Garden of the Medici Villa of Castello

The Medici Villa of Castello is one of the oldest suburban residences of the Medici family, who owned it from as early as 1477. A favourite of Cosimo I, it received special attention, and its garden, designed in 1538—a year after the young duke's rise to power—was conceived to celebrate the prince's power through the symbolism of its statues, fountains, and grottos. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013, the Villa is now home to the Accademia della Crusca, while the splendid monumental garden is state-owned.

A BRIEF HISTORY
The overall project was entrusted to Niccolò Pericoli, known as "il Tribolo," who was also responsible for creating the impressive hydraulic system that channelled water from the Castellina spring above to supply the garden's numerous fountains. As for the creator of the garden's complex iconographic program—intended to exalt the pacifying role and enlightened rule of the new Medici government over Tuscany—scholars lean towards various figures, including Benedetto Varchi, Luca Martini, or Niccolò Martelli.

Highlights of the rich and elaborate decorative project developed by Tribolo, along with Pierino da Vinci and other artists, can be found along the central axis of the Italian-style garden behind the villa. These include the Fountain of Hercules and Antaeus (the structure by Tribolo and Pierino da Vinci is now a copy, crowned by the bronze group by Bartolomeo Ammannati, the original of which can be admired in a room of the nearby Villa della Petraia); the Venus/Fiorenza by Giambologna, which once completed the so-called Fountain of the Labyrinth (also from Castello but moved to Petraia during the Lorraine era); and the extraordinary Grotto of the Animals or of the Deluge. Among the most famous in Europe, the grotto was designed by Tribolo himself. Originally animated by spectacular water features, it perfectly simulates a natural cave where sculptural groups of animals in polychrome marbles are assembled. It plays a central symbolic role in the complex allegory created in this garden for Cosimo and his successors.

In the "selvatico," or woodland area, of holm oaks, oaks, and cypresses that extends across the upper section—transformed into an English-style park in the first half of the 19th century—stands the large reservoir basin created by Vasari and decorated with The Apennines or January, a bronze sculpture by Ammannati.