Tuscany Driving Tour

VILLA PITIANA -  DONNINI - FLORENCE AREA

Pitiana's beauty and charm open a door to the past. The villa still retains the articulated architecture of a millenary history, from the foundation as a fortified farm, to the utilisation as Benedectine monastery and eventually to the conversion in nobleman elegant Villa in the IXth century – lately revised in to a tourist residence. Architecture, decorations and furniture maintain memory of flowing of ages and styles.

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.

Villa Pitiana owes its historical charm to its variety: each room is unique, furnished in antiques, unequalled.

The exclusive room in the Medieval Tower, Junior suites with a view over Valdarno landscape, Superior rooms with antique furniture, Classic and standard rooms, all of them offer a various range of accommodations, comfort and prices to our guests.

Additional rooms are available in the farm-houses inside Villa Pitiana estate.