page_title: Villa Medici at Cafaggiolo
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Villa Medici at Cafaggiolo / History
caption_attribution_description: Villa Medicea di Careggi, in Florence, Italy
context_page_description: The Villa Medicea di Cafaggiolo is a villa situated near the Tuscan town of Barberino di Mugello in the valley of the River Sieve, some 25 kilometres north of Florence, central Italy. It was one of the oldest and most favoured of the Medici family estates, having been in the possession of the family since the 14th century, when it was owned by Averardo de' Medici. Averardo's son, Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, is considered to be the founder of the Medici dynasty.
  The villa was reconstructed following designs of the eminent Renaissance architect Michelozzo in 1452, becoming a meeting place for some of the greatest intellectuals of the Italian Renaissance. The villa is located in the Mugello region, the area which was the homeland of the Medici. Although by no means the grandest or largest of their many houses, they visited it often: as a consequence, the villa was the scene of many momentous events in the history of the dynasty, ranging from the reception of Medici brides to the murder of a Medici wife.
  The castle is today privately owned by the company Società Cafaggiolo srl.
context_section_description: During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Tuscan aristocracy, who had forsaken their medieval castles for the political expediency, comfort and greater security of town life, developed an aesthetic awareness which necessitated the seasonal occupation of a country retreat.  The new humanist values they sought could be found in an attractive country setting, enhanced by a garden.  The first of these villas were built by the Medici family, whose affluence coincided with the beginning of the Renaissance period, circa 1420.  The builder of Villa Medicea di Cafaggiolo was Cosimo de' Medici, whose villa at Careggi is considered to be the model for the Renaissance villas of Florence. These early villas as in the case at both Careggi and Villa Medicea di Cafaggiolo were the result of the complete rebuilding of existing Medici castles.
  The Villa Medicea di Cafaggiolo's origins date from the 14th century. The fortezza that belonged to the Republic of Florence in 1349 was already known as "Cafaggiolo de' Medici" by 1359, when it was the property of Averardo de' Medici (died 1363).   It passed from Giovanni di Bicci  jointly to Averardo and Giuliano di Francesco de' Medici, the grandsons of Averardo's younger son Lorenzo; from them, it passed to Cosimo and Lorenzo jointly; and it was ceded to Cosimo's sole ownership in a property division of 1451.
  In the following year, 1452, Averardo de' Medici's grandson Cosimo de' Medici (known as Cosimo the Elder - the first of the Medici to combine leadership of the family bank with governing the Republic of Florence) commissioned his favourite  architect Michelozzo di Bartolomeo (usually known simply as "Michelozzo") to redesign his fortress as a more comfortable country retreat, which could be used for hunting.  It was to be one of four villas built by Cosimo, the others being Careggi, Villa Mozzi and Villa Trebbia. Michelozzo had already designed the Medici's town palazzo in Florence, the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, and Cosimo's new villa at Careggi.  The architect transformed the forbidding fortress into a castellated country house - in effect, the castle became a villa.
  After the death of Cosimo de' Medici in 1464, the villa became a hunting lodge of his son Piero. Piero was succeeded in 1469 by his son Lorenzo de' Medici (known as "il Magnifico"), and it became his favourite residence. Frequently occupied both winter and summer, it became a meeting place for the great intellectuals of the day, who came either for the many parties dedicated to hunting, or merely to entertain the court with their learning - for example, Luigi Pulci is known to have read aloud his Morgante there.  Lorenzo composed many of his songs at Cafaggiolo, and entertained such worthies as Marsilio Ficino and his most faithful friends, Poliziano and Pico della Mirandola.
  From 1476 onwards, Lorenzo il Magnifico needed to raise funds, the Pope  having seized many of his assets.  He borrowed from his cousins, with the eventual result that ownership of the villa was transferred after protracted negotiations to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco and his brother Giovanni in 1485. Cafaggiolo thus passed for a time to the younger branch of the Medici— who established the manufacture of maiolica in the villa's outbuildings— until all the Medici holdings were once more reassembled in the hands of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.
  The Medici Pope Leo X, formerly (Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici) spent a part of his childhood at the castle, and briefly held court at the villa on 15 December 1515, on his return from his secret talks with Francis I at Bologna, in which it was said that he had played a double game in his efforts to drive the French out of Italy.
  In 1576, the castle was the scene of the murder of a Medici wife. Neglected by her husband, Eleonora di Garzia di Toledo, the wife of Pietro de' Medici, had been conducting an illicit love affair with Bernardino Antinori, a young nobleman. Their affair came to light when Antinori killed a fellow noble, Francesco Ginori, in self-defence. Antinori confessed to his crime and was banish
caption: Villa Medicea di Careggi, the first of the Florentine villas, was also created for Cosimo de' Medici by Michelozzo from an existing castle.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "<Digimax i50 MP3, Samsung #1 MP3>", "Image Make": "Samsung Techwin", "Image Model": "<Digimax i50 MP3, Samsung #1 MP3>", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "510271", "Image DateTime": "2006:08:18 11:11:25", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "COPYRIGHT, 2005", "Image ExifOffset": "302", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "1", "Thumbnail YResolution": "1", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "41958", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9448", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:08:18 11:11:25", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:08:18 11:11:25", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2508035/629856", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "255/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "29/8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "29/8", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "33/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1944", "EXIF RelatedSoundFile": "RelatedSound", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "41822", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "1", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "39", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}