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Palazzo Pfanner is in Lucca, among the bastions of the XVI century walls, and owes its name to the last and current owners, who still live there.

It was built in 1660 by the Moriconi family, silk merchants, and patricians of Lucca, then enlarged and renovated by the next owners, the Contronis, from 1680 on.
They entrusted the construction of a majestic monumental staircase to the architect Domenico Martinelli (1650-1718) from Lucca. At the beginning of the XVIII century, the architect Filippo Juvarra (1678-1736) from Messina, was asked to redevelop the garden.

Until the second half of the XIX century, the Palace remained the property of the Controni family, who, to remedy their economic difficulties, rented part of the rooms to the Mutual Teaching Schools and the Assize Court.

In 1846, Felix Pfanner (1818-1892) a Bavarian family of beer producers, rented the garden and the cellars of the Palace to house their brewing equipment; then, over time, they bought the entire property which became the Pfanner brewery. It was the first establishment of its kind in the Duchy of Lucca and in Italy – it soon became an important landmark for all the citizens and the foreigners as well. After decades of activity, the brewery was closed in 1929.

The Palace is still owned by the Pfanner family, who have opened it to the public and currently organize many public events. In the central hall, there is a permanent exhibition of medical-surgical tools and ancient medical texts that belonged to Pietro Pfanner (1864-1935), a surgeon, a philanthropist, and the mayor of Lucca from 1920 to 1922.

THE GARDEN

Attributed to the architect Filippo Juvarra (1678-1736), it is a wonderful example of an Italian Baroque garden inserted in medieval Lucca. It was built among the monumental staircase of the Palace, the lemon house to the north, and the two bamboo groves, along a central axis with a large octagonal basin surrounded by XVIII century statues of Greek gods.
The ornamental plants include palms, pines, boxwood, and laurel hedges, yews, magnolias, peonies, hydrangeas, camellias, roses, and a hundred ancient lemon trees placed along the two central avenues

The famous Pfanner Brewery: it covered a huge part of the garden from the second half of the XIX century to 1929 – there are still several ice huts, masonry tanks, and, behind a high laurel hedge, the actual factories.

Some scenes of famous films were shot in the garden of Palazzo Pfanner, such as “Il Marchese del Grillo”, starring Alberto Sordi, and “Portrait of a Lady”, starring Nicole Kidman.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)