According to the 2021 I Luoghi del Cuore survey, promoted by  Fondo Ambiente Italiano, the famous Castle of Sammezzano, a colorful gem set in the Valdarno area, is one of Italy’s most beloved places, second only to the Cuneo-Ventimiglia-Nice railway (the Castle of Brescia is placed third, while Pisa’s Guglielmo Marconi radio-telegraphic station comes second on the Tuscan results list).

The vast castle dominates the southern side of the Mount of Vallombrosa , in the Reggello area, just 30 kilometers away from Florence and steps from the luxury outlet The Mall Firenze.

A place full of magic and charm, evoking far-away countries and legendary stories. Behind the austere walls lies, in fact, a fortress whose colors and Moorish-style decorations looking like delicate lace embroideries make it a place of extraordinary beauty.

In the 1800s, Ferdinando Panciatichi Ximenes d’Aragona, a Tuscan aristocrat having many interests, remodeled the Castle into an example of early seventeenth-century architecture, being both the client and architect for the new design.

The result was an amazing- and the very first- example of Moorish art in Tuscany.

Every single room and hall, every entrance and corridor, is decorated beautifully. From the whiteness of the White Room, to the explosion of colors in the Peacock Room and the Lovers Room, which features a perfect blend of both aspects. A journey through the finest inlaid work, Chinese-style decorations and mosaics which seem straight out of the famous Alhambra Palace in Granada. A work of eclecticism and wonder, full of literary and stylistic contamination.

Equally amazing is the 65-hectare historic park planted with different species of exotic plants, which increase the feeling of being somewhere totally new and unexplored, peculiar to this incredible place.

Castello di Sammezzano
Leccio, Reggello (FI)
www.sammezzano.info