Villa Torrigaini

A few days before we left Italy to join the Sullivan Clan in Ireland, I visited Villa Torrigiani. It is located in the village of Camigliano about a 5-10 minute drive from our place in Capannori. It dates back to the 1500s but the facade was redone about a hundred years later in the style of Versailles. The gardens date to the mid 1800s when they were redone in the "English" style.

The main entrance to the villa is on a facade surrounded by ornate decoration and statues in niches. Because this facade was added later, the window embrasures are between three and four feet deep! Unfortunately, photos were not allowed inside although there was an interesting guided tour.

The lawn in front of the villa contains two large pools with fountains in them. 

The park contains many fine specimen trees all carefully marked. This is American Magnolia tree was in full bloom. The branches came right to the ground and underneath were a number of chickens scratching for bugs among the fallen, dried leaves.

 This is the rear of the villa although originally it was the main entrance.

The rear has a beautiful north facing portico. The walls and ceiling are freschttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Torrigianioed and there is a variety of patio furniture inside. It is no doubt the most comfortable place to sit on a hot summer day. The villa is still in private hands so it is possible the owners occasionally come and stay.

 To the east of the villa are the walled gardens. There are lovely clipped hedges enclosing beds of annuals. The new plants probably look spectacular once they have filled in.

In the previous picture the building with the large windows looks like this inside. In the winter the many potted lemon trees are probably kept inside this limonaia to protect them from the cold.  

 Scattered throughout the gardens are many statues. They are old enough that the edges have all become rounded and fuzzy with lichen. 

More of the formal gardens. There are a number of water features on the grounds but not all worked properly.

 There are a number of structures around the formal gardens. Mostly they appeared to be for decoration. At one time perhaps it was possible to go sit in the cool, dark grotto that can be reached through the gates.

Another view of the formal gardens. The stairs are not usable (although they are quite picturesque) because of safety concerns.

At the top of the stairs in the previous picture is this fish pond. There is nothing but algae growing in it now but at one time they raised fish in it.

 The curved concrete in this picture and the bench at the far end made me wonder if perhaps this was once a bocce pit.

At the back of the gardens was this gate that was probably the principal approach to the property when the back of the villa was the main entrance. Beyond it now are olive trees and the hills. It seems odd to me that the main entrance would ever have been on the far side of the building from Lucca. After all these villas were the summer homes of the wealthy of Lucca.