Comune: | Cortona |
Località: | Metelliano |
Via.: | Case Sparse 639 |
Tel.: | 0575-603394 |
Ingresso: | offerta libera - Visite guidate a richiesta |
Accessibilità ai disabili: | sì |
For all its imposing size, this late Renaissance villa has an elegant, compact architecture despite the changes that have been made. Its name is that of the owners, the Tommasi-Aliotti, who were one of the most important families in the area. The building, which dates back to the 16th century, was transformed in the mid-18th century into an aristocratic residence, enhanced by a formal garden. In the 19th century Luigi Tommasi made substantial changes that gave the building its present-day appearance, cancelling part of the 18th-century layout, as documented in an old map of the site from the first half of the 19th century owned by the Tommasi-Aliotti family. The villa has a three-part entrance in line with the tree-lined driveway that ends with a large oval pool, probably 19th century in origin. The Gothic-style lemon house on one side of the villa also dates back to this period. At the back of the building a ring of holm-oaks in line with the tree-lined driveway stretches as far as the boundary wall to the north. This creates two distinct, but perfectly integrated areas: a park to the west and farmland to the east. The park surrounding the building boasts a collection of rare tall trees: firs, horse-chestnuts, hackberries, pines, holm-oaks, sequoias, yews and elms, among which stand various statues and outbuildings.