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Designed by Giuliano da Sangallo for Lorenzo the Magnificent and built around 1480, this is the best known of the Medicis villas.
Preceded by a gardenredesigned in the nintheenth century, the villa with its unusual "H" -shapedground plan stands on a porticoed base. A loggia with Ionic columns and a broad pediment with a glazed terra-cotta frieze by Andrea sansovino (the original is in a room inside) is situated at the center of the harmonious classicizing facade. The double curving staircase however was added in the late eighteen century to replace the original rectilinear flights of stairs. Of particular note in the marvelously furnished interior is the splendid "Salone di Leone X" (which takes its name from the famous pope, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent) with important siwteenth-century frescoes: episodes from Roman history, with obvious allusions to the life of Lorenzo, were begun by Andrea del Sarto and finished by Alessandro Allori. The finest work, however, is the lunette frescoed by Pontormo, depicting the rural divinities Vurtumnus and Pomona, one of the masterpieces of Florentine Mannerism.