The Villa Corsini in Castello, close to the famous Medici Villa La Petraia, was purchased in 1697 by the Counsellor to the Grand Duke Cosimo III de’ Medici, Filippo Corsini. Corsini then entrusted the renovation to Giovan Battista Foggini (1652-1725), architect and sculptor to the Grand Duke, so that it has an unusual (for Florence) baroque aspect.
In 1968 the villa was donated to the Italian State. Since the late 1980s the villa has housed a repository of archaeological exhibits belonging to the Tuscan Archaeological Superintendency and has undergone important renovation works. Some of the most important marbles from the collection of the Archaeological Museum have been set up in the salon: particularly striking are the porphyry statue of the Emperor Hadrian, unique of its kind, and that of the Peplophoros from Palazzo Cepparello, a splendid Roman replica of a Greek original from the 5th century BC.
On the first floor are visible the remains of the grave goods from the “Tomba della Mula” (Etruscan tomb dating back to late 7th century BC) and funereal sculptures from archaic Fiesole workshops, including the exceptional “Cippo di Settimello” (mid-6th century BC). Set along the walls of the courtyard are numerous Etruscan sarcophagi.
Villa Corsini a Castello
Via della Petraia, 27, 50141 Firenze FI, Italia
The access to the villa has no barriers and leads to the courtyard and the ground floor, where the visit starts. On the right-hand side of the main central door, there is a staircase equipped with a stair lift to get to the first floor. No disabled toilets.
A tactile tour is available: a series of sculptures from the Uffizi Gallery (11 busts of the late Republican/Imperial Age) displayed on the first floor.
