Misplaced Pages

Villa Medici at Careggi
Villa Medicea di Careggi
Villa Medici in Careggi facade
General information
Status	Closed
Type	Villa
Architectural style	Italian Renaissance
Location	Careggi
Town or city	Toscana
Country	Italy
Coordinates	43°48′33.8″N 11°14′58.2″E / 43.809389°N 11.249500°E / 43.809389; 11.249500
Construction started	c. 1325
Owner	Regione Toscana
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Michelozzo
Website
web.archive.org/web/20060627073156/http://www.cultura.toscana.it/architetture/giardini/firenze/villa_medicea_careggi.shtml

The Villa Medici at Careggi is a patrician villa in the hills near Florence, Tuscany, central Italy.

History

The villa was among the first of a number of Medici villas, notable as the site of the Platonic Academy founded by Cosimo de' Medici, who died at the villa in 1464. Like most villas of Florentine families, the villa remained a working farm that helped render the family self-sufficient. Cosimo's architect there, as elsewhere, was Michelozzo, who remodelled the fortified villa which had something of the character of a castello. Its famous garden is walled about, like a medieval garden, overlooked by the upper-storey loggias, with which Michelozzo cautiously opened up the villa's structure. Michelozzo's Villa Medici in Fiesole has a more outward-looking, Renaissance character.

The property was purchased in 1417 by Cosimo de' Medici brother, Lorenzo. At the death of Giovanni di Bicci, Cosimo il Vecchio set about remodelling the beloved villa around its loggia-enclosed central courtyard. His grandson Lorenzo extended the terraced gardens and the shaded boschi.

Marsilio Ficino, who died at the villa in 1499, was a central member of the Platonic Academy. Lorenzo de' Medici died at the villa in 1492, after which it was ignored for a time until about 1615, when Cardinal Carlo de' Medici undertook extensive projects to remodel the interior, and bring the garden up to date.

The villa property was purchased from the Lorraine heirs of the Medici in 1779 by Vincenzo Orsi; the Orsi heirs sold it to an Englishman, Francis Sloane, in 1848: Sloane planted exotics in the landscape: Cedar of Lebanon and Himalayan cedars, Californian sequoias, arbutus from the eastern Mediterranean and palms, which give the grounds their feeling of an arboretum. Today the villa belongs to the Tuscan public administration.

It is currently in a process of restoration and is closed to the public until at least 2020.

Notes

1. The Villa Medicea di Cafaggiolo and the Villa Medicea del Trebbio in the valley of the Mugello had been previous purchases.
2. Hibbert, Christopher (6 December 2001). The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici. Penguin UK. p. 371. ISBN 9780141927145.
3. Dunant, Sarah (12 March 2012). The Birth of Venus (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel. Random House Publishing Group. p. 569. ISBN 9780679645498.
4. Fryde, E. B (1 July 1984). "Humanism and Renaissance Historiography". A&C Black. p. 122. ISBN 9780826427502.
5. "Ville e Giardini Medicei - Villa di Careggi". Regione.Toscana.it. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
6. "Medici Villas and Gardens". Unesco World Heritage Site. 1997. Retrieved 24 October 2018.

References

• Villa Medicea Careggi

v t e House of Medici
People	Lords of Florence Cosimo "The Elder" Piero "The Gouty" Lorenzo "The Magnificent" Piero "The Brief" Giovanni, Pope Leo X Giuliano Lorenzo II Giulio (Clement VII) Ippolito Alessandro "The Moor" Dukes of Florence Alessandro "The Moor" Cosimo I Grand Dukes of Tuscany Cosimo I Francesco I Ferdinando I Cosimo II Ferdinando II Cosimo III Gian Gastone Queens of France Caterina Maria Popes Leo X Clement VII Leo XI Cardinals male line: Giovanni (Leo X) Giulio (Clement VII) Ippolito Alessandro (Leo XI) Giovanni Ferdinando I Carlo Giovan Carlo Leopoldo Francesco Maria Francesco female line: Luigi de' Rossi Giovanni Salviati Innocenzo Cybo Bernardo Salviati Niccolò Ridolfi Lorenzo Strozzi Ferrante Gonzaga Vincenzo II Gonzaga Bishops and archbishops Filippo Bernardo Antonio Giuliano Zanobi Condottieri Giovanni delle Bande Nere Don Giovanni Mattias Genealogy Genealogical tables of the House of Medici	Festina Lente
Buildings	Villas Cafaggiolo Trebbio Careggi Fiesole La Quiete Collesalvetti Poggio a Caiano Castello Mezzomonte Agnano Spedaletto La Petraia Camugliano Stabbia La Topaia Cerreto Guidi Marignolle Arena Metato Poggio Imperiale Lapeggi L'Ambrogiana La Màgia Liliano Coltano Montevettolini Artimino Buti Seravezza Madama Palaces Casino Mediceo di San Marco Palazzo Medici Riccardi Palazzo Madama Palazzo Pitti Villa Medici Palazzo Medici Tornaquinci Livorno Palazzo delle Vedove Pisa Materdei Palazzo Medici di Ottaviano Fountains and gardens Medici fountain Villa di Pratolino Fortresses Arezzo Grosseto Piombino Pistoia San Piero a Sieve Siena Volterra Chapels Magi Chapel Medici Chapels, San Lorenzo New Sacristy Cappella dei Principi Old Sacristy
Patronage	Painters, sculptors and architects Bartolomeo Ammannati Sandro Botticelli Filippo Brunelleschi Michelangelo Michelangelo and the Medici Bernardo Buontalenti Leonardo da Vinci Donatello Michelozzo Antonio del Pollaiuolo Jacopo della Quercia Giorgio Vasari Poets and other literary figures Agnolo Poliziano Niccolò Machiavelli Humanists and philosophers Pico della Mirandola Marsilio Ficino Scientists Galileo Galilei Musicians Emilio de' Cavalieri Jacopo Peri
Heraldry	Medici coat of arms Crown of the Grand Duke of Tuscany Order of Saint Stephen
Institutions	Medici Bank
Art	Medici lions Medici porcelain Medici Vase Venus de' Medici Arazzeria Medicea
Related	Medici giraffe Galilean moons Stories set to music: "opera" Albizzi Pazzi conspiracy Savonarola TV series episodes

