Talk about patronage of the arts and the conversation will inevitably turn to the Renaissance. When the period was at its most artistically fertile, noble families – usually based in Florence, like the Medicis – would pay artists to create work, often putting them up in their city palazzos or countryside villas to do so. That tradition still exists today, though admittedly it looks a little different. There are still benefactors populating Tuscany with artists, but now, many are hosted in luxury hotels, where they are given time and space to create work. Among such benefactors is hotel Monteverdi, which is now opening a gallery space designed by London’s Foster+Partners to exhibit the work of artists who have held residencies at the property over the past several years.
