The Medici Villa Cafaggiolo
The Medici Villa Cafaggiolo is located in San Piero a Sieve in the Mugello near Florence. The Medici were particularly attached to this villa as it is located on the road from Florence to Bologna.
Cosimo il Vecchio asked to Michelozzo to rebuild the villa in the middle of the fifteenth century. The villa in fact still has the appearance of a castle and represents very well the triple function that these properties had at that time: the defensive function given its strategic location between Florence and Bologna, the economic function given its centrality in an area of thirty one agricultural farms and the function of leisure and rest for the family. Lorenzo de 'Medici loved to come to this house during the summer and hosting important people such as Pico della Mirandola, Marsilio Ficino and Agnolo Poliziano. The latter, being the guardian of the children of Lorenzo the Magnificent, educated to the humanities also the future Pope Leo X.
At the end of the fifteenth century, the villa became home to one of the most important ceramics workshops of the Renaissance. The activity lasted two centuries and produced works of great value, but at the beginning of the seventeenth century ended altogether for reasons that are still mysterious. The villa is also remembered for "La Nencia da Barberino" a poem written by Lorenzo de 'Medici between the walls of this building, and closely linked to rural life.
The villa, finally, is also famous for the brutal murder of Eleanor of Toledo in 1576 at the hands of her husband, the violent Don Pietro de' Medici.
In 1864 the property was sold to the Borghese family, who brought it to large structural changes.
Today the villa is privately owned, but open to visitors.
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A selection of our most requested villas in the area:
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