While the Medici dynasty centered its business and artistic patronage in Florence, in the summer, many of them decamped to the breezier hills surrounding the city.
Here, they built villas surrounded by acres of carefully tended gardens and hunting parks, where they hired the same artists, sculptors, and architects to create fantasy worlds for their seasonal pleasure.
Considered the most splendid of these Medici summer residences is Villa di Poggio a Caiano, between Florence and Pistoia, but many others are well worth a day trip from Florence.
