Villa Torrigiani

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South facade of Villa Torrigiani
Camigliano, Capannori
Lucca, October 2017

“The first mention of the villa dates back to 1593, as belonging to the Buonvisi family. It was bought later by Nicola Santini, into whose family it passed. Santini rebuilt the south facade in the Baroque style at the end of the seventeenth century, probably in imitation of the architecture of Versailles where he was ambassador to the Republic of Lucca. The rebuilding involved the addition of two wings to the villa, and the modification of the front by the addition of a massive scale range leading to a serliana, duplicated on the upper floor with two balconies, decorated with statues. He also laid out new gardens. At the front, parterres were arranged around two pools. At the rear, a fountain was built as the focus of the garden, and another sunken ‘garden of Flora’ was laid out to the east. In 1816 Victoria Santini married into the eponymous Torrigiani family, who uprooted the existing garden to make an ‘English style’ park. Only the garden of Flora survived. Now the villa is owned by Fabio Colonna di Stigliano.” (Villa Torrigiani, Wikipedia)