The American Consulate General in Florence, Italy

The United States Consulate General in Florence, Italy provides U.S. consular representation and services within a district comprising the Republic of San Marino and the Italian regions of Emilia Romagna and Tuscany. The Consul General is also the U.S. representative to the Republic of San Marino. The Consulate processes and adjudicates non-immigrant visa applications from residents of San Marino and eight regions of Italy (Tuscany, Emilia Romagna, Umbria, Le Marche, Liguria, Veneto, Friuli, and Alto Adige).

In addition, the Consulate's commercial section is responsible for promoting American business across 17 economic sectors throughout Italy and the Republic of San Marino. The Consulate's cultural and educational outreach activities showcase American performing and plastic arts; promote contacts and exchanges between U.S. and Italian academic and political worlds; and otherwise seek to convey the most accurate possible understanding of American society and politics.

America's consular presence in Florence dates from 1819.

Location

All offices of the American Consulate General in Florence are located in historic Palazzo Canevaro, located at Lungarno Amerigo Vespucci 38.

It was purchased for the U.S. Government on December 30, 1947, by Consul Walter W. Orebaugh.

Architectural and Social History

Chronologically, Palazzo Canevaro is the last of a series of residential palaces in Florence. The Marquis Manfredi Calcagnini Estense, a nobleman from Ferrara, decided to relocate to Florence in 1857 and bought from the City of Florence a beautiful trapezoidal area situated near the Cascine Park. Calcagnini commissioned the famous architect Giuseppe Poggi to build a residence suited to the needs of his family.

Poggi was at that time Florence's most famous architect and city planner; it was he who conceived a plan for the enlargement and embellishment of Florence, which was then the national capital (1864-70). Although his plan was not fully implemented, his Neo-Renaissance ideas are evident in the beautiful Viale dei Colli, the street leading up to Piazzale Michelangelo.

The architect had to overcome various difficulties -- some of them recalled in his "memoirs" -- the most important of these being the requirement that he stay within the perimeter of the surrounding streets. The plan of the so-called "piano nobile" shows original ideas in the arrangement of the large reception area, while the interior reveals the great care taken to form a harmonious whole with the beautiful great staircase, the carved doors and the rich decor in frescos. The ballroom is outstanding, decorated with delicate frescos and unique doors called "a vista," meaning "built with carved wood and with large transparent plate glasses."

This floor also contains several additional sitting rooms containing various decorations in colored and golden frescos, which might have been done by the famous Augusto Burchi. In addition, there are two large rooms with 19th Century decorations on the ceilings. Some coats of arms indicate that part of these decorations may date back to the style of the period of Poggi and Calcagnini; others seem to be from a later period and are rather eclectical, probably added by later owners.

Calcagnini kept the palace for just a few years, selling it to another "foreigner," Count Francesco Arese from Milan, Senator of the Kingdom of Italy and Knight of the Santissima Annunziata, known as a friend of Napoleon III and active part in the Italian "Risorgimento."

During the period when Florence was the capital of Italy (1865-1871), the building served as the French Embassy.

At the beginning of 1900, Giuseppe Canevaro, Duke of Zoagli, bought the building and took up residence there with his wife. She was a descendant of two famous families: her father was the Honorable Giovan Carlo, firstborn of that ancient family and the direct descendant of the Cosimo de Medici. Her mother, Caterina Ricasoli, was the niece of Baron Bettino Ricasoli. Canevaro later married Dianora Guicciardini. In the period between the two wars, Palazzo Canevaro was a center of Florentine society and on innumerable occasions opened its doors to important Italian and foreign dignitaries.

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