This beautiful 19th century country home, 7 Km. From Florence recently restored, sits on top of a hill overlooking the Valle del Mugnone, a gorgeous valley that offers panoramic views of gently slopping hills cultivated with well-tended olive groves as well as views of the town of Fiesole and the city of Florence. Giovanni Boccaccio in his 13th Century Decameron, locates some of his stories in this valley.
It is part of the Fattoria Il Leccio that was named after the big ilex tree in the garden surrounding the omonimous 16th century Villa.
Since the beginning of this century, the Farm has belonged to the Passigli family, for three generations a promoter of cultural events, with special interest in music.
Guests of The Villa have included intellectuals like Benedetto Croce, Bernard Berenson, Krishnamurti, as well as the foremost rapresentatives of the Century’s musicians who visited Florence during their concert tours of Europe: in the 1930s the famous trio Cortot, Thibaud, Casals, played a concert in Leccio, as well as Adolf Bush and Rudolf Serkin. The local band dedicated a concert, held in the garden of the Villa, to Arturo Toscanini, who at that time was visiting the estate.
In the following years guests at the Villa included the greatest musicians of the time such as David Oistrach, Arthur Rubinstein, Andrès Segovia, Mtislav Rostropovich,who appreciated the excellent quality of the olive oil produced on the estate.
The olives are picked entirely by hand, without using machines which can harm the trees, and after the pressing of the olives, the oil is extracted at cold temperature, so that the flavour is fully preserved.
