If you have found a
luxury villa in Florence or a
villa with pool in Florence then we recommend spending plenty of time to both thoroughly explore all that interests you in that beautiful city and to also go beyond it to other attractions in the surrounding area.
Florence is a great, pretty central base from which to explore the wider region of
Tuscany. Whether you are renting a car or you want to rely on public transport, this is the best and easiest place from which to do both when planning day-trips to other parts of Tuscany such as the comune of Poggio a Caiano in the province of Prato, which is home to a stunning
Medici Villa, gorgeous gardens, an excellent museum, and a pretty town.
The
villa at
Poggio a Caiano is set on the slopes of Mount Albano and was a summer residence for the Medici that was built for Lorenzo the Magnificent, according to plans by Giuliano da Sangallo. It is located right between Florence, Prato and Pistoia, areas over which the Medici and Florence worked to control. Begun at the end of the fifteenth century, but not completed until halfway through the sixteenth century, as work was interrupted by Lorenzo's death in 1492, the villa was continued under Pope Leo X, Lorenzo's son. This pause in the building process, however, would inadvertently give it the time to become one of the greatest architectural gems of the period as increasing refinements in implementing classical motifs and ideals into Renaissance architecture came about in the interim period. Furthermore, subsequent occupants made minimal changes to it over the following centuries, leaving it to remain a testament to Renaissance taste and ideals.