Villas of the Pizzorne

The Pizzorne are a chain of rises, not so much high as steep, which are found to the north-east of the city of Lucca and in the north define the Lucchese plains. Since Renaissance times, some of the most noteworthy villas of the Lucchese have been built on the slopes of the Pizzorne. The position was particularly favourable due to many factors. The nature of the land and its mid-day exposure together offered the ideal conditions for agricultural cultivation, a splendid panorama and a pleasant climate. Many of these high-class residences have been built in the position that Sanminiati, author of a treatise on villas at the end of the 17th century, considered as ideal: on the boundary between plains and mountains. This guaranteed the presence of agricultural zones apt for various cultivations (grain, vines, olives) and woodland for hunting in the grounds of the villa. Such a position also offered the availability of steeply sloping water flows, useful be it for field irrigation be it for the waterworks of the fountains.