Villa Gamberaia

Villa Gamberaia is a 14th-century Tuscan villa near Settignano, outside Florence, which is famous for its 18th-century terraced garden. [A garden plan and schematic view from was illustrated by Margherita Azzi Visentini, "The Italian Garden in America 1890s-1920s", in Irma B. Jaffe, ed. "The Italian Presence in American Art, 1860-1920" (Fordham University Press) 1989. [http://www.villagamberaia.com Villa Gamberaia] ] The beauty of the setting was praised by Edith Wharton, [Miss Wharton called it "probably the most perfect example even in Italy of great effect on a small scale" in her book designed to inculcate a more nuanced appreciation of Italian garden art among Americans, "Italian Villas and Their Gardens".] who saw it after years of tenant occupation with its parterre planted with roses and cabbages, and by Georgina Masson, [Georgina Masson, "Italian Gardens" pp 92-99.] who saw it restored by Sig. Marcello Marchi from its Second World War ruination [The Villa was burnt out by the retreating Germans.] to the immaculately clipped and tailored condition in which it thrives today.

History

The villa was originally a farmhouse; it was owned by Matteo Gamberelli, a stonemason, at the beginning of the fifteenth century. His sons Giovanni and Bernardo [Bernardo Rosselino built the Palazzo Piccolomini and other structures at Pienza for Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, Pope Pius II.] became famous architects under the name of Rossellino. After Bernardo's son sold it to Jacopo Riccialbani in 1597, the house was greatly enlarged, then almost completely rebuilt by the following owner, Zenobi Lapi; [Georgina Masson noted that an inscription stone dated 1610 and claiming that Lapi "founded" the villa was unearthed in the garden in 1900.] documents of his time mention a "limonaia" and the turfed bowling green that is part of the garden layout today.

In 1717 La Gamberaia passed to the Capponi family. Andrea Capponi laid out the long bowling green, planted cypresses, especially in a long allée leading to the monumental fountain enclosed within the "bosco", and peopled the garden with statues, as can be seen in an etching by Giuseppe Zocchi dedicated to marchese Scipione Capponi, [It was included in Zocchi's "Vedute delle Ville, e d'altri luogi della Toscana" (Florence, 1754).] which shows the cypress avenue half-grown and the bowling green flanked by mature trees that have since gone. The villa already stood on its raised platform, extended to one side, where the water parterre is today. The parterre was laid out with clipped "broderies" in the French manner in the eighteenth century, as a detailed estate map described by Georgina Masson demonstrates. Olive groves have always occupied the slopes below the garden, [Georgina Masson remarked on "the olive groves and vineyards that, as in Pliny's Tuscan villa, come close up to the house" (Masson, p. 96.)] which has a distant view of the roofs and towers of Florence.

The monumental fountain set into a steep hillside at one lateral flank of this terraced garden has a seated god flanked by lions in stucco relief in a niche decorated with pebble mosaics and rusticated stonework.

The preservation of the garden at Villa Gamberaia Edith Wharton astutely attributed to its "obscure fate" during the nineteenth century, when more prominent gardens with richer owners in more continuous attendance had their historic features improved clean away. Shortly after Wharton saw it, the villa was purchased in 1895 by Princess Jeanne Ghyka, sister of Queen Natalia of Serbia, [Masson, p.96;] who lived here with her American companion, Miss Blood, and thoroughly restored it; [Janet Ross, in "Florentine Villas", 1901, reported that she was "restoring the beautiful old-fashioned garden to its pristine splendor with infinite patience and taste" Ross illustrated her remarks on Villa Gamberaia with the Zocchi etching.] . It was she who substituted pools of water for the parterre beds.

During the Second world war the villa was almost completely destroyed. Marcello Marchi restored it after the war, using old prints, maps and photographs for guidance.

Notes

References

* Ramsay, A., and Attlee, H. "Italian Gardens", Robertson McCarta, London 1989.

External links

* [http://catena.bgc.bard.edu/gamberaia/text.htm Patricia Osmond, "Villa Gamberaia, Settignano"] With bibliography.