Situated in strategic position up a hill between Florence and Pistoia, the Medicean Villa in Poggio a Caiano was built by order of Lorenzo the Magnificent on the ruins of a medieval castle that had belonged to Palla di Noferi Strozzi.

Between 1470 and 1474 Lorenzo commissioned the construction of an aristocratic country residence to Giuliano da Sangallo, his favourite architect. The villa had to respect Leon Battista Alberti`s archiectural principles.
When Lorenzo the Magnificent died, in 1492, the construction works were not finished, yet, and they were blocked from 1495 to 1513 due to the exile of the Medici family from Florence.
Giovanni, Lorenzo the Magnificent`s son who had been elected Pope with the name of Leo X, had the works resumed in 1513. They were terminated in 1521.

For decades, the Medici family spent the summertime in the villa, decorated with frescoes by Filippino Lippi, Pontormo, Andrea del Sarto and Alessandro Allori. Moreover, the numerous foreign brides of the members of the famous Florentine family used to be accommodated here, before getting to Florence; and it was in Poggio a Caiano that important marriages were celebrated, such as the one of Francis I and Bianca Cappello.

When Giangastone de` Medici died, the Habsbourg-Lorraine family acquired the villa and continued to use it as their summertime residence.

In the 19th century, and in particular during Napoleon`s domination, the villa underwent a series of changes projected by Pasquale Poccianti, whereas the interior was decorated with frescoes by the Prato painter Luigi Catani.

During World War II the villa, which in 1919 the Savoia family had given to the Italian state, was used as a deposit for works of art and as a shelter for the population during bombings.