Italian villa for weddings in Florence, hotel accommodation in Tuscany

Wedding in Florence
Weddings in Italy > Wedding Locations > Wedding in Florence > Villas in Florence > Charming Villa On The Hills Above Florence



CHARMING VILLA ON THE HILLS ABOVE FLORENCE

Beautiful wedding setting and wonderful hotel accommodations in Tuscany



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The historic Villa has a beautiful setting and wonderful accommodations in the hills above the northern Arno Valley near the Vallombrosa forests. A monastery in the 13th century and later an elegant villa, this graceful building has a lovely, important arboretum with many unusual trees and plants and a nature trail in its over 1000 acres of parkland.



On 3rd July 1039 the Abbess Itta of the convent of S. Ellero donated the land in Vallombrosa to S. Giovanni Gualberto but to maintain them had to add a farm with vegetable garden and vines here. In the two subsequent centuries, following various purchases and donations, including that of Matilde di Canossa, the Vallombrosa Abbey came to possess almost all the land between Pratomagno and the Arno river. The building, an old curtis dominica located on the site of today's villa, became one of the four administrative centres of this area.

The oldest part of the Villa, dating back to the 14th century. The structure includes a massive rectangular tower and two courtyards, the smaller one joining the 19th century part of the building and the other linked to the first by an arched passage, with a portico running along two sides. The portico is held up by octagonal pillars with rounded-off cubical capitals, holding up curved arches (the external outline of the lintel is acute, probably in keeping with the new architectural style recently introduced by the Cistercian monks).

The new part is, architecturally speaking, still in the academic style of Renaissance origin influenced by the work designed and carried out in Florence by Giuseppe Poggi towards 1865-70