Villas in Florence: Villa La Quiete alle Montalve
Villa La Quiete alle Montalve is situated in the northern outskirts of Florence, between Careggi and Castello, where some famous Medicean villas stand, such as those of Castello and Careggi, along with Villa La Petraia. Villa La Quiete owes its name to the 1632 fresco "La Quiete che domina i venti" (Still calms down the winds) by Giovanni da San Giovanni.
Once called "Palagio di Quarto" (Palace of Quarto), the villa belonged at first to the Orlandini family, then in 1438 the Florentine Republic gave it to Niccolò da Tolentino. Pier Francesco Medici acquired it in 1593. Cosimo I gave it to the Commendam of Santo Stefano.
Cristina of Habsburg-Lorraine, who bought the villa in 1627, commissioned its renovation and ordered the construction of an elevated passageway similar to the Vasari corridor, which was to connect the villa to the nearby monastery dedicated to San Giovanni of Boldrone. When Cristina died in 1636, her son Ferdinand II became the manager of the complex, whose use was reserved to the grand duchesses.
In 1650 Eleonora Ramirez de Montalvo transformed the villa into a country residence for the Montalve, the congregation of secular nuns she had created. Thanks to Eleonora`s friend Vittoria della Rovere, the church of the Montalve was built in 1688.
In 1724 the villa became Anna Maria Luisa de` Medici`s residence. Anna Maria was the latest descendent of the famous Florentine family. She commissioned the reorganisation of the garden and moved into the villa some objects coming from the Pitti Palace and Palazzo Vecchio.
In the 19th century the villa became a college reserved to aristocratic girls. The Montalve definitively abandoned it in 1992.
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