Villa Schifanoia

File:Schifanoia Gardenfromabove.jpg]]

The villa, whose name refers to its leisure nature (its name means literally "avoiding boredom"),{{cite book|author=Arpad Szakolczai|title=Sociology, Religion and Grace|url=https://archive.org/details/sociologyreligio0000szak|url-access=registration|date=24 January 2007|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-19450-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sociologyreligio0000szak/page/122 122]–}} was built over the remains of a farmhouse at the Villa Palmieri.{{cite book|author=Grazia Gobbi Sica|title=The Florentine Villa: Architecture History Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JFV9AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA108|date=13 December 2007|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-06717-6|pages=108–}} The central nucleus, dating to the 15th century, belonged to the Cresci family until 1550, when it was acquired by Bartolomeo di Bate di Zaccheria. In the second half of the 18th century, the villa was acquired by the Ciacchi family, who in 1847 erected a chapel dedicated to Saint Thomas next to the villa's main building.

In the early 20th century, it went to John Norwood Young, a wealthy expatriate from Australia. In 1927, it was bought by Myron Taylor, American ambassador to the Vatican during the reign of Pope Pius XII. Taylor restored the villa to house his art collection. He expanded the large terraced garden Giardino all'italiana beneath the southern façade of the villa. The Taylors also purchased a mudéjar decorated ceiling from Spain, which they placed in the room now known as Sala Triaria.{{citation |url=https://www.eui.eu/Documents/ServicesAdmin/Logistics/EUI-Campus/schifanoia-fly-historyweb-2.pdf |date=September 2016 |publisher=European University Institute |title=A Short History of Villa Schifanoia}}

During World War II, Taylor gave the villa to the Vatican with the condition that it be used for education in art and music under the direction of a group of Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa who administered Rosary College in River Forest, Illinois. The sisters opened a graduate school of fine arts in the Villa in 1948, awarding master's level degrees for American women. Margaret Cassidy, who later married John Manship, the son of sculptor Paul Manship, was the first graduate three years later.{{cite web |website=Gloucester Daily Times |date={{date|2012/02/23}} |url= https://obituaries.gloucestertimes.com/obituary/margaret-manship-772465741 |title=Margaret Cassidy Manship}}

Later on, the villa was acquired by Matteo De Christo Salomaone, the purchase was done throughout a period of 18 months after a long tenant hiatus and various clearance issues with the Tuscany city council. Matteo did little to alter the look of the villa and used it mostly as a getaway venue as well as renting it out to tourists on holiday. Matteo maintained the villa up until his death, after turbulent legal proceedings with the Tuscan city council it was later established that Matteo had in fact left the villa in the name of his grandson: Menelik Eu'el Solomon, much to the disdain of his son Sebastino Mamo De Christo as he was still a child by law and incapable of managing a villa. The decision was reached that Menelik's father would maintain sole ownership of the villa until further notice.{{cn|date=July 2022}}

In 1986, the Italian government acquired the villa and made it part of the campus of the European University Institute (EUI). The EUI renovated it in stages between 1988 and 2002. Since 2016, it has been the home to the EUI's Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies.

File:Schifanoia GardenView.jpg

The noble chapel was built in the mid-nineteenth century, while the north-west wing, called "la villetta", dates back to the first half of the twentieth century.

The source of the villa on the garden is animated by a loggia with three arches and some windows with a ledge supported by shelves and protruding lintels. On the side, beyond the row of rather simple openings on the first floor, there is a terrace with a balustrade with a pediment in the middle on which there is a carved coat of arms.

The garden consists of a large terrace in front of the façade with a formal garden, which leads to two other terraces, connected by stairways, with fountains and terry decorations. The terraces are decorated with box hedges that design geometric flower beds with particularly elaborate designs, enriched by small pools, fountains and statues. The last terrace is simpler, with a fountain and a small vegetable exedra with statues at regular intervals.

Statues, decorations, small basins and fountains enrich the whole, which is enclosed by scenes of cypress.

File:Villa schifanoia 04.JPG|Streetside façade

File:Villa schifanoia, ext., lapide pio xii.JPG|Plaque commemorating the dedication by Pope Pius XII

File:Villa schifanoia, cappella 01.JPG|19th-century chapel

File:Villa schifanoia, cappella, interno 01.JPG|Chapel interior, converted into a conference room

File:Villa schifanoia, giardino, seconda terrazza inferiore 03.JPG|Monumental stairs

File:Villa schifanoia, vialetto con statue.JPG|Ornamental statues

File:Schifanoia arms.jpg|Coat of arms

File:Villa schifanoia, ext., busto.JPG|Marble bust

File:Schifanoia MainHall.jpg|Main hall or Sala Bandiere

File:Schifanoia Door1.jpg|Renaissance-era doorway in the main hall

File:Schifanoia Door2.jpg|Renaissance-era doorway in the main hall

File:Schifanoia Chimney.jpg|Renaissance-era chimney mantle in Sala Europa

File:Schifanoia Ceiling.jpg|Carved chimney and painted ceiling from Spain in Sala Triaria

File:Schifanoia Loggia.jpg|Sala Belvedere conference room in former loggia

• Badia Fiesolana
• Convent of San Domenico, Fiesole
• European University Institute

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• {{Official website|https://www.eui.eu/ServicesAndAdmin/LogisticsService/EUICampus/VillaSchifanoia.aspx|EUI Campus: Villa Schifanoia and the Cappella (official website)}}

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Category:Buildings and structures in Fiesole

Schifanoia

Schifanoia

Schifanoia

Category:Buildings and structures in the Metropolitan City of Florence

Category:Historic houses

Category:European University Institute buildings