Villa di Maiano

Villa di Maiano is situated on the slopes of Montececeri, in the village where Benedetto and Giuliano da Maiano – renowned Florentine architects and sculptors of the Renaissance – were born.

The villa, originally dating from the 1400s, was rebuilt in the early 16th century and has belonged to various Florentine families, including the Pazzi family. The property then passed to John Temple Leader, before being purchased in 1917 by the Stori-Corsini family, whose descendants are the current owners. Over the years, the villa has also undergone several renovations, including work on the surrounding grounds.

In the second half of the 19th century, the area of the ancient ‘pietra serena’ quarries was redesigned by landscape architects Giuseppe Fancelli and Alessandro Papini, who created an English-style park on the north side of the villa featuring conifers, deciduous trees, olive trees and watercourses, and erected a private chapel with a single nave and decorated stained-glass windows in the same area.

The garden was adorned with statues, fountains, gazebos and a swimming pool with a neo-Gothic loggia built of brick and stone.

Aligned with the villa’s main entrance, two stone lions bearing coats of arms stand before the barrel-vaulted passageway leading to the lower terrace, where the Italian-style garden is situated, featuring boxwood hedges in geometric patterns and various species of flowers.