Villa La Gallina, Renaissance villa in Arcetri district, Florence, Italy.
Villa La Gallina is a Renaissance residential building in the hills south of Florence, featuring traditional Tuscan construction elements such as stone facades and pitched roofs. The property forms part of a larger architectural ensemble and commands views over the city from its elevated position.
The villa possibly dates to the 14th century, but its first documentary trace is from 1427, when it belonged to the Lanfredini family. In 1464 Jacopo and Giovanni Lanfredini, friends of Lorenzo the Magnificent, also bought the adjoining Torre del Gallo, uniting the two properties. The line ended in 1741 with the death of Cardinal Giacomo Lanfredini, bishop of Osimo and Cingoli; after several changes of owner the antiquarian Stefano Bardini bought everything in 1902 and had the villa restored.
The villa reflects Renaissance architectural traditions and sits in a quiet hilltop area where proximity to the city contrasts with the rural character of the surroundings.
The villa sits on a hillside south of Florence, best reached on foot or by local transport, as roads are narrow and winding. The area is green and somewhat remote, so allow extra time to travel from downtown.
The fresco of Dancing Nudes in the ground-floor Salone del Pollaiuolo, attributed to Antonio del Pollaiolo, was whitewashed, probably already during Savonarola's preaching, and the female figure was covered with a layer of pitch. Count Paolo Galletti rediscovered it only in 1897, when a door opened years earlier had destroyed part of the paintings.
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