In 1927, Marquis Origo and his wife Iris bought Villa La Foce, which in origin was a hostelry. The two benefactors had the area reclaimed and commissioned the construction of a kindergarten, of a school and of a surgery in the neighbourhood.

The garden surrounding the building is the outstanding element of the whole estate: it was designed by Cecil Pinsent, a landscape architect who at the beginning of the 20th century projected the parks of the most important Florentine residences.

Divided into various sectors following the trend of the land, the garden was realised in different phases, from 1927 to 1939, and features a lemon garden, a rosary and a sector decorated with box and laurel hedges, in which a fountain is to be admired.

The realisation of the last part of the garden began in 1938. Here there are the so-called "Grotta azzurra" (the azure grotto), decorated with seven niches, and a statue representing Nature bearing the fruits of the land.