Castello di Pastine

Villa di Pastine (or Castello di Pastine) is a 15th century late Renaissance villa with 17th century Baroque additions surrounded by Italian gardens, vineyards producing denominazione di origine controllata e garantita (DOCG) wines and olive groves in Tuscany, Italy. The property is located in the hamlet of Pastine near Sant‘Appiano. The property is best known for its incredible bird’s-eye view of central Tuscany and the juxtaposition of the austerity of its predominantly 15th century exterior with its luxurious interior highlighted by 18th century frescoes that are believed to be painted by Niccolo Contestabili.

History

The residence is built on the remains of a medieval fortress destroyed in 1260 after the Ghibeline victory of Montaperti.

Over the course of the 15th to 19th centuries, it was successively expanded and enhanced by the noble Serragli, Capponi, Torrigiani and Revedin families and used by them as a seasonal hunting lodge, with the estate’s surrounding forests being host to fagiano and cinghiale. By 1970, the Castello was in a somewhat ruinous state, and was acquired by a prominent Florentine industrialist in the 1990s. Over the course of two decades, the Castello and its gardens were restored safeguarding many historical features and used as a private residence. Most recently, the Castello’s interiors have been refurbished by internationally acclaimed Australian interior decorator Cameron Kimber.

The Castello

The front of the villa and its primo terrazzo are oriented to the east and its cypress way is directly aligned with Pieve di Sant‘Appiano, one of the oldest surviving Christian Churches in Tuscany, which can be viewed from the entrance to the Castello’s piano nobile.

Pieve di Sant‘Appiano is an 8th century complex next to which two Etruscan chamber tombs have been unearthed at Podere Piazza. They bear a striking similarity in construction technique to the Etruscan grain and wine store caves located underneath Castello di Pastine’s 17th century wine cellars. In plan, the villa has a basic “T” shape with two lateral wings: the Southern wing (facing San Gimignano); and the Northern wing (facing Cappella di San Michele Arcangelo a Semifonte). These two wings intersect a double staircase constructed in the 17th century that accesses the piano nobile through a set of double doors. An arched entrance under that staircase leads to the general hall where the Castello’s historical noble owners collected rents from the estate’s tenants in the 15th to 19th centuries. This hall was linked to the piano nobile with a grand staircase constructed from Pietra Serena stone in the 19th century to a design by Giovanni Michelazzi. Notable rooms in the Castello include a “sala d ranzo intima” with recently restored 18th century wall frescoes attributed to Niccolo Contestabili representing the estate’s native forest and coloured with yellow ochre pigment originally collected from the soils of the estate; an Imari Room with one of the largest collections of 18th and 19th century Imari porcelain in Tuscany; and a library constructed in the early 20th century for the Marquis di San Martino in mid-19th century style. The fine art collection at the Castello includes artefacts from each of the historical family owners of the estate and spans examples from the late Etruscan period to the early 20th century.

The Gardens and Park

The plan of the Castello di Pastine gardens is in the giardino all‘Italiana
style, centred on the primary axis of the villa’s eastern façade.

On the front façade terrace is a potted citrus garden, accented with topiary and statues attributed to Adamo Tadolini and Dionisio Lazzari. This axis is followed along an avenue (allee) of Italian Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) to the base of the hill and intersects a fountain featuring a statue of Venus attributed to Giovanni Ferrari. On the western façade axis is a court garden that faces a colonica. This court garden is centred on a sculpture by Serge Bottagisio and Agnes Decoux of Les Botta, commissioned in 2022. Sculptures by Serge Bottagisio and Agnes Decoux are also exhibited at the Guggenheim in New York, The Museum of Modern Art in Los Angeles and Musee Taipei in China. The southern façade presents to a sculpture lawn accented by 17th century statues by Antonio Carra and 18th century statues by Alessandro Calegari and Gelfino Calegari.

Via Fracigena Pilgrimage

During the 11th to 16th centuries, the Castello was visited by pilgrims as a place of
respite en route to and from Rome during the Via Fracigena Pilgrimage.

First mentioned in documents located in the Abbey of San Salvatore al monte amiata in 876AD, the Via Fracigena Pilgrimage or “Camino” is an ancient Christian Pilgrimage from Canterbury in the United Kingdom to the Vatican City. The Castello’s 15th century coat of arms of five scallop shells that appears above each of the original fortified tower entrance and the piano nobile entrance was derived from an iconic symbol associated with the Spanish Camino de Santiago. The scallop shell is associated with Venus, the goddess of love mirroring the statues of Venus by Antonio Carra and Giovanni Ferrari located in the Castello’s gardens signifying rebirth, the resurrection and the overcoming of the ego.