Capannoli | Villa Masi e Villa Orlandini

Villa Masi, currently privately owned, is located along the road from Capannoli to Santo Pietro Belvedere. Documented in 1580 as the property of the noble Florentine family Berzighelli, the villa is the most significant building in a settlement in the immediate vicinity of the ancient castle. The villa includes the chapel of the Annunciation, which exhibits architectural features reminiscent of the Renaissance period.

The current appearance is the result of a renovation in the second half of the eighteenth century by the Pisan architect Niccolò Stassi, who is credited with the main façade featuring vertically arranged pilasters and a clock reminiscent of the interior facade of the Certosa di Calci. The altar houses a bas-relief by the Tuscan sculptor Desiderio da Settignano depicting the Blessed Virgin with our Lord and the archangel Gabriel.

Note the Roman sarcophagus under the courtyard’s portico and the 15th-century marble bas-relief on the front of the chapel. Inside, there are terracotta statues attributed to the Blind Man of Gambassi and a copy of the Greek statue known as the “Arrotino,” whose original is exhibited at the Uffizi Gallery.

In the vicinity is also Villa Orlandini, the residence until 1865 of Diego Martelli, a patron of the Macchiaioli painters. The façade facing the cloister and the garden, created using trompe-l’oeil technique, depicts a balcony overlooking the Tuscan countryside. The farmhouse and the villa were purchased by Rutilio Orlandini and integrated into the villa that had already been inhabited by his family since the fifteenth century.

Info: Municipality of Capannoli
Phone: 0587.606611
Website: www.comune.capannoli.pi.it