Villa Cetinale is a 17th-century Baroque villa and Italiana gardens in Tuscany. The property is located in the hamlet of Cetinale near Sovicille, about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) west of Siena, in Tuscany, Italy. The property is best known for the expansive gardens, arrayed in classic symmetry, as well as for its also formal woodland gardens.
History
17th century
The residence was originally a modest building surrounded by farm dwellings, owned by Fabio Chigi (1599-1667). Chigi employed Benedetto Giovannelli, a local architect, to design the plans for a new villa, whose construction occurred between 1651 and 1655. After Fabio Chigi became Pope Alexander VII, in 1655, work came to a halt.
In 1676, the villa and lands were inherited by the Pope's nephew, Cardinal Flavio Chigi (1631-1693), Prince of Farnese, Duke of Ariccia and Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Cardinal Chigi employed the architect Carlo Fontana in 1680 to redesign the villa, originally called Villa Chigi, and plan the gardens. Fontana was a former pupil of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. His design transformed the villa into the Roman Baroque style.
After the death of Cardinal Chigi in 1693 it passed into his family, the Chigi-Zondadari, where it remained into the late 20th century.
20th century
Villa Cetinale, by then in a somewhat ruinous state, was acquired by British Viscount Antony Lambton (1922–2006) in 1977. Lambton retired there, following a personal scandal in England. For nearly three decades he meticulously restored the villa and the gardens' built features and plantings. He died in Siena in 2006.[1] It is now available for private rental, with garden tours available by arrangement.[2]
British writer and garden design aficionado Harold Acton translated the Latin inscription on Villa Cetinale as follows:
Whoever you are who approach, that which may seem horrible to you is pleasing to me. If it appeals to you, remain. If it bores you, go away. Each is equally agreeable to me.
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