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Farmhouses

From a debate conducted by the Accademia dei Georgofili in the 1700s the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo, took the decision to improve the conditions of the farm labourers life by having buildings constructed which contained both the stables with the work implements, and the living quarters. The project was created by the architect Bernardino della Porta who designed the prototype on two floors with a broached roof and dominated by a tower called the dovecote.
The houses built subsequent to the prototype were for the most part in the Siena and Arezzo areas and in the province of Firenze, and in perfect harmony with the surrounding countryside.
For two centuries they were inhabited by the farm worker's families, then around 1950 the exodus from the countryside caused the farmhouse to be abandoned.
For some years now this simple but functionary construction has been re-discovered by many citizens as a second home, or even, duly equipped, serving with unexpected success as hotel for farm holidays.

 

Picture by Sandro Santioli


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