The Italian Language

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Aristocrats

If in Florence you cross Ponte Alle Grazie on your way to the Oltrarno and turn to your left along the Lungarno, you will soon come to a piazza where, among trees and benches, you will see a sculptural group by Lorenzo Bartolini sheltered by what might seem to be a bandstand. If you consult your map or are lucky enough to find a road sign, you will notice you are on Piazza Demidoff. Approach the sculptures and you will see it is a monument to a certain Count Nicholas Demidoff, created by order of his son Anatole. You will also notice that their names are not in Russian, but in Italian: Nicola and Anatolio Demidoff. If you are intrigued and curious, you will soon learn there are in and around Florence other traces of this family, so unflorentine you might wonder why Florence has decided to pay them homage: Via della Villa Demidoff, the Parco della Villa Demidoff and several bars and cafés which glory in the name Demidoff. Who were these Demidoffs and why did they come to Florence?

The Demidov or, in a phonetic transliteration of the original Russian Демидов, Demidoff, (with the stress on the second syllable and not on the last, as you will hear in Florence) the second richest family in Russia after the Imperial family, became wealthy through the manufacture of iron and, later, of gold. The Demidoff foundries supplied iron for, among others buildings, the Houses of Parliament, in Westminster, England. Besides being great industrialists, they were great patrons of the arts and sciences in Russia, France and Italy.

Their ancestor, Demid Antoufyev (1624-1664), was originally a blacksmith from Tula. His son Nikita (1656-1725) was raised to the nobility by Peter the Great.

Nikita Demidovich’s descendant, Pavel Grigoryevich (1738-1821), travelled extensively and became a benefactor of Russian education, arts and science. In 1755 he founded the Mineral Museum in Moscow (now renamed Vernadsky Geological Museum or Earth History Museum); in 1803 he founded the Yaroslavl Lyceum (now the Yaroslavl Demidov State University). In 1805 he founded the Demidov Institute of Science in St. Petersburg. He also founded a University in Tobolsk and Botanic Gardens in Moscow (Neskuchny Gardens) as well as establishing a chair at Moscow University. The most remarkable member of the family was Count Nicholas Nikitich (1773-1828), who after distinguishing himself in the war against the Turks, funded and commanded a regiment that fought against Napoleon. After the fall of the latter, he took part in a subsequent war against the Turks. His military career over, he entered the diplomatic service, being posted at first to Paris then subsequently to Florence as Tsar Alexander I's ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. He at first lived in Palazzo Serristori, but eventually bought some land in Polverone, near Florence, where he began to construct the Villa di San Donato. Apparently he was given the title of Count of San Donato by the Grand Duke, but I have not been able to confirm this.
		Anatoly Nikolaevich Demidov (1831), by Karl Brulloff, Palazzo Pitti, Galleria Palatina, Florence

In Russia itself, he made donations towards the Mineral Museum besides giving to the University of Moscow a large collection of art.

Nicholas's younger son Anatole Nikolayevich (1812-1870), a great traveller like his father, lived (and, according to some sources, was born) in Florence for long periods, though his main place of residence was Paris. He supervised and finished the construction of the Villa San Donato, having his art collection installed there. In 1840 it was decided he should marry Jerôme Bonaparte's daughter (Napoleon's niece), Mathilde of Monfort (1820-1904) (see Political figures). As he was only a count and she was a princess, a condition which was seen as an impediment to the marriage, the Grand-Duke of Tuscany, to solve the problem, had Anatole created Prince of San Donato. He was the patron of several institutions and was member of the Paris Academy of Science. He had large art collections in Paris and in Florence (the Villa San Donato being partly designed to serve as an art gallery). He founded the Demidov literary prize, given by the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, besides contributing to various other institutions.

One of the surviving frescoes at the Villa Demidoff di San Doanto

Anatole and his brother Paul oversaw the construction of the sculptural group to the memory of Count Nicholas which was originally planned for the Villa Demidoff di San Donato, but was eventually placed in the appropriately named Piazza Demidoff, in Florence.

Anatole died not in Florence, however, but in Paris. There is in the Père Lachaise cemetery, in Paris, a Demidov family tomb, where I believe him to be buried, though I have not been able to verify this. The Villa Demidoff of San Donato was eventually sold by Pavel Pavlovich (1839-1885), the son of Anatole's elder brother, Paul Nikolayevich (1798-1840), who bought instead one of the Medici Villas, the Villa di Pratolino (now known as Villa Demidoff). The villa and most of its remarkable waterworks had however already been destroyed prior to the purchase, only the park remaining, the most remarkable feature being Giambologna’s statue of the Apennine. Pavel also bought the villa that had been used by Napoleon in the Island of Elba, which is now known as Villa Dermidoff of San Martino. Another monument to the Demidoff family’s philanthropy is the Florentine Russian Orthodox Church (see Architecture), whose fairy-tale onion domes seem so out of place in an Italian town. The church, built for the large Russian community then living in Florence, is located on a street that pays homage to a Medici pope: Via Leone X.  Nicholas Nikitich, Anatole Nikolayevich and Pavel Pavlovich were among the main contributors to its construction.
		The Apennine, by Giambologna (1580)

I do not know if there are nowadays any descendants of the Demidoffs. The only one I know of perhaps never existed beyond the imagination of the novelist Boris Pasternak, who has one of Doctor Zhivago’s minor characters, Anfim Efimovich Samdevyatov, claim descent from the Princes of San Donato and has us believe the surname Samdevyatov derives from Nicholas’ Italian title. Otherwise I can only add that my lovely Russian wife is a graduate from the Demidov University founded in Yaroslavl in 1803 by Pavel Grigoryevich, but this is no longer family we speak about.