Caffè Michelangiolo

Macchiaioli at the Caffè Michelangelo c. 1856

Caffè Michelangiolo is an historic café in Florence, located on the Via Larga (now renamed the Via Cavour). During the nineteenth-century Wars of Italian Independence it became a major meeting place for Tuscan writers and artists, and for patriots and political exiles from other Italian states.

The Caffè, which existed from 1848 to 1866, was frequented by the artists of the Macchiaioli, especially after 1855. One of the artists, Telemaco Signorini, later published a memoir, Caricaturisti e caricaturati al Caffè Michelangiolo (1893), which has been called "the bible of the Macchiaioli movement". In it, Signorini described the nature of the discussions at the Caffè:

From 1848 to 1855, as a result of the times, political conspiracies and practical jokes prevailed. But from 1855 to 1860 ... the friends at the Caffè, remaining still, by tradition, the dear madcaps of Via Larga, joked less and devoted themselves more to their art.

References

• Agnew, John A. (2002). Place and politics in modern Italy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-01051-1
• Broude, Norma (1987). The Macchiaioli: Italian Painters of the Nineteenth Century. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-03547-0
• Steingräber, E., & Matteucci, G. (1984). The Macchiaioli: Tuscan Painters of the Sunlight : March 14-April 20, 1984. New York: Stair Sainty Matthiesen in association with Matthiesen, London. OCLC 70337478