Villa le Balze

Villa le Balze

In Via Vecchia Fiesolana, known for its wonderful and picturesque panoramic views, you will find Villa Le Balze, another symbol of Fiesole.

Designed in 1912 by architects Cecil Pinsent and Geoffrey Scott in the neo-renaissance style, it was born from the desire of Charles Augustus Strong, an American philosopher, and psychologist who, in the early 20th century, decided to move to Fiesole with his daughter Margaret after the death of his wife Elizabeth Rockefeller. The mansion, in neo-Renaissance style, initially frequented by intellectuals and scholars who were Harvard colleagues of the owner, soon became a place for many members of Florence’s large Anglo-American community to meet and share knowledge.

In 1979, Margaret Strong Rockefeller, who had inherited the Fiesole villa, in order to honor her father’s desire to keep the villa a center of culture and scholarly encounter, decided to donate the villa to Georgetown University, with the aim of creating a study center dedicated to him, and today the site is, in fact, an exclusive university campus of the prestigious U.S. school.

The Villa’s charm also lies in its monumental garden. The entrance, divided into eight geometric flowerbeds, is called the orange garden. This is followed by the fountain garden where a pool is placed in the center of flowerbeds bordered by hedges. A path designed by rows of holm oaks leads into the shady wooded area overlooking the Mugnone valley. The two-flight stone staircase to the pergola above with rose garden conceals a Mannerist-style grotto with fountain and mosaics depicting portraits of philosophers in memory of the owner