Villa Il Palagio is a villa and farm estate in

Figline Valdarno Figline Valdarno () is a ''frazione'' in the ''comune'' of Figline e Incisa Valdarno in the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, located about southeast of Florence. It is the birthplace of Marsilio Ficino. It was a s ...

, in the

province of Florence The province of Florence ( it, provincia di Firenze) was a province in the northeast of Tuscany region of Italy. The city or ''comune'' of Florence was both the capital of the Province of Florence, and of the Region of Tuscany. It had an area of ...

in the

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region

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

. The estate has belonged to the musician Sting and his wife

Trudie Styler Trudie Styler (born 6 January 1954) is an English actress and film producer. Early life and family Styler was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, the daughter of Pauline and Harry Styler, a farmer and factory worker. When Styler was two years ...

since the late 1990s.

History

Il Palagio was built in the 17th century. In the late 18th century it was bought by the wealthy Martelli family. They sold it in 1819 to Countess Carlotta Barbolani of Montauto, the widow of the Duke of San Clemente and it remained in this family's hands for some 150 years. In the early 20th century, Duke Simone Vincenzo Velluti Zati di San Clemente was responsible for building an oil mill and grain store and beginning to produce wine in its vineyards. A chapel was added in 1958. The estate was purchased by Sting and his wife

in 1999. When the couple bought the villa it was in a state of disrepair and they hired architect Arabella Lennox-Boyd to carry out a full restoration of the estate, which took seven years. On 11 September 2001, Sting and a large ensemble of musicians recorded the live album '' All This Time'' at the villa on the same day at the

September 11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

. Sting's song "

Fragile Fragile or The Fragile may refer to: Film and television * ''Fragile'' (film), a 2005 film by Jaume Balagueró * "Fragile" (''Smallville''), a television episode Literature * ''Fragile'' (manga), a 2016 Japanese series by Bin Kusamizu and Sab ...

" was dedicated the victims of the attacks. In 2009, winter photography of the grounds covered in snow was taken for Sting's album release that year, '' If on a Winter's Night...''. Both that and his 2006 album ''

Songs from the Labyrinth ''Songs from the Labyrinth'' is the eighth studio album by British singer-songwriter Sting. On this album, he collaborates with Bosnian lutenist Edin Karamazov. The album features music by John Dowland (1563–1626), a lutenist and songwrit ...

'' were written at the estate. The second phase of rehearsals for

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took place over the course of four weeks at the estate in the spring of 2007. Sting and Trudie often host parties and private concerts for friends and family at Il Palagio.

Features

The villa was built in the 16th-century Tuscan style and the estate contains four guesthouses and two annexes to the main villa, which can accommodate up to 50 guests, and up to 500 guests for wedding receptions and parties. The estate has a life-size chessboard, a treehouse overlooking a lake, a chapel and a giant statue of Buddha, a yoga centre, a tennis court, and a swimming pool.

Produce

The estate, of some 350 hectares, is run by Paolo Rossi and his brother Joe who is the head chef. Gluten-free breads and pizzas are on the menu. The estate is a producer of wine, honey, cherries, apricots, peaches and olive oil. It has been making organic olive oil since 1999. As of 2014, the estate produces six different wines.

References

{{coord, 43.6969003, 11.4477724, type:landmark, display=title Villas in Tuscany Farms in Italy Buildings and structures in the Metropolitan City of Florence