The Belmond Villa San Michele is a hotel situated on the hill of

Fiesole Fiesole () is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a scenic height above Florence, 5 km (3 miles) northeast of that city. It has structures dating to Etruscan and Roman times. Sin ...

overlooking

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, Italy. It is named after the church of St Michael the Archangel. Today it is owned by

Belmond Ltd. Belmond Ltd. (formerly Orient-Express Hotels Ltd) is a hospitality and leisure company that operates luxury hotels, train services and river cruises worldwide. In 2015, the company had 35 deluxe hotels, 7 tourist trains, 3 river cruises and rest ...

and is operated as a luxury hotel.

History

The original building was a monastery, founded in the early years of the 15th century for the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

friars. The land on which it stood had been donated by a Florentine family, the Davanzatis, who also contributed to the monastery's upkeep by gifts of woodlands, further buildings and money. The present building, with its façade attributed to

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

and its imposing

loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...

, dates from 1600 when it was enlarged and completely renovated by Giovanni di Bartolomeo Davanzati. The monastery remained the property of the Franciscans until 1808 when the monastic orders were dissolved by

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

and, in 1817, it returned to secular use. By this time, many of its most treasured possessions had been dispersed throughout Florence's churches and art galleries. In 1900 the Villa was acquired by

Henry W. Cannon Henry White Cannon (September 27, 1850 – April 27, 1934) was a United States Comptroller of the Currency from 1884 to 1886. Early life Cannon was born in Delhi, New York, on September 27, 1850. He was the son of George Bliss Cannon (d. 1890), ...

, a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

bank president, who landscaped the gardens, erected large greenhouses and restored the building after the fashion of the Victorians, by adding wrought iron gates and by applying a rust-coloured patina to the walls. He also converted the courtyard into a winter garden by covering it with a roof of glass and iron. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the Villa was badly damaged and, in 1950, it was bought by Monsieur Lucien Teissier and Madame Mary Teissier as a private residence. He set about restoring the 20 first floor rooms, while living on the second floor, but the cost involved was substantial and to finance it, he turned the villa in to a hotel for those wanting to visit the nearby art treasures of Florence and the surrounding countryside. In 1982, Orient-Express Hotels, which already owned the

Hotel Cipriani The Belmond Hotel Cipriani is a deluxe hotel on the island of Giudecca in Venice, northern Italy. It is reached by hotel launch from St Mark's Square, a five-minute journey across the lagoon. Long considered one of the leading luxury hotels of t ...

in Venice bought the Villa San Michele and the surrounding land. A comprehensive restoration of the buildings was embarked upon, this time with the cooperation of the Florence Fine Arts Authority. In 2014 the Villa San Michele was renamed the Belmond Villa San Michele when Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. changed its name to

References

External links

Official website
{{Restaurants in Italy 15th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Belmond hotels Michelin Guide starred restaurants in Italy Buildings and structures in Fiesole Hotels in Florence Hotels established in 1950 1950 establishments in Italy