Villa Letizia, Historic villa in Ardenza, Livorno, Italy

Villa Letizia, also called Villa Poniatowski, is a historic residence on the edge of Livorno's Ardenza district, near the Federico Caprilli Hippodrome. The rectangular building rises three storeys, flanked by two small symmetrical wings, with a loggia belvedere on top. Its south front has a central first-floor balcony; the north entrance is screened by a semicircular portico.

Prince Stanislao Poniatowski had the villa built in the first half of the 19th century for his sons Carlo and Giuseppe. It passed to the Vitelleschi family and then to David Bondi, who restored the whole complex after 1873, adding rooms and laying out new garden paths. In 1925 the Cave Bondi heirs sold it to the Milanese "Letizia" company; after years of neglect it became a summer boarding school in 1934.

The name Letizia comes from the Milanese real estate company that bought the villa in 1925; the earlier name Poniatowski recalls Prince Stanislao Poniatowski, who had it built for his sons Carlo and Giuseppe. The garden once had themed corners: the boschetto di Diana, the pergolato di Bacco and the laghetto di Adelchi.

Villa Letizia stands at the edge of the Ardenza district, beside the Federico Caprilli racecourse, and is reached from the southern gate on Viale Italia, marked by a square tower. The grounds are largely overgrown and the belvedere loggia is in poor condition, so the building is best viewed from the street. It now houses a branch of the University of Pisa's logistics economics course.

The octagonal tower in the park, built as a water cistern, was designed by engineer Padova and echoes the forms of Livorno's Torre del Marzocco. The garden once had themed zones, including the boschetto di Diana, the pergolato di Bacco and the laghetto di Adelchi, now lost.