Beyond the Yalla Dog

Our visit to La Pietra - grandest of the Anglo- Florentine Villas

Tuesday 3 May – we make it to La Pietra – the villa – so named because of the milestone marking 1 mile from the city of Florence.

This illustrious family home was bought by Arthur Acton with financial support from the family of his American wife Hortense Mitchell -and after the death of their writer son Harold in 1994 was bequeathed to New York University.

During the Acton’s stay in Florence the gardens were transformed from a rustic flat wilderness to a structured garden stuffed with statues. Several garden architects have been credited with support for this enterprise but Harold Acton describes the garden as having been restored by his father.

When the University acquired the property as a gift it was on the condition that financial support should be given to maintain the property and garden as it had been in the 1930′s. Old photos are carefully studied to ensure that replacement plants are put in precisely the same place to maintain the effect and a curtain of trees are growing up to hide the untidy sprawl of new Florence from the visitors eye!

Gardens at La Pietra - with view overlooking Florence

These large green gardens include several “rooms” containing sculptures and fountains in  an ideal setting for resale to visiting customers.

There is also a small outdoor theatre for concerts and productions of an appropriate play like a Midsummer’s Nights Dream, to which i have been invited to a production in June .