After having presented the beautiful Villa Torrigiani, the time has come to speak about a villa that hosted the court of the Princess of Lucca and Piombino, Grand Duchess of Tuscany and Napoleon's sister, Elisa Baciocchi. We are talking about Villa Reale in Marlia, which tells a bigger story than you can imagine.
This extraordinary place in the country around Lucca has always been linked to the aristocracy that ruled in centuries the lands nearby Lucca. In the IX century there was a small fortress inhabited by the Duke of Tuscia, who was leading the area in the Middle-Age. Later, in the 16th century new owners were Buonvisi's, a rich merchants family very active in the government of the Republic of Lucca: they transformed the mansion in a beautiful Renaissance palace, which was acquired in the 17th century by Orsetti's, the noble family that enriched the complex with a beautiful baroque park, wide footpaths, gardens, a spectacular “Garden of Lemons” and the extraordinary ”Verzura theatre” with its tall hedges. Don't forget to look for the beautiful waterfalls, decorated with statues.
Could that luxury be enough for Elisa Baciocchi? No, of course! So, when in 1806 she became the owner, decided to restructure the facade and buy "Villa del Vescovo" to merge it to the exisiting building and double the park as seen at other european courts.
Actually the villa extends for 18.000 mt and there are more than 19 hectares of park around; thanks of it, was easy to gain the nickname of "real" and host the court of the Queen of Etruria! The facade of the old palace was rebuilt in neoclassical style and the new expansion of the park in english-garden style. Elisa organized many parties in the dancehall of her villa, often with live playing orchestra featuring the famous violinist Niccolò Paganini, who probably had a love affair with Elisa. After the fall of Napoleon, the villa was owned by the Duchess of Parma, Maria Luisa of Bourbon who was also leading Lucca; the parties didn't stop and often came to Lucca several principles and european monarchs. The villa then passed to the Kingdom of Italy, that gave it Penelope Carolina, widow of Carlo of Bourbon Prince of Capua, and his son Francesco Carlo called "Prince Fool" because suffering of mental illness. In 1924 after a period of neglect, the building was bought and restored by the Count Pucci-Blunt. The Villa also hosted Moravia, the American artist Singer Sargent and Salvador Dali and is still ready to tell its stories to the visitors.
...it might be more appropriate to visit the villa in a carriage... but Tuscany Ride Bike suggest you to do it by riding bike during our tour of the Villas around Lucca!