For sale this castle credited to Filippo Brunelleschi, in Tuscany.
What was Filippo Brunelleschi doing in 1424 while he was building the dome of the Florence Duomo? According to Professor Massimo Ricci, one of the leading international experts in the study of the architectural style of the Renaissance genius, he was building a huge castle in Tuscany for the pucci family .
At the beginning of the 15th century, it was the prodigious architect who was in charge of planning and designing for the Repubblica Fiorentina the military fortifications near Florence . A way of defending the nation from attack by enemies that Florentine noble families would have been forced to copy. And who better than Brunelleschi, the only active military building expert, to raise their private walls, towers and battlements?
This detail –as well as some architectural peculiarities located by the academician in the castle– makes the luxury real estate agency Lionard Luxury Real Estate affirm that the Castello Di Oliveto, that it has for sale among the exclusive properties of its extensive portfolio, was the work of the Italian architect.
The property also contains a 17th century villa and a chapel in the woods.
INIMITABLE FEATURES
There are several clues that have helped Massimo Ricci when it comes to attributing this unique 35,000 m2 construction to Brunelleschi.
On one side it is a building totally built in bricks and with the same perfect 'technology' used in the dome of the Duomo. The use of lighter materials, such as red brick, to the detriment of heavy stone is a uniqueness of Brunelleschi.
In addition, inside the castle there are numerous pieces of furniture and architectural structures made in the perfect style of Brunelleschi, still little imitated at the beginning of the 1400s, since in reality he was still a pioneer in breaking with the classic schemes of Gothic architecture.
The ultimate test, according to the scholar, is a strange passageway built using an ingenious fastening system that makes it not collapse and that apparently only someone with as much mathematical knowledge as Brunelleschi would have been able to devise.
he would be too demonstrated the direct contact between Filippo Brunelleschi and the Pucci family because Giovanni de Antonio Pucci, the brother of the castle's first owner, was the supplier of the lime and stone powder used to build the dome of Florence's iconic cathedral.
Inside the castle there are details typical of Brunelleschi's style.
THE PROPERTY
In excellent condition, the castle is part of an estate that has 25 country houses, a hamlet with a 17th-century villa and a chapel in the woods; also with 1,200 hectares of agricultural land made up of vineyards and olive groves. "Is about one of the most prestigious properties ever put up for sale ”, confirms Dimitri Corti, president of Lionard Luxury Real Estate.
Among the historical curiosities of the property, the passage of three Popes through the castle: Leo X, Clement VII and Paul III Farnese. Other illustrious visitors were Lorenzo the Magnificent, the Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinand III and the King of Italy Vittorio Emanuele III. And in 1944 General Mark Clark used it as a military command during the liberation of Italy in World War II.
Detail of a dome decorated with frescoes in Brunelleschi's castle.