The villas built by the Medici family in Florence
The villas of the Medici family are among the best examples of how a noble family in the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries could manage their own property and wanted to make it very nice and elegant.
UNESCO has declared 14 Medici villas as World Heritage Site and we suggest to go and visit the Medici villas open to the public with their immense and majestic gardens. For the Medici, the villas were not only a place of entertainment where they could spend moments of vacation, but also centers of fervent agricultural and commercial activities and places where administer their own power. The first Medici villas are the Villa Trebbio and Villa Cafaggiolo that are located in the Mugello and have the fortified appearance typical of the fourteenth century. The Villa Careggi and the Villa Fiesole are two villas built in the fifteenth century by the architect Michelozzo. The Villa Careggi was especially loved by Lorenzo Il Magnifico.
Among the Medici villas listed in UNESCO World Heritage sites there are also the Villa Castello and Villa Poggio a Caiano. The latter in particular was the first house to be designed as a dwelling place to spend free time, and therefore totally corresponding to the fifteenth century concept of 'villa'. Then we find Villa La Petraia, Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens, the Villa of Cerreto Guidi, the Palace in Seravezza in the province of Lucca, Villa Poggio Imperiale, the gardens of the Villa Pratolino - destroyed in 1820-, Villa La Magia and Villa Artimino.
Not part of the UNESCO list other important Medici villas like: Villa Marignolle, Villa di Collesalvetti in Livorno, Villa La Quiete, Villa Mezzomonte, Villa Agnano, Villa Camugliano and Villa Spedaletto in the province of Pisa, Villa Stabbia, Villa La Topaia, Villa Lappeggi, Villa l'Ambrosiana, Villa Liliano and Villa Montevettolini in Pistoia. On the next pages, we have the pleasure to describe some of the Medici villas in the province of Florence.
|
A selection of our most requested villas in the area:
Luxury villa sleeping 8 a few kilometres from Gambassi Terme, in the heart of Florence countryside. Garden, swimming pool, hydromassage, Internet connection. Tennis court, riding stable and golf club nearby. Possibility of organising horseback and mountain-bike rides in the neighbourhood.
More details
Villa for holidays on the hills of the Florentine countryside. Accommodation for 12+2 people, garden, private swimming pool, hydro massage, Internet connection.
More details
Villa with annexed cottage sleeping 6 in Valdisieve, near San Godenzo (Florence). Garden, barbecue, whirlpool swimming pool, air conditioning, Internet connection. A few kilometres from Lake Bilancino and the National Park of Casentino Forests.
More details
Small villa sleeping 6 near Reggello, in Valdisieve, just a few kilometres from Florence. Swimming pool, Internet connection, air conditioning. Cooking lessons, dinners and guided tours are organised upon request.
More details
|
|
|
