The original'Limonaia' which runs adjacent to the formal gardens could be used as two further apartments or a swimming pool could be added with doors opening onto the garden, allowing for both summer and winter use.
The History
The property, built in the fourteenth century, was part of a hospital located not far from Florence. In the 15th century the building was purchased (together with a second building located nearby) by a noble Florentine family who converted the building into a private villa. Due to financial difficulties, the family was forced to sell the villa in 1516 first to the Salvetti d’Oltrarno and finally to the Bandi family.
The last descendants of the family had established (or so they say) that the villa would be given as a gift to the friars if his wife died first, while on the contrary the building would be donated to the Dominican Sisters of Santa Caterina da Siena if the husband died first. When Mr. Bandi died in 1902, the pact was respected and the building passed to the nuns, before becoming private property again.
The building has an essentially quadrangular shape, with a stone courtyard in the center and a manicured garden with a fountain at the back. The façade is plastered and painted white with lintels and cornices in pietra serena, a typical combination visible in the buildings of the Florentine area.
Location
Florence (13km; 25 min), Greve in Chianti (18km; 25 min), the turreted San Gimignano (50km; 50 min), medieval Siena (69km; min), Lucca with its fortifications (82km; 55 min) and Pisa with its famous tower (92km; 1h 15 min).
The most convenient airports to reach the property are Florence Peretola (20km; 20 min), Pisa Galilei (88km; 1h 5min), Bologna Marconi (108km; 1h 20 min) and Perugia Sant’Egidio (162km; 1h 45min).