Villa Belvedere

Villa Belvedere
Crespina Tel 050-637411

The resort is located where the eponymous house takes its name from its privileged position, which gives an overview of one of the most beautiful areas of the Pisan Hills.
Built on a pre-existing fifteenth century manor house owned by the Del Carretto, Villa Belvedere was profoundly transformed since 1771 by the will of Baron Del Testa, who wanted to build a country house for hunting and administration of the estate. Among the villas of the area crespinese is one of the most remarkable for the purity of architectural style and decorative elements that adorn it.

The reconstruction, as well as relate to the residence, they realized the design and implementation of a complex of new buildings, such as the rectory (the residence of the abbot), oratorio (place of prayer open to the public), the cellar (basement, stable), bathroom (spa, lemon), the kaffee haus (Meeting Hall), the gazebo (scenic lookout in the woods) and the village (houses for farm workers, farm).
The complex has no fence or the Belvedere entrance gate. From here the difference with the other villas, usually fenced and locked and that define the border while maintaining separate people and women, as in the villas of Lucca or in those on the Pisan hills.
The villa, which is accessed through an avenue lined with cypress trees, has two square towers on the sides of the façade, divided into three levels, is characterized by simple frames horizontally, which together with windows and towers jutting side, marked by the alternation curved gables, triangular and straight, an architectural drawing of a typical mid-sixteenth century in Florence.
Otherwise, the impressive staircase with two flights, the tiles, spheres and the two fountains, located at the side of the plane on the ground, reminiscent of the construction types of noble residences of the Baroque period.
The interior has vaulted ceilings and a beautiful central hall displays paintings created over two decades from Tempesti, assisted by the virtuosity of the prospective quadraturist Tarot.
In the eastern part of the park is a small pavilion with bath tub and a marble Venus (already in the garden in Via Santa Marta Lanfranchi in Pisa), purchased by the family in 1774 and erroneously attributed to Michelangelo.
The chapel is dedicated to Santa Maria and San Ranieri and belongs, together with the nearby rectory, the Diocesan of San Miniato. Built in 1775, has three small aisles with stucco and paintings of Tempesti. Matthew designed the Tarot and its internal decorations to create a backdrop where space seems to expand, including false architecture and real structures. The rectory stands majestically in the same architectural style of the villa and was completed in 1780.