Vegetazione Parco Migliarino, San Rossore, Massaciuccoli (L. Corevi, Comune di Pisa)
Coltano estate
Vegetazione Parco Migliarino, San Rossore, Massaciuccoli (L. Corevi, Comune di Pisa)Medicean Villa of Coltano:Cosimo I de’ Medici began in 1558 to reclaim this area by building the Bocchette ditch. Starting from a residence probably built around the year 1000, in the current Palazzi locality, where a column near the church and the perimeter walls inside the building still remain, Cosimo I built this estate which was important from the agricultural standpoint for the production of cereals and dairy products. In 1586, Bernardo Buontalenti designed the villa, which functioned as the administrative centre of the area. The construction is characterised by the presence of fortifications, with four turrets at the corners, and was often used as a hunting lodge, so much so that the estate was later included among the eight ducal bandite, together with Poggio Imperiale, Casine dell'Isola, Cafaggiolo, Migliarino, San Rossore and Tombolo. The Lorraines, who came into possession of the Medici patrimony in 1737, enlarged and embellished the building, also using it as a place of representation. For a certain period, the breed of highly prized horses, commissioned by the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo, was practised on the estate, which was however mainly kept as a hunting reserve. After belonging to the Savoy family and later to the Italian State, it was donated, together with other estates between Pisa and Livorno, to the Opera Nazionale Combattenti: it was this body that completed, between 1920 and 1933, the reclamation of the area for agricultural exploitation. Later the villa was sold, and it is currently owned by the Municipality of Pisa. The villa has undergone a recent renovation, which has restored the white colour of the external plasters, in the style of the well-established tradition of Medicean villas. The villa is open to the public and numerous activities take place in its park.
