Timeline: Italian Renaissance Grottoes

Jan 1, 1538

Grotto of the Animals by Tribolo, Piero da San Casciano. Medici Villa at Castello.

-1570. Commissioned by Grand Duke Cosimo I and finished by Vasari. Marble and bronze sculpture by Giambologna, Ammanati, Three fountains and water-jets.

Sep 7, 1550

Death of Tribolo

First builder of grottoes in Medici water-gardens. Considered the father of Italian formal gardens.

Jan 1, 1553

-56. Grotticina of Madama by Tribolo, Ammanati, Buontalenti. Palazzo Pitti, Florence

Sculpture of goats (a reference to either Eleanor of Toledo or Giovanna de' Medici). Fountain.

Jan 1, 1556

-73. Grotto-like Fountain in Room of Hercules, Villa Caprarola. Viterbo.

Commissioned by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, design by Vignola.

Jan 1, 1558

-70: Grotto of Moses by Ammanati. Palazzo Pitti, Florence.

Porphyry statue of Moses, allegorical and mythological sculpture. Fountains. Commissioned by Grand Duke Cosimo de' Medici.

Jan 1, 1560

Fountain of Morgan LeFay by Giambologna. Villa Vecchietti, "Il Riposo, " Grassina/Bagno a Ripoli.

-1584. Statue of Morgan LeFay by Giambologna; fountains on interior and exterior of nymphaeum. Commissioned by Bernardo Vecchietti, art collector and Medici supporter.

Jan 1, 1562

Nymphaeum by Domenico Ponsello, Francesco Paciotto, Castle of Rivoli.

Built at the same time as the gardens' cistern and system of pipes. Brick structure survives, and water still flows from five niches to the center of the room; however, it is stripped of all original decorations. Commissioned by Duke Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy.

Jan 1, 1568

-1579. Grotto of Cupid by Buontalenti. Park of Pratolino

Rotating sculpture of Cupid by Giambologna that squirted water unexpectedly; animated automata and numerous water-tricks. Commissioned by Francesco I de' Medici.

Oct 1, 1569

-1579. Grottoes of Mugnone, Pan and Fame by Buontalenti. Medici Villa of Pratolino.

Sculpture by Giambologna, animated automata, fountains, water-tricks. Commissioned by Francesco I de' Medici.

Jan 1, 1571

-1596. Fountain of the Fortress by Domenico Ponsello. Residences of the Royal House of Savoy, Turin.

Fountain and grotto with shells, corals, mixed stone, mosaics, statues of satyrs and nymphs. Hydraulic automata of satyrs, serpents, men and horses. Called Bagno di S.A. or "Fontana del Bastione," guarded by two arqubusiers, it is uncertain what traces remain today.

Apr 21, 1574

Death of Cosimo I de' Medici.

Jan 1, 1575

Grotto of the Saints by Ottaviano Mascarino. Villa Guastavillani, Bologna.

Unique Counter-Reformation shell-grotto under the villa decorated with life-sized reliefs of hermitic Christian saints and intended for solitary meditation rather than hedonistic indulgence. Commissioned by Cardinal Filippo Guastavillani, nephew of Pope Gregory XIII.

Jan 1, 1579

-1580. Appennine Colossus and Grottoes by Giambologna. Medici Villa of Pratolino

Multiple grottoes constructed in the giant's "belly;" sculpture, fountains, and water-tricks. Commissioned by Francesco I de' Medici.

Jan 1, 1583

-1593: Grotta Grande by Buontalenti. Palazzo Pitti, Florence.

Sculptures by Michelangelo, Giambologna. Fountain and water-tricks. Commissioned by Grand Duke Cosimo de' Medici, finished by Francesco I (?)

Oct 17, 1587

Death of Francesco I de' Medici and Bianca Capello

Jan 1, 1615

Grottoes of the garden of Villa della Regina by Ascanio Vitozzi. Turin.

Grottoes are part of a water-theatre constructed at Villa della Regina after the Roman model of Villa Aldobrandini at Frascati. Commissioned by prince Maurizio, son of Carlo Emanuele I Duke of Savoy.

Jan 1, 1617

Grotto of Villa Careggi by Giulio Parigi. Florence.

Sculpture and fountains unknown. Commissioned by Cardinal Carlo de' Medici.

Jan 1, 1617

-1629. Grotto in Upper Garden of Villa Caprarola, design by Vignola. Viterbo.

At the second level of the cascading water-garden leading to the Casino of the Villa Caprarola's upper garden is found an oval grotto-like enclosure flanked on either side by curved stair ramps. Water not only flows around the grotto from the cornucopias of two statues of giant river gods but also from spouting water masks in the grotto-stone walls' recesses. Commissioned by Cardinal Odoardo Farnese.