Guitar Notes and Garden Roots

Mia Boykin

November 26, 2024 — Villa Le Balze’s newest connection with the larger community of Florence is a friendship that bridges together music, nature, and community. In April of this year, locals were invited to join our students at the Villa for a concert in the gardens with Anthony Sidney, a well-known guitarist from the Florence area. Then, this fall, newly arrived students joined locals at the Orto Botanico di Firenze (Botanical Garden of Florence) to hear the calming tunes from Sidney’s guitar in another historic garden. 

The Musician

Anthony Sidney is no stranger to Italy. He has been in Florence since 1964 after his father moved the family to Europe shortly after Sidney was born in New York. Surrounded by the musical history of Florence, his love for music began to grow. 

“I’ve been playing the guitar ever since I was five years old. So the guitar and music have always been part of my life. And so the groups I was working with, performing with, and studying with when I was very young started in Florence,” Sidney said. 

He has a long history in music, from working for RCA, starting his own band, and recording albums, to hosting concerts in Italy at just 20 years old. He has performed for celebrities like painter Salvador Dali and went on tour with Ray Charles, highlighting his impressive skills with his guitar. But more recently, students at the Villa have been his main concertgoers. 

“I’ve been collaborating with Georgetown University now for some years… The director, Fulvio Orsitto, asked me many times to perform in one of his classes that he gives every year, I think about twice a year,” he said. 

The director of the Villa, Fulvio Orsitto, is dedicated to making students’ experiences more in tune with Florence, whether that’s in the classroom or through extra-curricular events. One of the ways he does this is through Italian Americans on Screen (FMST-2215), the course he teaches, and the course where the partnership with Sidney was truly solidified. 

“That’s where Anthony Sidney comes into play because what I often do since I screen one silent film, is ask him to join during the screening and provide us with a live musical accompaniment,” Orsitto said. The silent film accompaniment creates a more relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere for students, and Orsitto hopes the unique viewings are one of the special memories students bring home with them. 

The Concept

The partnership with the Orto Botanico began with a simple stroll. “It was a very particular occasion where I actually wanted to know if the garden had this particular tree that one of my guitars is made from. It’s called Jacaranda…it’s a very particular rosewood, very beautiful, and the sound is incredible,” Sidney said on his trip to the botanical gardens of Florence. 

The botanical garden is one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world, founded in 1545 by the Medici family. The primary purpose of the garden was to grow, study, and teach future doctors about medicinal plants, which is evident from the garden’s proper name Giardino dei Semplici (Garden of the Simples). Since medieval times semplici in a garden context has been used to refer to medicinal plants (from the Latin medicina simplex). When the University of Florence took over the garden’s maintenance in the late 19th century, the doors opened to the public, and the university began hosting events to build a connection between the community and nature. The botanical garden has become a necessary destination for locals and tourists alike, offering workshops, educational programs, art exhibits, and now concerts.

After speaking to a garden attendant, who recognized him, Sidney expressed the desire to do a concert, and the partnership was on its way. The idea for the event was simple, a concert series for the trees. Sidney loves nature, and most of his compositions are dedicated to a specific tree, a bee, or a flower, and attempt to bring the beauty of nature to music. The series would be titled, Poems from a Tree. 

“And when I spoke to Fulvio about my project, he was totally astonished. He looked at me, like when you talk about something that the other person feels deeply, you know, dedicating a concert to, to the trees…. He said ‘Oh, beautiful…we can do a concert here at Georgetown University dedicated to the trees,’” Sidney said. And the idea was complete.

Poems from a Tree

The final arrangement for the series would be two concerts, the first held in Villa Le Balze’s ilex grove and the second held at the Giardino dei Semplici. Unfortunately, the first concert in April was unusually cold. So cold in fact that Sidney had to perform his Poems from a Tree in a long corridor in the Villa. However, that didn’t stop him from bringing the energy of the outdoors inside. 

“[It was] one of those hallways that’s kind of arched, and it has incredible acoustics. The environment where I play is very important because, with the classical guitar, the sound that actually comes out from the guitar and then comes back from the environment, it was incredible,” Sidney said about playing inside the Villa. 

But luckily, the concert series wasn’t over after one attempt in chilly April. In September Villa students took a trip to the botanical garden where they got to experience Poems from a Tree in its intended fashion, outdoors. The early fall temperatures were the perfect weather to enjoy such a concert. 

The students were first given a tour of the gardens, highlighting the diverse array of flora kept by the University of Florence. One Villa student, Giuseppe Quatela (B’26), spoke of how the tour highlighted the necessity of a place like this for the community, a place to relax and enjoy the offerings of nature. And Sidney’s concert created the perfect environment to truly enjoy the surroundings. 

“I was able to look at the clouds and be like, ‘Oh, what is this?’ Like, ‘What do I feel right now?’… There’s a tree very close to me, but there’s also leaves in the distance and stuff like that. And the birds are flying through the trees and like, ‘Oh, does this melody kind of coincide with a bird?’” Quatela remarked on his experience with the concert. 

The botanical gardens provided the perfect backdrop for the message that Sidney wanted to relay: there’s a story, a song within the world around you. But Sidney’s musical prowess pushed Quatela to a different space as well, one of a deeper musical appreciation. This is not Quatela’s first encounter with classical composition. He credits his own musical background with the piano for drastically impacting his experience of the concert.

“My favorite part about classical music is that you can really let your mind roam and give yourself the freedom to interpret the artist or the composer in whatever way you want…. So I think that me having that knowledge and experience throughout my life and practicing that skill, I was able to understand what Mr. Sidney was trying to express when he meant Poems From A Tree”   

Giuseppe Quatela (B’26)

“My favorite part about classical music is that you can really let your mind roam and give yourself the freedom to interpret the artist or the composer in whatever way you want…. So I think that me having that knowledge and experience throughout my life and practicing that skill, I was able to understand what Mr. Sidney was trying to express when he meant Poems From A Tree,” he said.   

Quatela may be unique in this aspect because not every student at the Villa has a background in classical music, but it shows how deep Sidney’s music can strike a chord in one who understands the power behind a beat change, a rhythm switch up, or a light fade-out instead of a big bang to end the show. 

The collaboration between Villa Le Balze, Anthony Sidney, and the Orto Botanico shows just how deep Villa connections can go, bridging a generational and cultural divide to express a love for music. The concerts exemplify how cultural events can enrich communities and foster a deeper understanding of music, nature, and the relationship between them.

Want to know more about the Medici’s influence on Florence through projects like the Orto Botanico? Join us for our March study tour where participants will learn about the family’s impact the arts, culture, and economics of the city.