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Villa Pedone was built at the end of
the 18th century by Baron Michele Dei Rivieri. He was an important
land owner and rice producer from Asti (in the Piemonte region); his
dream was to own an olive groves so he could produce olive oil, but
this type of tree did not grow in northern Italy, therefore he chose
Tuscany as his destination and that is how he fell in love with this
hillside. After he built this villa and planted the olive groves and due to
the beautiful climate, he decided to live here all year round, going
less and less back to Piemonte.
The Baron died in 1830 and his son who inherited the estate, decided
to plant vineyards for the production of wine; his father had always
been against this, because his brother had died in a wine cellar in Piemonte, from the poisonous fumes emanated by the must.
In 1880 the villa was sold to Mr. Favilla, a great textile merchant,
who decided to increment the wine production in order to take a part
of it to the Orient, during his business trips. The Asians loved
Italian wine and Mr. Favilla used to serve it during business
lunches, so when everyone was finally drunk he was able to close the
best deals. He also started up a small production of Vin Santo
(dessert wine), which he sold to the Vatican Cardinals, who are
renowned for their excellent taste.
In 1930 the estate was bought by my grandfather, Biagio Pedone, who
gave the present name to the villa. He commissioned the restoration
of it to a renowned architect at the time, from Milan; however,
during the second world war, from a nearby villa, someone opened
fire on a German jeep, while it was passing by on the road below.
The Germans, thinking that the shooting came from Villa Pedone,
opened fire on the front of the villa, devastating the façade and
it’s interior. It is still possible to see the bullet holes left by
the machine-guns in the main entrance gate. And so my grandfather
had to restore the villa once more.
Mr. Pedone also loved wine, therefore he bought two farms bordering
the estate, in order to increase the production and created his
first label, called ‘Topo Topo’, which was served in all of the most
important wine shops in Lucca at the time.
In 1927 my mother was born. I grew up in the villa and lived there
until 1995, when I got married. My parents kept on living there
until the year 2000. In 2002 I decided to renovate the estate in order to start this
activity and to give the possibility to all of those who rent the
villa to spend an unforgettable holiday and savour the history and
beauty of this place. |
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