Villa La Petraia is one of the

Medici villas 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 Medic ...

in Castello,

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

central Italy Central Italy ( or ) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first-level NUTS region with code ITI, and a European Parliament constituency. It has 11,704,312 inhabita ...

. It has a distinctive 19th-century

belvedere Belvedere (from Italian, meaning "beautiful sight") may refer to: Places Australia *Belvedere, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region Africa * Belvedere (Casablanca), a neighborhood in Casablanca, Morocco * Belvedere, Harare, Zi ...

on the upper east terrace on axis with the view of Florence.

History

In 1364, the "palace" of Petraia belonged to the Brunelleschi family until in 1422

Palla Strozzi Palla di Onofrio Strozzi (1372 – 8 May 1462) was an Italian banker, politician, writer, philosopher and philologist. Biography He was born in Florence into the rich banking family of the Strozzi. He was educated by humanists, learning Greek ...

bought it and expanded it by buying the surrounding land. In the first half of the sixteenth century, the villa became the property of the Salutati, who then sold the villa to

Cosimo I de' Medici Cosimo I de' Medici (12 June 1519 – 21 April 1574) was the second and last duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first grand duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death. Cosimo I succeeded his cousin to the duchy. ...

in 1544, who gave it to his son, Cardinal Ferdinando in 1568. Then from 1588, there was a decade of extensive excavation works which transformed the "stony" nature of the place (hence the name in Petraia, that is full of stones) into dramatic sequence of terraces dominated by the massive main building. It is traditionally attributed to

Bernardo Buontalenti Bernardo Timante Buonacorsi ( – June 1608), known as Bernardo Buontalenti () and sometimes by the nickname "Bernardo delle Girandole", was an Italian Scenic design, stage designer, architect, theatrical designer, Military engineering, military ...

, even though the only documented certainty is the presence on site of Raphael Pagni. The Villa remained in the ownership of the Medici family until their extinction, when it passed to the Grand Dukes of Habsburg-Lorraine. Leopold II laid out the Romantic style garden park to the north, but otherwise few changes were made. From 1860 the estate came into the ownership of the

House of Savoy The House of Savoy (, ) is a royal house (formally a dynasty) of Franco-Italian origin that was established in 1003 in the historical region of Savoy, which was originally part of the Kingdom of Burgundy and now lies mostly within southeastern F ...

, becoming one of

Victor Emmanuel II Victor Emmanuel II (; full name: ''Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso di Savoia''; 14 March 1820 – 9 January 1878) was King of Sardinia (also informally known as Piedmont–Sardinia) from 23 March 1849 until 17 March ...

's favourite residences. During this time the central courtyard was given a glass roof and an aviary was constructed. The villa was transferred to the Italian state in 1919 and is now a museum.

Giusto Utens paintings

In 2014 a new permanent gallery at Petraia Villa Medici was opened to display the 14 surviving paintings of Medici villas by

Giusto Utens Giusto Utens or Justus Utens (died 1609) 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. He moved to Carrara about 15 ...

(previously held by the

Museo di Firenze com'era Museo di Firenze com'era ("Museum of Florence as it was") was a history and archaeology museum, one of the civic museums of the city of Florence. The museum was located on Via dell'Oriuolo in a former convent of the Oblates. It closed permanentl ...

).Giusto Utens Lunettes in Petraia Villa Medici
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References

External links

Polo Museale della Toscana: Firenze - Villa medicea della Petraia
{{authority control La Petraia La Petraia Cultural landscapes Landscape design history National museums of Italy Royal residences in Italy

History

Giusto Utens paintings

See also

References

Further reading

External links