ABSTRACT
Castello was fi rst owned by Pier Francesco de’ Medici’s sons, Lorenzo and Giovanni, who bought it from the prominent Della Stufa family.1 An examination of the declarations for the land register, in chronological order, allows us to follow how the original nucleus was changed through a series of acquisitions. The 1498 land registry declaration states: “A gentleman’s residence at Castello with a fi sh-breeding pool, at a place called Vivaio with a farm belonging to the house, bordered by road and track, worked by Simone di Mariotto. A farm in the same borough as the above, abutting on road, path and on the others, worked by Jacopo di Mateo di Nanni. A farm at the said house, abutting on the road and Mariotto Carnesecchi, and on the others. A worker’s house with a dovecote and 40 stiora of arable land, abutting on the road and Mariotto Steccuti; worked by Jacopo di Matteo di Nanni”.2 A later declaration of Cosimo’s property made in 1534 by Giovanni de’ Medici, apart from the properties already listed, shows an increase in the property around the villa. Indeed, this declaration tells us that Cosimo, having inherited the property from his father, carried out a series of purchases to augment the agricultural land around the villa, which was given his close attention in subsequent years. These new acquisitions concerned a farm “a place called Pozzino”, which does not reappear on subsequent documents; a farm with a house for owner and worker “a place called Topaia”; an inn on Via Maestra and two pieces of land to the south.3
