The Medici Villa of Castello
Florence's beauty extends to its nearby hills, its splendour further enhanced by lovely villas surrounded by gardens and parks. The villas of Castello and La Pietra stand on the lower slopes of Monte Morello and were built by the Medici family as places where they could spend periods of rest in peace and quiet and leave their exacting political duties behind them.
The garden at Villa di CastelloApart from the architectural beauty of the villas themselves, visitors can also enjoy their enchanting gardens, which are an architecture unto themselves, thanks to the creative genius of their designers, whose geometric arrangement of the driveways, flower beds, bushes and intricately cut box hedges, blend in perfectly with the buildings and complete their beauty.
The Fountain of the GrottaCosimo I, who was particularly fond of the Villa of Castello, because he spent his youth there, commissioned Tribolo to create a magnificent garden which Vasari described as being «the finest, most magnificent and ornate garden in Europe». Although greatly altered over the years, it is still a classic example of a typical Italian garden, decorated with rare plants and flowers, as well as by fountains and grottos encrusted with shells and stalactites.
Taken from"Firenze e le sue colline" di L.Artusi e V. Giannetti © 1997SEMPER EDITRICE FIRENZE
