Poggio a Caiano

Poggio a Caiano
Poggio a Caiano
	— Comune —
Comune di Poggio a Caiano
	Siege at the Villa-September Feast in Poggio a Caiano
	; Coat of arms
	; Coat of arms
	Poggio a Caiano Location of Poggio a Caiano in Italy
	Coordinates: 43°49′N 11°04′E / 43.817°N 11.067°ECoordinates: 43°49′N 11°04′E / 43.817°N 11.067°E
Country	Italy
Region	Tuscany
Province	Prato (PO)
Frazioni	Bonistallo
	Government
• Mayor	Silvano Gelli (since May 25, 2003)
	Area
• Total	5 km2 (2 sq mi)
Elevation	45 m (148 ft)
	Population (January 2, 2006)
• Total	8,613
• Density	1,700/km2 (4,500/sq mi)
Demonym	Poggesi
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	59016
Dialing code	055
Patron saint	Santa Maria
Saint day	First Sunday of August
Website	Official website

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Medici villa in Poggio a Caiano

Medici Park side Bonistallo

Medici bridge in Poggetto

San Francesco church in Bonistallo

Santa Cristina church in Santa Cristina in Pilli

Villa Magra in Madonna del Violo

Ponte alla Furba

Poggio a Caiano is a town and comune in the Province of Prato, Tuscany region Italy. The town lies 9 km south of the provincial capital of Prato.

[edit] The Medici villa

In 1473 a ruined fortified house at Poggio a Caiano, called the Ambra, and land and a mill owned by Giovanni Rucellai, were bought by Lorenzo de’ Medici. First, agricultural improvements were carried out, then in 1485 work started on the Medici Villa del Poggio, the "Villa on the Hill", to designs by Giuliano da Sangallo commissioned by Lorenzo. Prior to the building of this villa large country dwellings were defensive, fortified and with rooms looking into a central courtyard. Built on a quadrangular base around a large central hall with rooms having windows overlooking the surrounding countryside, the Villa del Poggio was revolutionary. At Lorenzo’s death in 1492 the villa remained largely unfinished, work being resumed when Lorenzo’s youngest son, Giovanni became pope as Leo X. The central hall is named after this first Medici pope.^[1]

In the following century the villa was used by the Medici Grand Dukes of Tuscany; in 1587 Francis, the second Grand Duke, and Bianca Capello died at there within a day of one another after short illnesses, raising the still unsolved question of their poisoning by Francis’s brother Ferdinand, who became the third Grand Duke.^[2] In the 17th and 18th centuries the architects Giuseppe and Giovan Battista Ruggeri and Antonio Maria Ferri made additions to the villa. Major improvements to the gardens were also carried out after it came into the ownership of Marie Louise de Bourbon, Queen of Etruria. Following the Risorgimento it was refurbished and used by King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy. The villa was donated to the Italian state in 1919. After a long period of neglect it became a national museum in 1984 and since that date has undergone restoration. It is now open to the public.

The main attractions of the villa are the Pontormo frescoes depicting Vertumnus and Pomona in the main salon. Most of the interior is barren of its original furniture, and its furnishings are being restored to recreate the villa as described in an inventory of 1911, when the villa was a Savoia residence.^[3] The formal gardens, now somewhat wild, slope down to the River Ombrone at the rear of the villa.