page_title: Villa Le Balze
section_title: During Strong's lifetime
hierarchical_section_title: Villa Le Balze / History / During Strong's lifetime
caption_attribution_description: Le balze, ninfeo
context_page_description: Villa Le Balze is a garden villa in Fiesole, a comune of the Metropolitan City of Florence and the region of Tuscany in central Italy. The villa was commissioned and built by Charles Augusts Strong in 1913, where he spent much of his life. It was then embroiled in the fighting of the Second World War and came into the possession of Margaret Rockefeller Strong. The villa is today owned by Georgetown University and hosts year-round study abroad students focused on interdisciplinary study of Italian culture and civilization, as well as such other subjects as politics and history.
context_section_description: Villa Le Balze was planned in 1911 by English architects Cecil Pinsent and Geoffrey Scott for the American philosopher Charles Augustus Strong and his wife Elizabeth Rockefeller Strong, daughter of John D. Rockefeller. It was built in a tight space among the Tuscan hills overlooking the city of Florence. Across the street, to the east, is the 15th century Villa Medici and to its north is Villa San Girolamo. Strong briefly stayed in Villa San Girolamo in 1911 and was impressed by its views of Florence, prompting him to build Villa Le Balze just below it on the hill. In Italian, balze means cliffs, referring the villa's physical situation, which in some areas rests on a 50 degree incline.
  Construction of the villa began in 1912. In order for the steep, narrow land to accommodate the villa, 1,200 tons of earth had to be removed from the site, which allowed the villa complex to be integrated into the hillside. A retaining wall was also built to support the main building as well as control runoff water, which could be stored and used to water the gardens. Bernard Berenson from Villa I Tatti and Strong's Harvard classmate George Santayana were on-site to observe construction. During the winter, a storm washed away part of the construction. It was completed in 1913 in the Renaissance architectural style along with its seven formal gardens.
  After their marriage, Charles and Elizabeth Strong lived at the villa for the rest of their lives. Following his wife's death in 1906, Charles wrote six books and numerous philosophical essays in the form of letters at the villa. Plagued by loneliness in his later years, he hosted his philosopher colleagues at the villa, including his Harvard classmate, George Santayana. Many of the statues throughout the terrace gardens and villa depict the great philosophers, reflecting Charles' study during reclusion at the villa. The villa was joined with its neighboring villino to create the three-acre campus that it now is, including two acres of olive groves. Upon his death in 1940, Strong left the villa to his daughter Margaret Rockefeller Strong de Larrain.
caption: Fountain made of coral and seashells
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