v t e Tourism in Florence
Museums, galleries and palaces	Bargello Casa Buonarroti Casa Guidi Galleria dell'Accademia David Garden of Archimedes Loggia del Bigallo Loggia dei Lanzi Loggia del Mercato Nuovo Loggia del Pesce Loggia Rucellai Museo dell'Opera del Duomo Museo Galileo Museo Nazionale Alinari della Fotografia Museo Nazionale di San Marco Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze La Specola National Archaeological Museum Orsanmichele Ospedale degli Innocenti Palazzo dell'Arte dei Beccai Palazzo Davanzati Palazzo Della Stufa Palazzo Gondi Palazzo Medici Riccardi Magi Chapel Palazzo Pitti Museo delle Porcellane Palazzo Spini Feroni Palazzo Strozzi Palazzo Vecchio Studiolo of Francesco I Stibbert Museum Uffizi Vasari Corridor
Religious sites	Basilicas Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore S Croce Baroncelli Chapel Pazzi Chapel S Lorenzo Medici Chapels S Maria Novella Tornabuoni Chapel SS Annunziata S Marco S Maria del Carmine Brancacci Chapel S Miniato al Monte S Spirito S Trinita Bartolini Salimbeni Chapel Sassetti Chapel Churches Badia Fiorentina Battistero di San Giovanni Certosa del Galluzzo Ognissanti Oratorio dei Vanchetoni Oratory of Gesù Pellegrino Oratory of S Thomas Aquinas Orsanmichele S Ambrogio Ss Apostoli S Felicita S Frediano in Cestello S Gaetano S Giovannino degli Scolopi S Giovannino dei Cavalieri S Jacopo sopr'Arno S Maria degli Angeli S Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi S Maria Maggiore S Martino del Vescovo S Pancrazio S Salvatore al Vescovo S Salvi Ss Simone e Giuda S Stefano al Ponte Other Great Synagogue
Towers (Torri)	degli Amidei degli Alberti dei Belfredelli dei Della Bella dei Gianfigliazzi dei Mannelli dei Pulci Giotto's Campanile
Library	Biblioteca Riccardiana (Palazzo Medici Riccardi) British Institute of Florence Gabinetto Vieusseux (Palazzo Strozzi) Kunsthistorisches Institut Laurentian Library National Central Library
Landmarks	Fountain of Neptune Giotto's Campanile Monument to Dante Ponte Vecchio
Theatres	Teatro Comunale Teatro della Pergola Teatro Verdi
Squares	Piazza del Duomo Piazza della Repubblica Piazza della Signoria Piazza Santa Croce Piazza San Lorenzo Piazzale Michelangelo
Streets	Via Cavour Via de' Tornabuoni
Forts	Belvedere Fortezza da Basso
Gardens and parks	Bardini Gardens Boboli Gardens Giardino dell'Iris Giardino delle Rose Orto Botanico di Firenze Parco delle Cascine
Villas	Medici villas di Castello La Petraia di Careggi Medicea L'Ambrogiana del Poggio Imperiale Gamberaia I Tatti Il Gioiello La Pietra Rusciano
Events and traditions	Calcio storico fiorentino Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Scoppio del carro
Districts of Florence Trams in Florence

v t e Medici villas and gardens in Tuscany
Agnano L'Ambrogiana Arena Metato Artimino Boboli Gardens Buti Cafaggiolo Camugliano Careggi Castello Cerreto Guidi Collesalvetti Coltano Fiesole Lappeggi Lilliano La Magia Marignolle Mezzomonte Montevettolini La Petraia Poggio a Caiano Poggio Imperiale Pratolino Gardens of Pratolino La Quiete Seravezza Spedaletto Stabbia La Topaia Trebbio

43°48′33.88″N 11°14′58.28″E / 43.8094111°N 11.2495222°E / 43.8094111; 11.2495222

• Houses completed in the 15th century
• Gardens in Tuscany
• Medici villas
• Villas in Florence