Poggio a Caiano

Infobox CityIT
img_coa = PoggioaCaiano-Stemma.gif
official_name = Comune di Poggio a Caiano
region = Tuscany
province = Prato (PO)
elevation_m = 45
area_total_km2 = 5
population_as_of = January 2, 2006
population_total = 8613
population_density_km2 = 1723
timezone = CET, UTC+1
coordinates = coord|43|49|N|11|04|E
frazioni = Bonistallo
telephone = 055
postalcode = 59016
gentilic = Poggesi
saint = Santa Maria
day = First Sunday of August
mayor = Silvano Gelli (since May 25, 2003)
website = [http://www.comune.poggio-a-caiano.po.it/ comune.poggio-a-caiano.po.it]

Poggio a Caiano is a town and commune in the Province of Prato, Tuscany region Italy. The town lies 9 km south of the provincial capital of Prato.

In 1473 a ruined fortified house at Poggio a Caiano, called the Ambra, and land and a mill owned by Giovanni Rucellai, were bought by Lorenzo de’ Medici. Firstly, agricultural improvements were carried out then in 1485 work started on the Medici Villa del Poggio, the Villa on the Hill, after Giuliano da Sangallo was commissioned by Il Magnifico. Prior to the building of this villa large country dwellings were defensive, fortified and with rooms looking into a central courtyard. Built on a quadrangular base around a large central hall with rooms having windows overlooking the surrounding countryside, the Villa del Poggio was revolutionary. By Lorenzo’s death in 1492 the villa remained largely unfinished, work being resumed when Lorenzo’s youngest son, Giovanni became pope as Leo X. The central hall is named after this first Medici pope [Lapi Ballerini 'The Medici Villas'2003] . The villa was used by the Medici Grand Dukes of Tuscany and in 1587 Francis, the second Grand Duke, and Bianca Capello died at there within a day of one another after short illnesses, raising the still unsolved question of their poisoning by Francis’s brother Ferdinand who became the third Grand Duke [Young 'The Medici'] . In the 17th and 18th centuries the architects Giuseppe and Giovan Battista Ruggeri and Antonio Maria Ferri made additions to the villa and major improvements to the gardens were also carried out after it came into the ownership of Marie Louise de Bourbon, Queen of Etruria. Following the Risorgimento it was refurbished and used by King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy. The villa was donated to the Italian state in 1919. After a long period of neglect it became a national museum in 1984 and since that date has undergone restoration. It is now open to the public. The main attractions of the villa are the Pontormo frescoes depicting Vertumnus and Pomona in the main salon. Most of the interior is barren of its original furniture and its furnishings are being restored to recreate the villa as described in an inventory of 1911 when the villa was a Savoy residence [Roberta Passalacqua 'La Villa medicea di Poggio a Caiano' 2000] . The formal gardens, now somewhat wild, slope down to the River Ombrone at the rear of the villa.

ister city

Poggio a Caiano has a sister city: [cite web
title = Online Directory: Italy, Europe
work= Sister Cities International
url = http://www.sister-cities.org/icrc/directory/Europe/Italy/index
accessdate= 2008-08-04]

*flagicon|USA Charlottesville, Virginia

References