The Villa di Montevettolini is a Medici villa in the comune of Monsummano Terme, Tuscany, central Italy.
Also called Monte Veturino, the villa was built after 1595 on commission of Grand Duke Ferdinand I of Tuscany. It is located on a high hill at the feet of Monte Albano, where a large hunting reserve (the so-called Parco Reale) was located. The architect was Gherardo Mechini, a pupil of Bernardo Buontalenti. He included some pre-existing structures from the medieval borough, such as a fortress and a stretch of walls, in the villa construction. The building was finished with the 1620s. The result was a villa with a severe and compact appearance and polygonal plan, which resembled a defensive fortress more than a patrician residence. It was used as administrative base for the Medici estates in the area.
The villa was depicted by Giusto Utens in a series of lunettes portraying the Medici villas. The building was frequently used by Ferdinand I; his grandson Ferdinand II sold it and its surrounding lands in 1650 to the Bartolomei family. In 1871 it was acquired by prince Marcantonio Borghese, who was also owner of the Villa Medici di Cafaggiolo. Borghese restored the villa. As of 2019, the Borghese family still owns the site.
Livorno is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn.
The Forte di Belvedere or Fortezza di Santa Maria in San Giorgio del Belvedere is a fortification in Florence, Italy.
Villa del Poggio Imperiale is a predominantly neoclassical former grand ducal villa in Arcetri, just to the south of Florence in Tuscany, Central Italy. Beginning as a villa of the Baroncelli of Florence, it was seized by the Medici, became the home of a Medici princess, and a lavish retreat for a Grand Duchess with imperial pretensions. Later given to Napoleon's sister, it was reclaimed by the hereditary rulers of Tuscany before being finally converted to a prestigious girls' school. During its long history, it has often been at the centre of Italy's turbulent history, and has been rebuilt and redesigned many times.
The Villa Medici is a Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and now property of the French State, has housed the French Academy in Rome since 1803. A musical evocation of its garden fountains features in Ottorino Respighi's Fountains of Rome.
Monsummano Terme is an comune located in the Province of Pistoia, Tuscany, central Italy. It is located in the Valdinievole, and is a popular spa resort.
Capannori is an Italian town and comune in the province of Lucca, in northern Tuscany.
The Villa Medici at Careggi is a patrician villa in the hills near Florence, Tuscany, central Italy.
Giusto Utens or Justus Utens was a Flemish painter who is remembered for the series of Medicean villas in lunette form that he painted for the third Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando I, in 1599–1602.
The Villa Medicea di Cafaggiolo is a villa situated near the Tuscan town of Barberino di Mugello in the valley of the River Sieve, some 25 kilometres north of Florence, central Italy. It was one of the oldest and most favoured of the Medici family estates, having been in the possession of the family since the 14th century, when it was owned by Averardo de' Medici. Averardo's son, Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, is considered to be the founder of the Medici dynasty.
The Villa di Pratolino was a Renaissance patrician villa in Vaglia, Tuscany, Italy. It was mostly demolished in 1822. Its remains are now part of the Villa Demidoff, 12 km north of Florence, reached from the main road to Bologna.
The Medici villas are a series of rural building complexes in Tuscany which were owned by members of the Medici family between the 15th century and the 17th century. The villas served several functions: they were the country palaces of the Medici, scattered over the territory that they ruled, demonstrating their power and wealth. They were also recreational resorts for the leisure and pleasure of their owners; and, more prosaically, they were the centre of agricultural activities on the surrounding estates. In 2013, the Medici villas were added to UNESCO's World Heritage list.
The Villa di Castello, near the hills bordering Florence, Tuscany, central Italy, was the country residence of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1519-1574). The gardens, filled with fountains, statuary, and a grotto, became famous throughout Europe. The villa also housed some of the great art treasures of Florence, including Sandro Botticelli's Renaissance masterpieces The Birth of Venus and Primavera. The gardens of the Villa had a profound influence upon the design of the Italian Renaissance garden and the later French formal garden.
The Villa del Trebbio is a Medici villa in San Piero a Sieve, Tuscany, Italy.
Villa La Petraia is one of the Medici villas in Castello, Florence, Tuscany, central Italy. It has a distinctive 19th-century belvedere on the upper east terrace on axis with the view of Florence.
The Casino Mediceo di San Marco is a late-Renaissance or Mannerist style palace located on Via Cavour number 57 and via San Gallo in Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy.
The Old Fortress of Livorno is a castle in Livorno, Italy. The Old Fortress is a successor building to a medieval fort built by the city of Pisa in the location of an older keep built by Countess Matilda of Tuscany in the 11th century. The 11th century tower was incorporated inside the fort built by the Pisans. The castle has been described as a "symbol of Medicean Livorno". The fort is located at the Medicean Darsena, or old dock of the port of Livorno, built by the Medici family. The ceremony proclaiming Livorno a city took place inside the fortress on 19 March 1606.
Museo di Firenze com'era was a history and archaeology museum, one of the civic museums of the city of Florence.
The Villa di Marignolle is a Medici villa in the hills between Galluzzo and Soffiano, in the south-western suburbs of the comune of Florence, in Tuscany in central Italy. It passed into the hands of the Medici family after the Pucci Conspiracy, when it was confiscated from Lorenzo di Piero Ridolfi by Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Francesco passed it to his illegitimate son Antonio.
The Medici Villa of Poggio a Caiano, also called Ambra, is one of the most famous Medici villas and is located in Poggio a Caiano (Prato). Today it is state owned and it houses two museums: one of the historic apartments and the Museum of Still Life.
The Walls of Grosseto, known also as Medicean Walls, are a series of defensive brick walls surrounding the city of Grosseto in southern Tuscany, Italy.