Villa Pratolino, a remnant of its glorious past, is part of the Villa Demidoff, located 12 km north of Florence. The villa was a Renaissance patrician structure in Vaglia, Tuscany. While the villa was mostly demolished in 1822, its remains persist today. The property was built by Francesco de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in part to please his Venetian mistress, the celebrated Bianca Cappello.
Court architect and engineer Bernardo Buontalenti designed the villa and its gardens, completing construction between 1569 and 1581. The site was sufficiently finished to host Francesco's public wedding to Bianca Cappello in 1579. In its time, it served as a splendid example of a Mannerist garden, featuring a garden laid out along a perfectly straight down-slope axis passing through the center of the villa.
After Francesco's death, the villa was deserted and fell into decay. In 1820, it was decided to demolish the villa, and the garden was redesigned in the English landscape manner. In 1872, the complex was sold to Prince Pavel Pavlovich Demidov, who restored the pages' lodgings as the Villa Demidoff di Pratolino. Today, the province of Florence maintains the park and opens it for public use from April through October.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nicolo Ciampini
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