This 18th-century palazzo, surrounded by large agricultural outbuildings and complemented by a graceful Italian secret garden, is set in a vast 19th-century park home to centuries-old trees.
Property of the Fantini, a family of jurists and lawyers, and originally erected during the 17th century at the centre of their extensive estate, Palazzo Fantini acquired its current shape in the mid-18th century. The Art Nouveau decor of some of the rooms dates to the 19th century when also the garden layout was defined, with its many sectors laid out on terreplein areas, terraces, ramps and staircases. The Italian style formal garden, with box-hedge delimited flowerbeds, is positioned at level with the piano nobile, the building’s first floor, with a staircase leading down to the main entrance hall. More recent is the trapezoid-shaped aromatic herb garden also delimited by box hedging. The part of the garden climbing up towards the hill is an example of Romantic landscaping with rockery steps, hidden paths lined with Stachys lanata (lamb’s-ear), dahlias, begonias, irises, and lantanas. Further up the hills is a tee grove with Lebanese cedars, chestnut trees, holm oaks, oak trees, acacias, and lime trees, with an undergrowth of daises, primroses, camelias and rhododendrons.
Highlights
Museum of Rular Life
The stables and other outbuildings are home to a thematic display of records, tools, machineries documenting the predominantly agricultural identity of the area.
The Palazzo
The imposing 18th-century facade commissioned by Lorenzo Maria Fantini harmoniously combines the prospects of the pre-existent 16th- and 17th-century buildings. Over the centuries, the earlier halls have seen the addition of later Gothic Revival and Art Nouveau spaces, such as the glassed elevated passageway, originally a winter garden.
The Limonaia
Particularly distinctive among the outbuildings is the “Limonaia”, a lemon tree greenhouse with wide arched windows and climbing roses, overlooking the formal garden. The other outbuildings on the property feature a red a yellow striped motif.