The Medici Villa of Poggio a Caiano was designed by Giuliano da Sangallo for Lorenzo de' Medici. The text dates the start to 1470 to 1474 in one passage and to about 1480 in another. Work halted from 1495 to 1513 during the Medici exile and was completed from 1513 to 1520 under Giovanni de' Medici, later Pope Leo X. Sangallo died in 1516.
The villa is Renaissance, with loggias, an Ionic temple facade and a glazed majolica pediment attributed to Andrea Sansovino. The central first-floor salon has a barrel vault and frescoes by Pontormo, Andrea del Sarto, Franciabigio and Alessandro Allori. The text gives no overall dimensions or building materials.
Bianca Cappello and Francesco I both died here in 1587. Elisa Bonaparte commissioned the English gardens in 1811. It became a national museum in 1984 and also holds a Museum of Still Life. It is state-owned. The article gives no hours.
Comments