The Bagno a Ripoli villa and gardens itinerary begins at the northern part of the city, near the banks of the Arno. It is here that one encounters, in Candeli, the Villa La Massa, now a luxury hotel. The beauty of the external areas of the villa lies mainly in its strategic position overlooking the curves of the Arno below. Lawns shaded by large trees and graveled areas beautified with flowers in clay pots surround the picturesque villa.
Villa La Massa: Via della Massa, 24
Tours by appointment - 055.626.11 - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Leaving Via della Massa and crossing the Strada Provinciale #34, we will now take Via Molino di Villamagna. After just a few hundred meters we find the magnificent and imposing entrance gate of Villa la Tana. Beyond the gate you will notice driveway lined by plants and further down a double staircase that leads to the villa. Here one also will see a nymphaeum decorated with sponges and shells. Behind the villa rests a garden made up of geometric parterres, fountains and an aviary.
Villa La Tana: Via Molino di Villamagna

To the east of the Villa La Tana, heading in the direction of the San Donnino a Villamagna Parish, we find Villa Il Poggio with its imposing formal garden. The long cypress lined Via del Belforte leads to the villa.
Villa il Poggio: Via di Belforte

We will now leave the northeast area of Bagno a Ripoli heading towards Ponte a Ema along Via del Carota, where we will find Villa La Selva. The villa has a large, scenic circular front yard divided by flowerbeds bordered by evergreen plants. Another formal, although smaller and more intimate, garden can be found to the east of the villa. This garden is made up of four square flowerbeds. A dense forest completes the property to the front of the villa. Tall, geometrically pruned evergreen hedges mark many of the property's boarder lines, and also serve as the fence of the access road. The presence of a large and isolated specimen of a domestic pine is also not to be missed.
Villa La Selva: Via del Carota, 32

After passing the Via Roma intersection heading in the direction of the Osteria Nuova we will arrive at a left hand turn, marked by a touristic sign, that leads to the Antico Spedale del Bigallo. Once arrived further into the city center, along the Via Ubaldino Peruzzi, we will find the historic garden of Villa Peruzzi.
Between Antella and Grassina lies Villa di Lilliano, home to a garden of geometric flowerbeds bordered by woodland plants and antique lemon trees (some of then are over 300 years old!) in terracotta pots. Other important decorative elements help intensify the beauty of the location even further, such as a nymphaeum, fountain (analogous to one found in the Boboli gardens) and a lemon grove. Of particular interest is an antique sequoia in the courtyard, adjacent to the monumental terrace commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Maria de' Medici. As evidence to the buildings original function as a simple farmhouse near the Villa Reale di Lappeggi, the basement of Villa Liliano is home to an impressive olive oil storage room.
Villa di Lilliano: Via di Lilliano e Meoli - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Further to the south we come across the Villa di Mondeggi, characterized by its formal garden on the southwest side of the building, and by a grand park to the west. The park, recently restored, is equipped with its own internal signs to aid in the understanding of the history and the environment. This villa also enjoys a beautiful panoramic view characterized by olive groves and vineyards.
Villa di Mondeggi: Via di Mondeggi

Leaving Mondeggi and heading along the Via di Tizzano towards San Polo we find the majestic Villa di Tizzano in its dominating position between the cities of Greve and Bagno a Ripoli. Cited for the first time in a document dating to 985 AC, this building was first a Lombard gardino (watch tower). It later became a castle for the noble Alamanni family, and then the casa da signore of the Scolari family. In the 15th century, after having come into the possession of the Pitti family of Florence, the building was transformed into a villa and was beautified with an ample terraced garden. In the 19th century the villa became the property of the Pandolfini Counts, who to this day still own the building. Tours can be arranged by appointment.
Villa di Tizzano. Via di Castel Ruggero 75

By following the walls of the Villa Tizzano along Via di Castel Ruggero, the Villa Fattoria di Castel Ruggero can be reached. It is an imposing building that was constructed over the ruins of a small Roman village. In the middle ages the building would have appeared as a severe castle, of which traces can still be detected in the crenellated tower. Enlarged and enriched by the famous Alamanni family, the farmhouse also includes an Italian-style garden and a unique tomato collection made up of over 300 varieties, in addition to other rare plants and vegetables. This clearly points to the agricultural vocation of the complex.
Villa Fattoria di Castel Ruggero, via di Castel Ruggero 33

Retracing our steps, moving now to Fattucchia, just to the west of Grassina, we come across the Villa Il Riposo and the Fonte della Fata Morgana. Just as with other villas in the area, we find here a park and formal garden consisting in geometric spaces bordered by boxwood hedges and potted citrus trees. The villa also includes an orchard from which a beautiful panoramic view can be enjoyed.
The most decorative part of the complex is undoubtedly the Fonte della Fata Morgana. The nymphaeum has been given important ornamental elements (namely the Fata Morgana statue by Giambologna), which combined with the beauty of the surrounding landscape presents quite a charming composition for the viewer.
Villa Il Riposo: Via delle Fonti

