• Villa Fiori

    Posted on Febbraio 7, 2013 by in Monuments and Villas, Ponte a Serraglio monuments and villas

    The current appearance of Villa Fiori is the work of the engineer Paolinelli, who worked on the renovation of the building between 1916 and 1917. The building is an example of the eclectic style that is very present in the buildings of the early twentieth century. The spread of the industrialization had reduced the costs of the buildings: new techniques and new materials were used in buildings that simultaneously drew inspiration from several significant moments in the history of architecture. As if to try to summarize in new constructions all that is beautiful and important had been done over the centuries. So Villa Fiori joins neoromaniche and neo-gothic openings, while maintaining references to neoclassical. The floors of the building, which is surmounted by a loggia on the body of the building side, are marked by frames.
    The central element of the architectural composition of the garden is its relationship with the river, which marks the boundaries of the park with a bend.
    From the curious statues of swimmers, the many exotic plants and the fake medieval turrets, we understand clearly that the garden was created as a place of rest and fantastic escape in time and space.

    Historical information:

    In 1846 the villa (at the time villa Pieri) was been already rented. It was been a simple three-floors building with a square plan. In the second half of the nineteenth century the villa was purchased by Baron Fiori, who transformed it into a kind of medieval palace. A battlement was added at the top of the building and towers were built on the fence of the park. The layout of the park date back substantially to this period, although its extension to the end of the nineteenth century was lower than at present. The work of Paolinelli in 1916-1917, which gave to the house its present form, occurred while he was owner Jean Varraud, French industrialist founder of the company that ran the termal baths of Bagni di Lucca until 1968. Varraud was an admirer of Lorenzo Viani. His collection of works by the artist is the core of the Lorenzo Viani Art Gallery in Viareggio.

    Bibliography

    – B. Cherubini, I Bagni di Lucca, Maria Pacini Fazzi, Lucca,1998