Villa Schifanoia
There is a legend that this was the famous villa where a company of young people sought refuge against the terrible plague that struck Florence in 1300, and that theirs were the stories that became Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron. The original fifteenth Century part of the villa belonged to the Cresci family up till the mid 1500s after which it had a succession of owners who transformed it and made additions to it. The famous French author Alexandre Dumas lived here for a time writing a book about the villa. In 1927 ownership passed into the hands of Myron C. Taylor, U.S. ambassador to the Holy See who completely renovated the villa to house his collection of works of art. Making use of the characteristics of the landscape, he created vast classic gardens on three terraces built on different levels, enriching them with fountains, statues, basins and sundials still in working order, and other embellishments. The villa was subsequently donated to Pope Pius XII and it remained in the hands of the church for some time during which it was used as a college for young Americans studying in Florence. It has been Italian state property since 1996 and as such is presently used by the European University Institute.
Villa Le Balze
This villa stands almost right in front of Villa Medici and it was built between 1911 and 1913. It was designed by Cecil Pinsent and Geoffrey Scott for Charles Augustus Strong, a wealthy American philosophy enthusiast who lived there till his death in 1939. The building was erected on a slope called the Balze di Macciò. Work on the garden began in 1914 and was conducted by Pinsent alone from 1917.
The garden of The Balze has a wealth of decoration with mosaics, statues and stuccos all created by Pinsent. In 1979, in accordance with Strong's last wishes that the villa should remain a centre of culture his daughter Marchioness Margaret Rockefeller de Cuevas de Lorain gifted the villa to Georgetown University which accommodates its students there during their study semesters in Italy.
Villa Nieuwenkamp
«Bishop's rest»
The villa, built over a pre-existing country house that belonged to the Badia Fiesolana, was transformed into a stately home in the 19th Century. The name "Bishop's Rest" comes from the pause that the bishops would take on the climb up to Fiesole. In 1926 it became the home of the Dutch painter, engraver and architect Wijnand Otto Jan Nieuwenkamp who became closely associated with this place. After travelling extensively in the Dutch Indies and done wanderings in Italy W.O.I.N. (the way he signed all his drawings) was won over by the climate and landscape and chose Fiesole to build what he called the Villa on the Hill. He spent twenty-five years attending personally to decorating the villa, also enlarging the park in an eclectic imaginative fashion. He produced two works on the subject, the first of which was illustrated with photographs and the second by splendid drawings of his own. The garden is a verdant scenario with a decadent allure where the original layout and ancient splendour can still be seen. Fountains, statues and marble furniture are to be found all over the garden just as this versatile artist planned and realised. There are many objects and statues from the Orient which Nieuwenkamp collected during his travels – a bronze gong, a statue of Buddha, as well as large terracotta basins and oil jars from Impruneta.
Castel di Poggio
This building was constructed in the late 1800s in neo-Medieval style in accordance with the fashion of the time and is an ideal reconstruction of the original, presumably thirteenth Century castle built on the very top of the hill – hence its name – from which the Del Manzecca family would sally forth to raid Florence. It was razed to the ground by the Signoria of Florence in 1348. The remains of the castle were purchased by the Alessandris in the second half of the fifteenth Century and Niccolaio had the whole construction rebuilt with its characteristic crenellated wall, the tall, imposing tower, the stately home and the chapel. Ownership changed over the centuries and renovation projects were embarked on that gave it the look of a proper fortress. The castle has an internal courtyard sown with grass and kept shaded by ilexes and cypress trees while in addition to olives and meadows, the surroundings are rich in ilexes, oak and chestnut.
Vincigliata castle
The origins of the castle are very old – indeed it is first mentioned in 1031. For no fewer than 800 years the castle was sold, or lost at cards among the most important families in Florence until its almost total destruction. In 1840, its ruins caught the attention of a young English peer, John Temple Leader who, strolling through the hills of Fiesole, came across this picturesque pile of ruins which so fascinated him that he resolved to buy it and in twelve years he rebuilt it in the Gothic revival style. Renovation not limited to the building but also the grounds; the slopes of the hill were replanted with rich undergrowth and plants that would flourish in stony ground. Temple Leader's great merit was that he gave character to the landscape, replanting it with cypresses, pines and ilexes romantically sited in the more visible areas. He purchased the old Column quarry, so called because its stone was used to fashion the pillars in the Cappella dei Principi in San Lorenzo, transforming this natural basin into a small lake-pond. Legend has it that the castle has secret passages, traps, mysterious chambers and other devilry which romantic imagination had attributed to the Middle Ages. Of all the stories imprisoned within these walls, Temple Leader loved the legend of Bianca, the White Lady, a beautiful young maiden wooed by many men but in love with the son of her family's sworn enemy. Despite this, their love seemed set to conquer all until their wedding day when Bianca's brothers slaughtered the future bridegroom on his way to marry his beloved. Still in here wedding gown, Bianca died of a broken heart and from that day on, her spirit flits within the castle walls protecting love of all kinds, especially the most difficult.
