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Villa Chigi in Vicobello is on the top of a steep ridge outside Siena. Built during the Renaissance period, allegedly based on a design by Baldassarre Peruzzi (Sovicille, 7 March 1481 – Rome, 6 January 1536, architect, painter, set designer and military engineer), it has always belonged to the Chigi-Zondadari family.

THE VILLA

With a rectangular shape, it has a façade slightly overhanging in the center, with three arches on the ground floor – now closed – and three windows on the two upper floors. The sides of the building were also built in the same way.

THE GARDEN

It was developed on several terraces, connected by flights of stairs connecting the ground floor of the villa with the fruit garden. There’s a succession of terraces on two sides, a “lemon garden”, accessed through a beautiful gate and fitted with a winter shelter for the trees, a “pomarium”, the “azalea garden”, some oval flower beds with perennial and seasonal plants depicting the family’s coat of arms, a vegetable garden for botanical experiments, and a crescent-shaped fish pond.

To the East, the first lower terrace houses the lemon garden: it is divided into four large flowerbeds, decorated with an ancient collection of oranges and lemons in large terracotta basins, and ends with an exedra and a central arch framed by some cypresses. On the lower floor, the “pomarium” is also divided into geometric flower beds and hosts fruit trees.
On the second lower terrace, there’s the “azalea garden”, cultivated with cut flowers, including calla lilies and zinnias, camellias, oleanders, a palm and several papyrus plants.

On the first terrace, known as the “pratini”, some lime trees grew until 1963: they were later eliminated to recreate the wondrous perspective view opening onto the valley, and replaced with large wisteria decorations along the perimeter wall. A double flight of stairs leads to the “botanical garden”, built in the second half of the XIX century by Bonaventura Chigi – it used to house a vegetable garden in the XVI century. The space, now featuring several flower beds, is bordered by stones and shaded by a maidenhair tree (Gingko biloba) and a Lebanon cedar (Cedrus libani). In the past, this garden was used to experiment with new exotic species for ornamental purposes.). In the background, there’s a hemicycle fishpond over imposed on the scenic sight of the surrounding landscape. Then, there’s the “azalea garden” on the last terrace to the east, accessible through a secret door lined with rocks.
To the north, in front of the main entrance of the villa, a gate leads to a path into the woods.

Villa Chigi in Vicobello is available for weddings and private functions.

Photo source: Facebook page of Villa Chighi.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)