Villa Roncioni, Historical villa in Pugnano, San Giuliano Terme, Italy.
Villa Roncioni stands in Pugnano, a hamlet of San Giuliano Terme along the SS 12 between Ripafratta and Molina di Quosa. The original 15th-century farmhouse kept its staircase; in the 18th century Francesco Roncioni added a wing and redesigned the facade, with interiors begun in 1747 and painted by Giovanni Battista Tempesti and Giuseppe Bacchini with false perspectives, grotesques and mythological scenes in Rococo style.
Guelfo Roncioni bought the property in 1468; about a century later it was recorded as a farmhouse smaller than the present villa, retaining the staircase. In the 18th century Francesco Roncioni turned it into a villa: cellars and warehouses were moved, a wing added and the facade redesigned. Interior work ran from 1747 into the early 19th century, with architects Antonio Niccolini and Pasquale Cioffo and painted decoration by Giovanni Battista Tempesti and Giuseppe Bacchini.
Since 3 December 2011 the villa has housed the Fondazione Cerratelli, which carries on the legacy of the Florentine Casa d'arte of the same name. Its holdings number about 25,000 costumes along with 20,000 items among film lobby cards, set photographs, posters and sketches. The collection documents 20th-century stage and screen costume design.
The property is managed by the Cerratelli Foundation and welcomes visitors by appointment only. Planning ahead is necessary to arrange a visit and learn about the costume collections and training programs offered at the site.
The neo-Gothic bigattiera, built in 1822 by Alessandro Gherardesca on the advice of Accademia dei Georgofili member Raffaele Lambruschini, housed silkworm rearing and silk mills; it resembles an English abbey. Francesco Roncioni commissioned it as part of the estate's proto-industrial activity.
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