The Villa Montalvo urban park is a 19-hectare public green space just outside the centre of Campi Bisenzio, near the villa it is named after. The idea arose in 1988, when a national Festa dell'Unità was held on the land and the organisers pledged to leave behind an equipped park, a promise they were unable to keep. The town council took up the project and in 1995 bought the land between today's viale Primaldo Paolieri, the old via di Limite, the Marina stream and the A11 motorway, planting trees and building paths, bridges and a covered area.
What to see
Along the bank of the Marina lies the Ragnaia, a small dense wood of about one and a half hectares. It dates from 1760, when don Ferdinando Montalvo, owner of the villa and a keen hunter, had it created for fowling, catching birds with nets stretched between the trees that looked like spiders' webs; the same works strengthened the stream bank with a tall stone wall. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was known for hunting and was frequented by Florentine nobles in search of cool air.
Today the Ragnaia has English oaks, holm oaks, ash, elm, black poplar, robinia and tree of heaven, with an undergrowth of laurel, and starlings, hawfinches, siskins, chaffinches and bramblings can be seen there. The rest of the park has large lawns, fitness trails, sports equipment and a playground; since 2010 events have been held under a rigid wooden roof.
Visiting
The park is always open and hosts festivals, concerts, shows and summer evenings of ballroom dancing. The entrance is on via di Limite.
Our editors' tip
Since 10 June 2015 the park's central lawn has been named after Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of scouting.
