The estate of Torre a Cona
Past, present and future
history
Torre a Cona is one of the most beautiful and sumptuous eighteenth-century villas in central Italy.
The first document attesting the existence of a settlement in Torre a Cona dates back to 1066 AD Not yet structured as now, it was known as the Quona Castle. Leveled to the ground, with the exception of the great tower of the twelfth century, it was rebuilt between the twelfth century and 1750.
At the end of 1800 Torre a Cona had on the estate and in the castle, the historic windmills, as evidenced by the representations in various paintings. It was then that the Marquis Rinuccini built the castle as it is now. The Rinuccini, the historic Florentine family, enriched with trade, saw prominent members in various disciplines and it deserves to be mentioned Ottavio Rinuccini, a music writer of the sixteenth century, who wrote "Daphne" and "Dance of the ungrateful" for two giants of the music world, Jacopo Peri and Claudio Monteverdi.
In the mid-nineteenth century, the Rinuccini family gave their possessions to the Marquis Trivulzio of Milan who thirty-four years later, in 1882, gave them to the Baron Padoa. The last change of ownership occurred in 1935, when the villa passed to the Counts Rossi of Montelera.
During the Second World War the house was first headquarters for the Germans and then in the summer of 1944 it passed hands to the British, who used it as a hospital.
Various works of art of Michelangelo and Donatello were protected in the cellars of Torre a Cona during the war, including the statues of the Medici Chapels and of the Duomo of Florence. The knowledge that these works of art were present saved Torre a Cona from the bombing.
After the Second World War the Rossi family of Montelera retook possession of the estate and undertook the restoration and maintenance continued until today. The new generation has undertaken a tourism and wine project to share this magnificent estate with tourists visiting Florence and Tuscany.
https://www.torreacona.com/
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