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Summary of History and Architecture
Villa Pitiana is situated at 430m above sea level and its imposing structure divides the last olive groves of Valdarno from the centuries-old trees of the Vallombrosa.
On 3rd July 1039 the Abbess Itta of the convent of S. Ellero donated the land in Vallombrosa to S. Giovanni Gualberto but to maintain them had to add a farm with vegetable garden and vines in Pitiana.
Halfway through the 13th century Pitiana's strategic position made it a bone of contention in the Florentine Guelph-Ghibelline struggles.
The oldest part of Villa Pitiana, dating back to the 14th century, is certainly a "casa da signore" as these fortified buildings were called, characterised by the presence of a high tower not unlike the tower-houses of S.Gimignano.
In the summer of 1483 Lorenzo il Magnifico de' Medici tried in vain to purchase Villa Pitiana from General Biagio Milanesi. From the 15th to the 17th centuries, Tuscan agriculture underwent one of its most difficult periods. Political power was now under the control of merchants and bankers and commercial activity was subsidised to the detriment of farming. |
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