VILLA LA TANA


Villa la Tana is an imposing 18th building planned by architect Giovan Battista Foggini for an already existent building noted in the 16th century for being the residence of Bianca Cappello, lover and then wife of the Grand Duke Francesco I de' Medici.
Property of the Bucelli family in the early 15th century, when it was a modest and turreted house, the villa was renamed "la Tana" (or burrow) due to its reduced dimensions.
The driveway, flanked by cypress trees, leads back to the original 15th century turreted villa, which now appears completely transformed thanks to an imposing 18th century remodeling that changed the previous scenographic qualities of the villa.
Inside the villa the first floor was eliminated to leave space for a single hall surrounded by galleries and further enriched with great seascape views commissioned to Antonio Carocci (1722). The façade on the other hand was where the attic was built, decorated with stone vases and great clock.
A large and predominately unchanged garden, with its geometric flower beds home to irises and azaleas, rests behind the villa. The organization of the external spaces in front of the villa results particularly interesting. The presence, in fact, of the large entry driveway and grand staircase, dived into two ramps, is a design formula that will be repeated numerous times over the course of the 18th century in suburban residences.
A small nymphaeum, serving as the scenic termination of the visual axis created by the tree-lined driveway, is another interested example of the external decoration of the villa.
A rectangular grotto can also be found, preceded by an ample curvilinear basin. The basin is as wide as the two-ramped staircase and was created with the intent completing the visual panorama of the majestic villa. The grotto is framed by a rounded arch supported by two circular columns, further embellished by decorative sponges and shells. A rectangular pattern is also formed on every pilaster in which a more intensified use of fragments of various materials - ceramic tiles, shells, and sponges - can be seen. A typical Florentine cameo has also been placed at the center of the decorations. The pomp and magnificence given to the materials, with their varied colors and geometric designs, enriched and enlivened by the presence of jets and reflections of water, certainly helped contribute to the theatrical aspect of the entire architectural scheme.


FONTE DELLA FATA MORGANA


At the foot of the lush hills of Fattucchia, overlooking the town of Grassina, we find the Fonte della Fata Morgana, or Fata Morgana's Spring, also known as the Casina delle Fate. It was built in the second half of the 16th century by Bernardo Vecchietti within the grounds of the Il Riposo villa, the summer residence of the Vecchietti family and home to a rich collection of art.
The fountain is the work, according to several sources, of the Flemish artist Giambologna. It represents a unique example of garden architecture, as it is halfway between a nymphaeum and a grotto.
After extensive restoration, the structure now appears in all its beauty. Immersed in the countryside between farmhouses it stands out for its fake pink plaster bricks, in stark contrast with the white limestone ornamentation that frame the doors and windows. Along the longest side of the structure the following words were inscribed in the central niche:
Io son quella, o lettor, fata Morgana/che giovin qui ringioveniva altrui
Qui dal Vecchietto, poiché vecchia io fui/ringiovenita colla sua Fontana
I am, oh reader, Fata Morgana/ as I have found youth here, so shall others
Here with the old man, just as I was once old/ young I am now thanks to this fountain
On the far right side different types of water troughs can be identified, along with washing basins recognizable thanks to their sloped edges. Upon entering the first room we find a niche shaped fountain, which once contained the marble statue of the Fairy, perhaps the work of Giambologna. The mosaic pavement made up by black and white pebbles, and on which the words "Fata Morgana" can be read over the threshold, is also quite interesting.
This mysterious and magical place, along with the fame of Morgana, the seductive sorceress and healer of King Arthur, has inspired over the centuries numerous legends regarding this 16th century nymphaeum, such as tales of bacchanalian parties and summer nights, and especially stories of beautiful women, nymphs and fairies who disappear as mysteriously as they appeared. Still today many believe that the fountain's waters hold rejuvenating properties.


VILLA MONDEGGI


Villa Mondeggi was part of a large farm that stretched over 196 hectares between the cities of Bagno a Ripoli, Greve and Figline Valdarno, and included a manor house, chapel and garden complete with the old gardener's house.
The name Mondeggi was probably taken from the toponym of Monteggi, which refers to the topography of the area, characterized by the presence of small mountains and hills.
The Villa Mondeggi's holdings were first mentioned in documents from the Badia di San Casciano Montescalari monks. Numerous gardens, some of them hanging, encircle the building and are further enhanced by basins fed by jets of water sourced from the Medici Villa Lappeggi cistern.
The many fountains that populate the garden can still be enjoyed today. In fact several types of water-based elements, which use several different sources, can be found. The fountains predominantly feature circular basins, small in size, and are typically completed by some sort of central sculptural element from which jets of water shoot out.
The first basin one encounters, located to the right of the Villa, is located in front of the Oratory (18th century). The fountain includes, in addition to the central jet of water, additional nozzles that have been positioned around the perimeter of the circular basin as to create a circumference of water that envelopes the entire sculpture to then explode into many jets of water.