Villa Montececeri
The property stands on the slopes of Montececeri where, according to archive documents, Leonardo da Vinci possessed an olive grove and where he made his first attempts at manned flight. This is a private park which is entirely closed off by a high wall enclosing 16 hectares. The large wood of pines, cypresses, oaks ilexes, mulberries, juniper, wild orchids, cyclamens, anemones, and musk rose live in harmony with porcupines, foxes, tortoises, hedgehogs, squirrels and badgers. The arable land comprises a small farm that produces olive oil and wine. In the 1950s the architect Pier Niccolò Belardi planned the layout of an English garden and the pool carved from the living rock. The villa was built in the early nineteenth Century while the other farm buildings date to the 14th Century.
Villa Medici or Belcanto
This is one of the oldest villas that the Medici family owned. It is the best conserved of them all and the least known.
It was built by Cosimo the Elder in the place of a dwelling. According to Giorgio Vasari, Cosimo's son Giovanni had it rebuilt in 1450 by the family architect Michelozzo. Recent studies tend to rule this out, however, and attribute the design to Leon Battista Alberti.
According to the town register, the villa was built between 1451 and 1457, and is a typical early Renaissance building with windows framed in pietra serena and a large loggia with a panoramic view. This villa is very different from earlier Medici ones. It no longer has a defence-military purpose so there are no towers, no raised walkways or moats. The loggias are a clear indication of openness towards the outside compared to the closed fortifications that defence would have required. The influence of Giovanni Medici can be seen in the marked reduction of the villa's agricultural and productive capacity in favour of total orientation towards the kind of leisure activities that would stimulate the intellect. Indeed it was the first country residence to have a garden instead of a farm. Lorenzo il Magnifico became owner in 1469 and he spent much time here in the company of poets and men of letters of the Neo-Platonist academy such as Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola and Agnolo Poliziano.
Villa di Maiano
The villa and garden in its position overlooking Florence is part of the old complex of the Maiano Farm situated on the slopes of Monte Ceceri, famous for its quarries of pietra serena used by great artists of the Florentine Renaissance. The original "palagio (or palace) of Maiano" was destroyed in 1467 by a storm so violent that the then proprietor Bartolomeo degli Alessandri had to sell the whole complex with its large farm to pay off his debts. Ownership passed into the hands of the Counts of Santa Fiora, and then to the Buonagrazias, the Pazzis (the future saint Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi was born here) and, in the 18th Century, to the Gucci Tolomeis. In 1850 it became part of the possessions of John Temple Leader who purchased it as seen, with everything it contained. This eclectic English politician made the villa his home and the hub of his business affairs, commencing the work of overall restoration of the area which culminated in the neo-gothic reconstruction of the nearby Castello di Vincigliata. The transformation also involved the garden and the famous surrounding hills. A skilful landscaping initiative wooded vast areas with cypresses, ilexes and oaks while more olives and vines were planted on flatter ground. The villa has welcomed many illustrious guests such Queen Victoria who made some sketches of the lake in 1893 for her scrapbook. In more recent times the villa has been used as a set for films like "Room with a View" by James Ivory and Franco Zeffirelli's "Tea with Mussolini".
Today the villa is the headquarters of the "Fattoria di Maiano (Maiano Farm)".
Villa Peyron
in Fontelucente Wood
The villa, the formal garden and the vast park have a splendid location and enjoy a spectacular view over Florence. The place takes its name from a sixteenth Century spring that flows in a thick wood uphill from the villa and which by gravity supplies the water necessary to work the many fountains in the garden and park. It is likely that the villa itself was built on top of Etruscan ruins, traces of which can be seen in the underground chambers and the immediate surroundings for example in the cyclopean walls which rise in the park. It was however subjected to a series of renovations and transformations before architect Giovannozzi gave it its present day look in the early twentieth Century. The garden is built on three terraces that slope southwards and has a wooded parterre parallel to the villa. Paolo Peyron was the creator of the lake and the architectural and monumental structure above it. The prestigious statues that decorate the garden in the place of those which were destroyed during World War II come from the Venetian villas of the Brenta.
© 2011 Comune di Fiesole — Via Portigiani, 3 — Fiesole (FI) // design by kidstudio — firenze
