This is one of the most ancient streets of the city. In Roman times when the Cassia consular road crossed through Pistoia, the present via degli Orafi baecame the decumano, that is the street oriented along an east-west axis. Once it had gone beyond the city gate (which, no doubt, was the most important gate in the city), the road continued on to Lucca. Following the tradition of naming city gates according to the destinations that one could reach from them, this gate was called the porta Lucensis. Proof of the via degli Omafi's continued use over time is found in its previous name, via Taberna, presumably for the large number of taverns lining the street where travelers could find food and drink. Today the same name has been taken by as small lane that intersects the via degli Orafi. There where the heart of the Roman city had once been (vs3)the Bracciolini delle Api family built their palazzo in the 1600s and it remained their residence until the first half of this century. The small building was constructed over more ancient houses which in part were already property of the Bracciolini family. Only the small workshop belonging to the Opera della Sapienza had to be bought in the late 1500s. This acquisition allowed the palazzo to face onto the cathedral squame, thereby asserting its privileged and highly symbolic position. With respect to buildings of the same period belonging to other noble Pistoian families, this one has a rather original appearance in that it was inspired by the aesthetic canons of the cultural politics of the Grand Duchy. The Bracciolini were staunch supporters of the Medici to whom the busts on the façade are dedicated. Beginning with the bust above the entrance, they are: Ferdinando I (the Grand Duke of that time), Cosimo I (Ferdinando's father), the Great Duke Francesco (Cosimo's other son), and lastly, presumably, Duke Alessandro dei Medici. Even the frescos inside the entrance continue the celebratory cycle, with allegorical scenes referring to the city of Pistoia as well as to the Medici and Bracciolini families.
During the first half of the nineteenth century the building was renovated and part of the space used previously for living quarters was transformed into a small private theater of which only a beautiful gold-colored ceiling remains. Along the via degli Orafi we find some of the city's most important buildings created in the Art Nouveau style (s.i.) These were built thanks to the entrepreneurship of Antonio Lavarini who had arrived from the Lombard provinces with a sales cart but became one of the biggest merchants in Tuscany. His name is associated with, among others, the Emporio Duilio (a large store of which only a few traces survive today in a modem store on what was once called the canto della porta vecchia), the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele and the Cinema Eden whose façade today still shows itself to be a significant example of the new art. The iron work was done by the Michelucci metal works which, for this project, especially assembled fragments of iron from different sources; at the façade center we see the figure of Mercury. In the Michelucci factory workers recalled how Lavarini found left-over pieces of iron, took them and put them together to build the cinema and the tower. Today via degli Orafi is one of the busiest streets and forms the commercial heart of the city.

(n.) refers to the number of the file-card (s.i.) means see information inside

Art Nouveau in Pistoia

The development of Art Nouveau in Pistoia can be seen in several projects, most notably the bank, la Cassa di Risparmio (vs15) which was the first and most notorious example of this new style. The other creations of a modernist kind, although certainly courageous, were incapable of imposing a new character on the city. Apart from the projects sponsored by Lavarini, traces of Art Nouveau can be seen in the San Giorgio factories designed by Gino Coppedè, in the former Albergo Appennino and in the modern residential zone to the west of the city. In this latter area, at the beginning of the century, the architect Ferdinando Pacini built his house. in an interesting interpretation of the Art Nouveau style, and it became a model for many buildings that were built afterwards. Other examples can be found in the decorations and in the design of iron roof structures, street lights, hand rails and gates produced by the Michelucci iron works and Pacini.

Chronology

II sec. B.C. V III sec.A.D. 1580 1836 1912		The Romans extend the Cassia road towards Lucca. The construction of the first ring of city walls includes the porta Lucensis. The Bracciolini family buys the Opera della Sapienza workshop. The Palazzo Bracciolini is renovated and a theater is built inside. The inauguration of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.