World Heritage Identification Number: 175
World Heritage since: 2013
Category: Cultural Heritage
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇮🇹 Italy
Continent: Europe
UNESCO World Region: Europe and North America
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Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany: A Legacy of Patronage and Innovation
The Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013, stand as a testament to the profound impact of the Medici family on modern European culture. These twelve villas and two gardens, built between the 15th and 17th centuries, are scattered across the picturesque Tuscan landscape, each one embodying an innovative approach to architecture, art, and the environment.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
Twelve villas and two gardens spread across the Tuscan landscape make up this site which bears testimony to the influence the Medici family exerted over modern European culture through its patronage of the arts. Built between the 15th and 17th centuries, they represent an innovative system of construction in harmony with nature and dedicated to leisure, the arts and knowledge. The villas embody an innovative form and function, a new type of princely residence that differed from both the farms owned by rich Florentines of the period and from the military might of baronial castles. The Medici villas form the first example of the connection between architecture, gardens, and the environment and became an enduring reference for princely residences throughout Italy and Europe. Their gardens and integration into the natural environment helped develop the appreciation of landscape characteristic Humanism and the Renaissance.
Encyclopedia Record: Medici villas
The Medici villas are a series of rural building complexes in Tuscany which were owned by members of the Medici family between the 15th century and the 17th century. The villas served several functions: they were the country palaces of the Medici, scattered over the territory that they ruled, demonstrating their power and wealth. They were also recreational resorts for the leisure and pleasure of their owners; and, more prosaically, they were the centre of agricultural activities on the surrounding estates. In 2013, the Medici villas were added to UNESCO's World Heritage list.Additional Site Details
Area: 125.4 hectares
(iv) — Outstanding example of a type of building or landscape
(vi) — Directly associated with events or living traditions
Coordinates: 43.8577777778 , 11.3041666667