THE MEDICI LAPPEGGI VILLA


Before the Lappeggi villa was built, in the same location rested a turreted building belonging to the Ricasoli family (among others). In 1569 Francesco de' Medici, the son of Cosimo I, bought the property and made it his home. When Francesco became the Grand Duke of Tuscany he commissioned an extensive refurbishment of the Villa, which was entrusted to Buontalenti. The Villa's loggia (according to a Lunette by Flemish painter Giusto Utens, now kept in the Museum of Florence) was closed by two tiers and opened out to an external southern-facing courtyard enclosed by a crenellated wall. Close by were the garden and the vast fields of the farm. In 1667 the house was given to the Cardinal Francesco Maria, the younger brother of the Grand Duke Cosimo III. The Cardinal commissioned architect Antonio Maria Ferri to radically transform the building by constructing an additional floor, replacing the upper gallery with a terrace, and by adding a double stairway. Stables, greenhouses, a theater, a chapel, a Kaffeehaus and a recreation room for ball games were also added.
Lappeggi was essentially transformed into a small court outside of the city. There are stories of great pools in which fish were bred to be served fresh at the Medici dinner tables, of grand boulevards in front of the basins along which five hundred lemon trees grew, of the hunting lodge in the oak forest behind the villa used by the nobles during the excursions for thrush hunting.
The interior spaces of the Cardinal's apartments were decorated "a freso", starting from 1703, by painters Pier Dandini, Rinaldo Botti and Alessandro Gherardini, who were able to create a surprisingly beautiful and high-quality pictorial cycle that celebrated the splendor of the Medici court. Among the most famous visitors to the Villa we can count, in 1709, King Frederick IV of Denmark.
The sudden death of Francesco Maria de' Medici in 1710 marked the end of the period of carefree splendor of the Villa Lappeggi, subsequently left abandoned. In 1814 it was put to auction and purchased by Captian Cambiagi, who had the upper floor torn down in order to consolidate the remaining floors and the park annexed to the farms.
In 1876 the sculptor Giovanni Dupré purchased the Villa, but in 1895 it was gravely damaged by an earthquake. Restored in recent years, the Villa is now in good condition.

The Medici Lappeggi Villa
Before the Lappeggi villa was built, in the same location rested a turreted building belonging to the Ricasoli family (among others). In 1569 Francesco de' Medici, the son of Cosimo I, bought the property and made it his home. When Francesco became the Grand Duke of Tuscany he commissioned an extensive refurbishment of the Villa, which was entrusted to Buontalenti. The Villa's loggia (according to a Lunette by Flemish painter Giusto Utens, now kept in the Museum of Florence) was closed by two tiers and opened out to an external southern-facing courtyard enclosed by a crenellated wall. Close by were the garden and the vast fields of the farm. In 1667 the house was given to the Cardinal Francesco Maria, the younger brother of the Grand Duke Cosimo III. The Cardinal commissioned architect Antonio Maria Ferri to radically transform the building by constructing an additional floor, replacing the upper gallery with a terrace, and by adding a double stairway. Stables, greenhouses, a theater, a chapel, a Kaffeehaus and a recreation room for ball games were also added.
Lappeggi was essentially transformed into a small court outside of the city. There are stories of great pools in which fish were bred to be served fresh at the Medici dinner tables, of grand boulevards in front of the basins along which five hundred lemon trees grew, of the hunting lodge in the oak forest behind the villa used by the nobles during the excursions for thrush hunting.
The interior spaces of the Cardinal's apartments were decorated "a freso", starting from 1703, by painters Pier Dandini, Rinaldo Botti and Alessandro Gherardini, who were able to create a surprisingly beautiful and high-quality pictorial cycle that celebrated the splendor of the Medici court. Among the most famous visitors to the Villa we can count, in 1709, King Frederick IV of Denmark.
The sudden death of Francesco Maria de' Medici in 1710 marked the end of the period of carefree splendor of the Villa Lappeggi, subsequently left abandoned. In 1814 it was put to auction and purchased by Captian Cambiagi, who had the upper floor torn down in order to consolidate the remaining floors and the park annexed to the farms.
In 1876 the sculptor Giovanni Dupré purchased the Villa, but in 1895 it was gravely damaged by an earthquake. Restored in recent years, the Villa is now in good condition.