Terra di Toscana www.terraditoscana.com

The way we were

Toscana is rich with Villas which for the most part were constructed between 1400 and the end of the 1800s. They are mostly concentrated in three zones: surrounding Firenze, and in the Lucca and Siena areas. It does not need to be said that the most beautiful of these were constructed by the Medici family.
The Villa is a genteel and comfortable construction, fairly close to the city, which substituted the Spartan Medieval castles; here the gentlefolk not only rested in the idleness of the countryside, but amused themselves hunting in the surrounding parks and playing host to friends and men of culture, whom they entertained with learned conversation. An essential element of any Villa was the garden, where ingenious architects organised plants, fountains and wonderful water games, sadly for the most part now lost.
Today many antique Villas and their parks have been restored and it is possible to visit them.

 

Illustration by Olga Bruno


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