Villa Poggio Torselli, Renaissance villa in San Casciano In Val Di Pesa, Italy

Villa Poggio Torselli sits at the end of a cypress-lined avenue on the hills surrounding San Casciano in Val di Pesa and represents late Baroque architecture from the 18th century. The property includes an Italian garden with terraced levels, traditional irrigation systems, and a collection of ancient rose varieties.

The villa appears in the 1427 cadastre under its current name, then owned by the Machiavelli family. It passed through the Angiolini, Corsini, Macalli and Capponi families, and in the 18th century to the Orlandini del Beccuto and finally the Antinori. In 1702 the Antinori commissioned architect Lorenzo Merlini to transform the earlier building, which Guido Carocci attributes to the Da Casavecchia family, into the present structure.

The garden is divided into two terraced levels to the south and an English-style park to the north. The upper southern terrace keeps part of its original layout, with flower beds fed by a clever channel irrigation system described as among the best preserved in Tuscany. A baroque family chapel and a greenhouse for the potted citrus collection stand among dwarf fruit trees, old roses and aromatic herbs.

The cypress avenue opens onto a wide semicircular forecourt in front of the facade, so the approach is level once you arrive. Inside the garden, the southern side is split into two terraces reached by paths and steps, while the northern part is laid out as an English-style park. The upper southern terrace keeps the original bed layout fed by a channel irrigation system.

The villa's potted citrus collection, kept in a greenhouse during the cold season, is noted among its features. The garden's upper south terrace retains an original channel irrigation system described as one of the best preserved in Tuscany.