Description of the attraction
Palazzo al Borgo di Corliano is a luxury villa located in the valley between Pisa and Lucca, near the Tuscan Riviera. The small resort town of San Giuliano Terme is 2 km away. The villa was one of many palaces built by the Pisan merchants as a summer residence on the fertile western slopes of Monte Pisano.
On either side of the villa, decorated with typical 16th century Florentine Mannerist graffiti depicting harpies, fruit baskets, flower wreaths, birds and other symbols allegorically representing Strength, Wealth and Fortune, there is a farm and churn built at the end 17th century. In 1755, on the occasion of the wedding of Maria Teresa Ottavia della Seta Gaetani Bocca and Count Cosimo Baldassare Agostini Venerosi, the villa was renovated according to the project of the architect from Verona Ignazio Pellegrini.
In the spacious lobby today you can see several 18th century marble busts depicting Roman emperors, and the vaults are painted with mythological subjects - there Paris bestows fruit on Venus. In the side ovals are images of the Pisa Cathedral, the original view of the villa itself, the Piana della Croce mountain, two unknown castles and portraits of the rulers. The vault of the central hall is decorated with a fresco by the Florentine artist Andrea Boscoli, who painted the months of the year and the signs of the zodiac in allegorical form, while the walls are painted with 18th century frescoes attributed to Natili and Matraini. The private park of 4 hectares surrounding the villa has changed its layout several times over the centuries in accordance with the trends of the era. The garden got its present appearance in the 19th century.
The very town of Corliano, in which the Palazzo is located, is part of an extensive suburban real estate complex consisting of an antique villa, an aristocratic chapel, a farm, a churn, stables, a park, rural lands and a powerful wall-fence, which was always guarded because of its historical and artistic value.
