Villa I Collazzi stands at Giogoli, near Scandicci: it is a majestic Mannerist villa on a rectangular terrace at the top of a hill, built for the Florentine Dini family. The design is most probably to be credited to Santi di Tito; for a long time Michelangelo's name was also put forward, but a study in the two thousands ruled him out as architect, while allowing that Santi di Tito, who knew him, may have consulted him.
What to see
Building went ahead slowly, and for centuries the villa remained unfinished. Since 1933 it has belonged to the Marchi family, and it was then that the owner completed it by symmetrically copying the half already built, seeking the forms and materials of the period and even tracking down the old local pietra serena quarries. It is approached along a cypress avenue of 1853. The villa is U-shaped, with a raised courtyard facing Florence surrounded by a double loggia on three sides, a double impluvium with two wells and a balustraded viewpoint; on the south side two Serlian loggias flank the portal with the Dini arms. The central hall is sixteen metres high, with a barrel vault of large coffers recalling that of the Medici villa at Poggio a Caiano.
In the chapel, frescoed by Lorenzo del Moro, Rinaldo Botti and Vincenzo Meucci, is the altarpiece of the Marriage at Cana painted by Santi di Tito in 1593, considered one of his masterpieces: it celebrates the wedding of Agostino II Dini and Ginevra Bandini Baroncelli, set in a portico recalling the villa's loggia, and the painter included himself among the guests.
Visiting
The villa is privately owned: whether it can be visited should be checked beforehand.
Our editors' tip
In the lawn near the entrance avenue is the swimming pool designed in 1938 by the landscape architect Pietro Porcinai, then a young man: it is in yellow and grey quartzite, edged with pietra serena, and was placed so that the villa's façade would be reflected in the water.
