What is Cerreto Guidi known for?

One of the twelve villas inscribed in 2013 as Medici Villas and Gardens of Tuscany, built as Cosimo I's hunting residence. Four symmetric stair ramps attributed to Bernardo Buontalenti, raising the villa above the village on a scenographic basement. Daughter of Cosimo I, strangled in this villa in July 1576 by her husband Paolo Giordano Orsini; the room is shown to visitors.

Where is Cerreto Guidi?

Cerreto Guidi is a comune in the province of Firenze, Tuscany region of Italy, about 43 kilometers from Firenze.

Tuscany · Firenze

Cerreto Guidi

The Medici hunting villa above the Padule di Fucecchio, where Cosimo I sent his court for the marshland game and Buontalenti built four ramps of stairs.

43 km / 27 mi

Nearest hub (Firenze)

10,678

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Cerreto Guidi sitsabove the Padule di Fucecchio, thirty kilometers west of Florence, on the old hunting grounds of the Counts Guidi and later the Medici. Cosimo I commissioned the Villa Medicea here between 1564 and 1567 as a hunting lodge and territorial outpost over the marsh. The villa is mounted on a scenographic base of four symmetrical ramps of stairs, the ponti medicei, traditionally attributed to Bernardo Buontalenti, designed to raise the perspective plane and the level of the entrance. In 2013 the villa entered the UNESCO list of Medici Villas and Gardens of Tuscany along with twelve others, and it remains one of the few permanently open as a museum, housing the Museo Storico della Caccia e del Territorio since 2002. The Via Francigena passes a few kilometers south. Isabella de' Medici, daughter of Cosimo I, was strangled in this villa by her husband Paolo Giordano Orsini in July 1576.

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Gallery

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Known for

Villa Medicea di Cerreto Guidi
Hunting villa built for Cosimo I de' Medici between 1564 and 1567, UNESCO World Heritage since 2013, holding the Museo Storico della Caccia.
Ponti Medicei
Four symmetric ramps of stairs attributed to Buontalenti, supporting the villa above the village and forming its scenographic base.
Museo Storico della Caccia e del Territorio
Hunting and local history museum housed in the villa since 2002, with weapons, prints and documents from the Medici hunting grounds.
Chiesa di San Leonardo
Parish church next to the villa, founded in the medieval period and remodeled under the Medici, with later Baroque additions.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June is the easiest time to walk the village and the villa garden, with the Padule di Fucecchio at its greenest. September and October dry the marsh, the harvest in the surrounding Chianti Montalbano vineyards runs through late September. July and August are hot in the lower Arno plain and the villa is the cool place to be; visitor numbers peak around mid-August. November through March is quiet, the villa open year-round on a winter schedule. The Festa del Vino della Carmignano-Cerreto runs in early September. The villa keeps Monday closures except in peak summer.