Villa Paolina, Neoclassical villa in Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

Villa Paolina stands at Via di Castello 47 in Sesto Fiorentino, a fully neoclassical villa remodelled between 1826 and 1831 to designs by Antonio Carcopino, with decorations by Giuseppe Bezzuoli and Francesco Pozzi. Aristodemo Costoli carved the allegorical statues and bas-reliefs of the facade. Behind the building a suspended iron footbridge on cables still links the wooded park, cut off and raised by the road, to the villa's first floor.

The estate belonged to the Petruzzi (or Petrucci) family before being sold in 1553 to Antonio Torrigiani, who already owned other villas in the area. Benedetto Dragomanni bought it in 1659, and in 1825 it passed to Prince Camillo Borghese, who had it renovated in honour of his wife Paolina Bonaparte. The works ran from 1826 to 1831 under Antonio Carcopino.

The villa's name comes from Paolina Bonaparte, wife of Prince Camillo Borghese, who had it renovated for her between 1826 and 1831. The facade carries allegorical statues and bas-reliefs carved by Aristodemo Costoli, while the interior decorations were entrusted to Giuseppe Bezzuoli and Francesco Pozzi.

Villa Paolina stands at Via di Castello 47 in Sesto Fiorentino. The wooded ground behind it was cut off by the Castello road and raised, so the wood is reached from the villa's rear first floor by an iron footbridge suspended on cables, still in use. Expect to move between street level and the raised park.

A suspended iron footbridge on cables still links the rear first floor of the villa to the raised wooded park across Via di Castello. In that wooded section stand an artificial grotto with spongy concretions, a stone amphitheatre and statues in pietra serena.