Tuscan villa rentals - Villa Gamberaia, Florence, Tuscany

Searching for Tuscan villa rentals? The Villa Gamberaia, Florence, Tuscany is one of the premier villas in the region ... a beautiful Renaissance house, sitting within spectacular gardens.

From the moment you pass the gate, with cypresses standing sentinel, the impression is one of perfect loveliness. Your search for an Italian villa has come to an end. Villa Gamberaia is set in the hills of Tuscany, close to Florence, yet immersed in the tranquility of the countryside. The house also enjoys an exceptional position overlooking the city of Florence and the Arno valley.

This is a combination of comfort, peace and elegance. Stroll through the celebrated Renaissance gardens; contemplate the beauty of the garden design and its unique setting in the Tuscan landscape. Rich in history, Villa Gamberaia discloses its charms little by little to those who allow themselves the time to look, think and explore.

The reception rooms within the villa may be rented for conventions and exhibitions and smaller houses on the property have been transformed into fully furnished guest houses and apartments, available for short-term stays.

Set on the hillside of Settignano, with extraordinary views of Florence and the surrounding Arno valley, the Villa Gamberaia, Florence, Tuscany is renowned for its splendid gardens, celebrated throughout the world by leading landscape architects and garden historians.

Completed in the early seventeenth century by the Florentine noble Zanobi Lapi in the Tuscan style, the villa combines the architectural features of an urban palazzo and suburban villa. In the eighteenth century the property belonged to the Marchesi Capponi. By that time the house and gardens had acquired the characteristic elements seen in the famous engraving by Giuseppe Zocchi (1744): the row of cypresses, the bowling green, nymphaeum, grotto garden, parterre and lemon terrace.

At the end of the nineteenth century, Princess Giovanna Ghika began the transformation of the parterre de broderie into the beautiful parterre d'eau, enclosed at its southern end by a majestic cypress arcade. Elegant topiary art was created by the American-born Mathilda Ledyard Cass, later Baroness von Ketteler. After the Second World War, the villa became the property of Marcello Marchi and then of his heirs Luigi Zalum and family, who have continued the work of restoration and conservation.

Edith Wharton wrote of the gardens at the Villa Gamberaia, Florence, Tuscany in her work, Italian Villas (London, 1903), describing them as ‘probably the most perfect example of the art of producing a great effect on a small scale ... because it combines in an astonishingly small space, yet without the least sense of overcrowding, almost every typical excellence of the old Italian garden: free circulation of sunlight and air about the house; abundance of water; easy access to dense shade; sheltered walks with different points of view; variety of effect produced by the skilful use of different levels; and, finally, breadth and simplicity of composition.’

S. Latham, in The Gardens of Italy (London, Hudson and Keane, 1905) also wrote of the gardens. “If you get pure beauty, you get about the best thing God has to give.” Long ago, so spoke an old painter, and his words came back to me again and yet again as on a June afternoon I strayed in Villa Gamberaia. From the moment you pass the gate, with its sentinel cypresses, the impression is one of such perfect loveliness that at last by force of contrast, the mind goes back to strong Caprarola or tragic Este, only to turn once more to bathe in the perfection of the Tuscan villa. Gamberaia stands on a long narrow piece of land; it is not large, but it is utilised and managed so as to give all that the mind can desire of variety, and space itself.’

Just two of the many writers who have been transported by the Villa Gamberaia and its gardens ... and who have committed their thoughts to print. Today, the villa and its houses and apartments offer the modern visitor similar delights — the villa is modernised certainly, but unchanged and unspoiled.