History

The Villa Medicea arose in Buti from the ruins of an ancient fortress from the year 1000. It was the residence of the administrators of the grand Dukedom of the Medicis : here the captains from the city of Florence had a strong hold with it’s tower built in 1556 and a residence in which they could also reside during the periods of the hunt.

This building was then enlarged towards the end of the 1600’s by Pier Maria di Domenico Petracchi, who was already residing in the castle Tonini as the administrator of the Medicea farm property at Cascine di Buti . In 1706 Giovanni Mattia Berti bought from Petracchi the prestigious Villa Medicea.
The Villa was like a little city: Villa, church, stables, garden, vegetable gardens , and orchards. The typology of the Villa during the 1700 ‘s had the double function of residence and controll of agricultural productions.

With the passing of ownership from Giovanni Mattia Berti to Santi Banti in 1767, the Villa’s then moulting aspect changed as did it’s role and name to better represent the flourishing times and social standing of the new owner the Villa became known as “Villa Delizia”. It was richly redecorated internally by the Florentine artist “Pietro Giarrè” ( he also decorated the Certosa of Calci internally ). Ownership changed over time to the Danielli family and then to the Spigai family.