VILLA DI BIVIGLIANO

The Villa di Bivigliano is an austere and imposing building built in the style of Bernardo Buontalenti. The current villa was built on the remains of an ancient castle belonging to the Cattanei di Cercina family and was restored by the Ginori family at the end of the 16th century.

At the front of the villa is a large grass lawn flanked by cypress trees, with a charming chapel to the left dedicated to the Virgin Mary of the Snow. The sombre and elegant facade at the front of the building is made up of five main sections, dominated by the imposing balconied entrance at the centre. This gives the villa a very 17th century feel, as does the French window at the centre of the rear facade with its shell decoration overlooking the Italian Renaissance garden.

The main doorway leads into the large, high ceilinged dining hall with a gallery running around the upper level which provides access to the upstairs rooms. From the dining hall, various doorways lead to the Italian Renaissance garden with its impressive central fountain and four surrounding flower beds. Beyond the garden and on a lower terrace is the orchard, which leads down another level to the panoramic terrace which enjoys incredible views over the surrounding landscape of hills, woodland and distant mountains.

The park, which is made up of sequoias, firs, cypresses, pines, oaks and cedars, is arranged around a wide, straight, central path that leads from a stone gateway down to a round hedge in a small clearing which hides the remains of an old fountain. Following on from here, the land rises to a spectacular rustic stone grotto complete with fountain and balconied terrace which is accessible via a spiral staircase inside the grotto. The park was developed and enlarged in the mid 1800s by the Pozzolini family with the addition of many exotic plants.