The Villa Medici: A Tale of Two Villas
subject: Houses and Gardens
description: Purchased by Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici in 1576, the Villa Medici can be understood as a tale of two villas. One is a traditional urban palace with a stoic, regimented front facade (pictured here). The other is a true garden villa demarcated by the building's elaborate back façade, which features multiple Romanesque statues, arches and columns. The Villa was clearly more of an urban palace than a garden villa prior to 1576, as Ferdinando undertook a sizable development project with the aim of more fully integrating the Villa into nature. He enlisted the help of his old friend Bartolomeo Ammanati, who drew inspiration from the contemporary gardens at the Villa d'Este to guide the additions to the Villa Medici. The additions amounted to “the distinctive attic and twin towers, the gallery wing, the Serlian loggia, the elevated appartamento nobile, and the decorated [back] facade” (Andres, 282). What Ferdinando de' Medici achieved through his additions to the Villa were profound aesthetic changes which, in the words of Glenn Andres, “converted a fairly conservative and static mid-century suburban villa into a striking new statement in massing and unity...In short, Ferdinando de' Medici got maximum effect for his minimal effort, radically altering the appearance of the villa and thrusting it to the forefront of contemporary design” (Andres, 283).
creator: Tanner Fliss (2016)
source: Glenn M. Andres, “The Villa Medici in Rome: The Projects of 1576”, Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, 19. Bd., H. 2 (1975), pp. 277-302.
type: Place
coverage: 1500s