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Among the
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you cannot miss the chance of visiting Villa Demidoff in Pratolino, on the hills around the main city of Tuscany.
The present Villa Demidoff was built in the 19th century on the remains of a minor building in the large Medicean estate in Pratolino by order of the Russian prince Paul II Demidoff.
In the ancient Medicean villa that stood in the huge estate developed the love affair of Francis I Medici and Bianca Cappello. Indeed, Francis bought the property from Benedetto Uguccioni in 1568 with the intent of living there with his beloved Bianca. The wonderful villa was built by Bernardo Buontalenti, and Giusto Utens depicted it in one of his famous lunettes exposed at the museum "Firenze Com`Era".
The park is certainly the most important element of the whole complex. The villa was conceived as a luxury accommodation and the park that surrounds the building was rich in fountains, grottos, brilliant plays of water and statues. Here can be admired the famous "Apennine" by Gianbologna.
The compact building was as beautiful and elegant as the park, and its base was decorated with many extravagant artificial grottos.
In 1587 Francis I and Bianca Cappello died in the other famous Medicean villa in Poggio a Caiano, and the Medici abandoned this imposing estate, which had become a cultural model widely imitated all over Europe.
Only at the end of the 17th century Ferdinand Medici had the building renovated and decorated with new frescoes, and commissioned new statues for the park.
The maintenance of a similar complex was expensive; therefore the Habsburg-Lorraine abandoned the villa in Pratolino and had many of the statues that decorated the park moved in the Boboli garden in Florence. The park was then mainly used as a hunting preserve.
In 1819, Grand Duke Ferdinand III commissioned Joseph Fritsch to transform what once was a gorgeous Italian garden into an English garden. The following year the architect demolished the building, probably one of the most beautiful Medicean villas.
Member of an important Russian family of industrialists that moved to Florence in the first half of the 19th century, Paul II Demidoff bought the property and had it renovated. In particular, he ordered the enlargement of the building that was once reserved to the pages, which became what is now renowned as Villa Demidoff.
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