscribed with the year of the fresco’s completion (1893). The faux statue niches alternate with six landscapes in oblong panels, which are in striking contrast to the classical Muses. In their realistic representation they contrast sharply with the neo-Renaissance style of the other panels. Far from representing Tuscan or otherwise recognizable Italian scenes, they evoke transalpine regions. The most astonishing representation is that of a desert landscape at sunset, with a tent placed between palm trees.