The expression Tuscan
villa (and hence Tuscan villa
vacation rentals) alludes not simply to a patrician house but to a house set in a garden and a wider landscape
- a concept derived from the villas of Augustan
Rome via the Renaissance. The ever-adaptable Florentines, as well as the
Anglo-Florentines who settled in Tuscany in significant numbers during
the late 19 C, surrendered to the fad for "English" gardens, with lawns and flowers and plantations of exotic trees. In
Italian Gardens and
Villas, published in 1904, Edith Wharton lamented that "there is perhaps no region in Italy so rich in villas and so lacking in old gardens as the
neighbourhood of Florence." In fact, the Neoclassical garden, which had been considered indispensable through the
17 C and 18 C, was quite "independent of floriculture," as Wharton wrote, its three constituent elements being "marble, water, and perennial verdure." The garden was meant to
harmonise both with the fully man-made world of the villa behind it and with the natural world of the podere, or farm, beyond.
In the time since Wharton wrote, the wheel of fashion has turned and a
great many Renaissance gardens have been restored, to the extent that
finding a giardino all'inglese surrounding a Tuscan villa is now
a rare experience.
During the 19 C and especially during the Tuscan building boom that
followed the unification of Italy in 1861, Florence having been the
capital of Italy from 1865 to 1870, a great many new villas were
constructed, modelled in a simplified manner on those of the
Renaissance. One of those most involved in this burst of architectural
activity was
Giuseppe Poggi (Florence April 3, 1811 - Florence, March 5, 1901), an architect and engineer,
who was appointed in 1864 to develop a new urban plan for the city of Florence, to adapt it to
its function as the capital of the Kingdom of Italy and to preserve
it from flooding (but not from the disastrous flood of November 4, 1966,
unfortunately).
Poggi, inspired by the Parisian grand boulevards, knocked down the walls
of Florence north of the Arno and replaced them with the "circovallazione"
avenues, isolating the English cemetery and, south of the Arno, created
the avenue leading to the Piazzale Michelangelo. He also did a great
deal of architectural work on behalf of the Florentine aristocracy,
involving the creation, renovation and
modernisation of villas and palaces, particularly in the suburban villas of the hills that surround
Florence.

Villa La Petraia - a
Tuscan villa |

A casa colonica - a
Tuscan farmhouse |
For most visitors to Tuscany, experiencing a Tuscan villa involves a
visit to one of the magnificent Medicean
villas in the vicinity of Florence and in the native territory
of the Medici, the Mugello
(Villa
Medicea di Cafaggiolo and Villa
Demidoff). Tuscan villa vacation rentals are usually not true
villas at all, but rather stand-alone Tuscan
farm houses (case coloniche)
suitable for a single family or a group of up to something like eight people.
Usefully, current fashion dictates that most case coloniche have
external walls in unplastered stone while villas are plastered and
painted pale brown or apricot in colour. Tuscan villas are also often characterised
by a small tower, turret or dovecote (colombaia) set into the
roof. Nevertheless, there are Tuscan villas in the original sense available to
holiday makers.
An exceptional example is Villa Gamberaia, one of the most famous
villas in Tuscany, and probably the most exceptional Tuscan villa
offering accommodation in the whole of the Region.
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