Defined by Carrocci “(…) the most splendid of the villas in these parts in the vicinity of Florence (…)”. The architectural complex, situated on the slopes of the Incontro hill, consists of the villa and of numerous annexes which served the villa and the agricultural activity which was formerly pursued on the land appertaining to the villa. Today the appearance of the edifice is typically that of the eighteenth century, while the building is documented since 1427 in the Florentine Land Register as a “nobleman’s house”. During the first half of the 1800’s Barone Bettino Ricasoli together with Giulio Foggini began work on the renovation of the complex. In the nineteenth century the building was purchased by the Schneider family.
The project concerned a general and executive plan and the supervision of the works of re-construction and restoration. Furthermore there was the co-ordination of tecnical projects, together with those concerning installations and structural problems. Assistance was also provided for official verifications and accounting.
The recovery of this important complex has concerned all aspects relative to restoration: from the refacing of coverings and the repair of the façades, to structural reinforcements, to the redistribution of interior functions. In the same manner problems have been confronted regarding the philological restoration of floors in the Venetian style, of attics of decorated wood furnishings, of the pictorial recovery of frescoes and of decorative components of the interior such as portals, staircases, busts executed in plaster or terracotta. Furthermore an indoor swimming-pool has been created which, while respecting the previous structure, has conferred a considerable increase of the value of the villa.
An important chapter in the realization of the project concerned the restoration and recovery of several outdoor areas. The italianate garden found itself in a state of considerable decline as also were several outdoor elements in stone and terracotta. Not only has the recovery of the cultivation of surviving trees and shrubs (box-hedges, jasmine, roses, Holm oaks, magnolias) been undertaken but also the restoration of both architectural and decorative components: terracotta statues of prestigious manifacture, fountains decorated with fragments made of glass paste and sea-shells, kerbstones and benches in stone. Finally an outdoor swimming-pool with an evocative view towards Florence has been constructed.
