Staying in a Historic Hotel is always a fabulous experience: you discover a place which has so much history and art, you enjoy the pleasure of elegance, beauty and authenticity and you just feel a true aristocrat. This is what you will feel, staying at the Historic Hotel Villa le Barone. You can even sleep in the room of Marchioness Viviani Della Robbia, with its original furniture.
Since the 16th century, Villa le Barone has been in the family of the famous sculptors and ceramists Della Robbia, who were among the main players in the Italian Renaissance, a time of great cultural changes that radiated from Florence. Their works can be admired in Florence, and in many churches in Tuscany. Usually, noble Florentine families owned large properties around Florence where they were coming during the summer. Such properties were managed by a “Fattore”, living in the “Fattoria”, next to the Villa where the owners were residing. Villa le Barone was such an agricultural estate, producing wine , olive oil, wheat, and Marchesa Marie Blanche Viviani Della Robbia wrote a book “A farm in Chianti” describing the life in this estate between the first and second world wars.
It is her daughter, Duchess Franca Visconti, who, after the death of her mother, transformed Villa le Barone in a boutique hotel, keeping the original antique furniture, paintings, rare books and objects from the family’s past. Guests can choose Marchesa Viviani della Robbia room’s which has kept its original furniture. Count Corso Aloisi de Larderel, Franca Visconti’s heir is now the owner of Villa le Barone, and together with his wife Jacqueline, he is happy to tell to those who are are interested the story of the property and of the family!