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Villa Mansi Villa Mansi is the pride and the symbol of Lucchese architecture as far as villas go. It stands out from the other villas by its magnificence and by a certain mannerism, almost a sort of Baroque that elsewhere in Lucca has been seen but marginally. The present look of Villa Mansi is due to the architect Maurizio Oddi, who worked on the rearrangement of the preexistent building by appointment of Countess Cenami during the years 1634-1635. Later on there were new interventions that further enriched the villa, most of all the garden. In 1675 the property of the villa went to the Mansi family; they entrusted the architect Filippo Juvarra with the task of renovating the garden. The whole park was thus transformed by his genius into the perfect scenery for many a suggestive legend. Villa Torrigiani The villa and its park sum up all the splendour and magnificence of the Lucchese tradition of the country mansion-house. The long and monumental avenue leading to the villa is lined with cypresses, and has a pompous gate from where the façade can be seen, so rich and adorned that it seems to be embroidered on the stone and marble in a triumph of niches, statures and balustrades. The original building dates back to 1500, but it was radically rearranged a century later by Maurizio Oddi, the same architect that had so deeply transformed Villa Mansi. The 'garden of Flora' is the clearest example of the Lucchese taste, a bright and surprising ensemble of grottoes, nymph temples, flowers, masks. play of water....that make you feel as if you were in a fairy-tale.
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