Villa & Farmhouses near Florence

Originally built as a guard’s tower in the early Medieval period by the powerful landowners, the Conti Guidi family from Romagna, who at the time owned most of the territory east of Florence leading across the Casentino Valley as far as Arezzo. The tower was overseen by a local family, Da Quona and later in 1229 it transpired to become part of the estate of the nearby Abbey of Vallombrosa.

Between the 13th and 16th Centuries due to economic difficulties the landowners were forced to give up these houses and it was only the nobility and wealthy families from Florence that could afford to run them. Aristocrats, Dei Buondelmonti from Florence bought Villa Grassina and over a period of time increased the volume of the estate joining together the farm buildings, transforming the property into a Baroque style villa, typical of the 17th Century. It was inherited by Marchesi Ferroni and then it was passed down to the family Sansoni -Trombetta who were responsible for building the 2 farmhouses and family chapel.

The 1930’s saw the beginning of the decline of Villa Grassina, when the agricultural activity could no longer support the general upkeep of the estate and maintenance of the villa, finally resulting in it being completely abandoned. In 1991 the present owners bought the villa in it’s collapsed condition with severe structural defects and set about restoring and reinforcing the property to bring it back to it’s original splendour, one of the finest examples of 17th Century villas in this region.