Draft:Villa Bibbiani

Villa Bibbiani is a historic villa located in the municipality of Capraia e Limite, situated at 8 Via di Bibbiani.

The Villa

Villa Bibbiani is located on the southern slopes of the Montalbano hill in Capraia e Limite, near Florence. The Villa has 320 hectares of land. The Central villa has been carefully restored in 2018 and has three floors totalling 2,600 square meters: it contains 9 bedrooms 5 living rooms, a private theater, a private chapel, a SPA and many other luxury amenities and services. The villa interiors are adorned with frescoes and fine period furnishings. The Villa has also an active winery, the vineyards cover about 32 hectares of land and produce 5 different wines that are still made according to the ancient wine making techniques that were born inside the villa centuries ago.

History

Archaeological findings indicate that the area where the villa is located was an Etruscan settlement dating back to the 5th century BC. The first historical references to the villa date back to 767 AD when King Desiderius ceded the villa's original nucleus to the Benedictine monks of Pistoia, in remission of his sins.

Mentioned years later in a 1546 document as the "fief of the Frescobaldi family," the property remained with this noble family until the death of Anastasia Frescobaldi in 1809. The villa then passed into the hands of her son Cosimo Ridolfi, a politician and skilled agronomist. In the early decades of the 19th century, numerous species of plants from various climates were planted, making the villa famous for its botanical collections, enabled by the over 20 hectares available to the estate. The park, part Italian garden and part English garden, is enriched with stone furnishings, statues, and water features, including the imposing stone arch known as the "Arco dell'Uomo", the merry-go-round, the gamberaia, and the green theater.

In the first half of the 20th century, the Franchetti family built an interesting neo-Gothic stable complex. From 1936 onward, the property belonged to the Del Gratta family.

In 2018, the estate was sold to American healthcare magnate George M. Rapier III for around 10 million euros. The new owner invested in the complete restoration of the villa and park, as well as the modernization of the winery, increasing the vineyard area to 40 hectares. The property also supported cultural activities in the area, including the redevelopment of the Montereggi site, where archaeological excavations resumed in 2024 in collaboration with Florida State University.