Villa Cetinale is a 17th-century Baroque villa and

Italian garden The Italian garden (or giardino all'italiana () is best known for a number of large Italian Renaissance gardens which have survived in something like their original form. In the history of gardening, during the Renaissance, Italy had the most ...

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

. The property is located in the hamlet of Cetinale near Sovicille, about west of

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...

, in Tuscany,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The property is best known for the expansive gardens, arrayed in classic symmetry, as well as for its

woodland garden A woodland garden is a garden or section of a garden that includes large trees and is laid out so as to appear as more or less natural woodland, though it is often actually an artificial creation. Typically it includes plantings of flowering shru ...

History

17th century

The residence was originally a modest building surrounded by farm dwellings, owned by Fabio Chigi (1599-1667). Chigi employed Benedetto Giovannelli, a local architect, to design the plans for a new

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

, whose construction occurred between 1651 and 1655. After Fabio Chigi became Pope Alexander VII, in 1655, work came to a halt. In 1676, the villa and lands were inherited by the Pope's nephew, Cardinal Flavio Chigi (1631-1693), Prince of Farnese, Duke of

Ariccia Ariccia (Latin: ''Aricia'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, central Italy, southeast of Rome. It is in the Alban Hills of the Lazio (Latium) region and could be considered an extension of Rome's southeastern suburbs. One ...

and Prince of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

. Cardinal Chigi employed the architect

Carlo Fontana Carlo Fontana (1634 or 1638–1714) was an Italian architect originating from today's Canton Ticino, who was in part responsible for the classicizing direction taken by Late Baroque Roman architecture. Biography There seems to be no proof tha ...

in 1680 to redesign the villa, originally called Villa Chigi, and plan the gardens. Fontana was a former pupil of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. His design transformed the villa into the Roman Baroque style. After the death of Cardinal Chigi in 1693 it passed into his family, the Chigi-Zondadari, who retained it into the late 20th century.

20th century

Villa Cetinale, by then in a somewhat ruinous state, was acquired by British aristocrat

Antony Lambton Antony Claud Frederick Lambton, (10 July 1922 – 30 December 2006), briefly 6th Earl of Durham, styled before 1970 as Viscount Lambton, and widely known as Lord Lambton, was a Conservative Member of Parliament and a cousin of Sir Alec Douglas ...

in 1977. Lambton retired there, following a personal scandal in England. For nearly three decades he meticulously restored the villa and the gardens' built features and plantings. He died in Siena in 2006. It is now available for private rental, with garden tours available by arrangement.Villacetinale.com
. accessed 8.2.2012 British writer and garden design aficionado

Harold Acton Sir Harold Mario Mitchell Acton (5 July 1904 – 27 February 1994) was a British writer, scholar, and aesthete who was a prominent member of the Bright Young Things. He wrote fiction, biography, history and autobiography. During his stay in C ...

translated the Latin inscription on Villa Cetinale as follows:

Garden

Main axis

The plan of the Villa Cetinale gardens is in the

Giardino all'italiana The Italian garden (or giardino all'italiana () is best known for a number of large Italian Renaissance gardens which have survived in something like their original form. In the history of gardening, during the Renaissance, Italy had the most ...

style, with a strong solo primary axis. It begins at the lower terminus far below the house, with a gigantic statue of

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the ...

. The axis extends across the natural and agricultural landscape, and the midway immediate villa surroundings, to its upper terminus, a hermitage—''Romitorio'' high on the hill above. On axis at the front

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loan word from the French (), which means ' frontage' or ' face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect ...

of the villa is the ''Limonaia'', a semi-walled potted

lemon The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...

garden, accented with statues by Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1644-1725) and 'Baroque style'

topiary Topiary is the horticultural practice of training perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, whether geometric or fanciful. The term also refers to plants w ...

. On axis at the rear façade a symmetrical double staircase rises to the primary villa entry, at the piano nobile ('floor one') level, following the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

custom of reserving the ground floor unnumbered for the domestic service uses. Behind the villa an avenue (''allée'') of Italian cypress (''Cupressus sempervirens'') defines the axis through gardens and fields to the base of the hill. A significant and very long stone stairway carries the axis up through the hillside's woodlands, to the focal point of the hermitage tower.

Other elements

From beside the villa a secondary axis extends northeast across a balustraded terrace, and through an

olive grove The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'M ...

to a very tall masonry bell tower, with clock. There are several original non-axial elements of the gardens. Northeast of the main axis beyond the bell tower a garden walkway proceeds around a hill, going through the 'Holy Woods' with stone statues and sculptures of animals, also by Giuseppe Mazuoli. West across the axis a long looping walkway passes through open woods past a series of religious shrines with statues. Olive groves are also part of the landscape surrounding the villa and long axis. The Lambton restoration also developed new off-axis garden terraces and flower gardens beside the villa. ;Publications Villa Cetinale was one of the 70 gardens included by Edith Wharton in her 1904 book ''Italian Villas and Their Gardens'', with illustrations and a plan of it. The garden is also included in the 1997 book ''Edith Wharton’s Italian Gardens'' by Vivian Russell, and featured on the cover.

References

External links

Villa Cetinale: website
— ''(English'')
Villa Cetinale: photo gallery
* https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Villa+Cetinale&f=hp Flickr gallery] — ''all images tagged Villa Cetinale''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cetinale Villas in the Province of Siena Italian Renaissance gardens Gardens in Tuscany Baroque architecture in Tuscany Buildings and structures in Sovicille Baroque villas Woodland gardens