photo stories
Villa Fabbricotti & Queen Victoria's visit
Villa Fabbricotti, on the slopes of the Montughi hill and a mere stone's throw from Florence's historic centre, provided the accommodation for Queen Victoria during her visit in March 1894.
Arrival in Florence
Florence, 16th March 1894. The station awaited the arrival of the royal train in a blaze of flowers. Flags were everywhere flying at the windows.
At 10.30 a.m. Queen Victoria, now 75, stepped off the train, wearing the black of perpetual mourning and accompanied by Scottish guards, ladies-in-waiting and Indian servants.
Villa Fabbricotti hosted Queen Victoria's second and last stay in Florence until her departure on 6th April 1894.
Renovated furnishings
For the occasion the furnishings were enriched and the main rooms, including the antechamber depicted here, were given a sumptuous new decoration.
The entrance was also elegantly rearranged, as this image immortalised by the Alinari photographers clearly documents.
Portraits
Queen Victoria herself enjoyed a close interest in photography: she was, with her husband Albert, an enthusiastic admirer of the new medium.
The image of the Queen became the symbol of the age that bears her name: she was the first sovereign to be photographed both in official portraits and in a variety of different moments of daily life.
The Queen understood the great potential of photography as a means of communication: she personally authorised the reproduction of her image in "carte de visite" format.
She had herself portrayed for many years, even after the death of Prince Albert, and her image had a spread in her empire and in the world.