Villa San Michele Hotel
Encyclopedia
Villa San Michele Hotel is a hotel situated on the hill of Fiesole
Fiesole
Fiesole is a town and comune of the province of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a famously scenic height above Florence, 8 km NE of that city...

 overlooking Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. It is named after the church of St Michael the Archangel. Today it is owned by Orient-Express Hotels
Orient-Express Hotels
Orient-Express Hotels Ltd is a hotel and leisure company that operates high end hotels, cruise and train services around the world. As of 2008 it owns or partly owns more than 40 individual deluxe hotels, three restaurants, six tourist trains and two river cruise businesses in more than 25...

 and operated as a luxury hotel.

History

The original building was a monastery, founded in the early years of the 15th century for the Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....

 monks. The land on which it stood had been donated by a Florentine family, the Davanzatis, who also contributed to the monastery's upkeep by gifts of woodlands, further buildings and money.

The present building, with its façade attributed to Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...

 and its imposing loggia
Loggia
Loggia is the name given to an architectural feature, originally of Minoan design. They are often a gallery or corridor at ground level, sometimes higher, on the facade of a building and open to the air on one side, where it is supported by columns or pierced openings in the wall...

, dates from 1600 when it was enlarged and completely renovated by Giovanni di Bartolomeo Davanzati.

The monastery remained the property of the Franciscans until 1808 when the monastic orders were dissolved by Napoleon and, in 1817, it returned to secular use. By this time, many of its most treasured possessions had been dispersed throughout Florence's churches and art galleries.

In 1900 the Villa was acquired by Henry White Cannon from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, who landscaped the gardens, erected large greenhouses and restored the building after the fashion of the Victorians, by adding wrought iron gates and by applying a rust-coloured patina to the walls. He also converted the courtyard into a winter garden by covering it with a roof of glass and iron.

During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the Villa was badly damaged and, in 1950, it was bought by Monsieur Lucien Tessier as a private residence.

He set about restoring the 20 first floor rooms, while living on the second floor, but the cost involved was substantial and to finance it, he turned the villa in to a hotel for those wanting to visit the nearby art treasures of Florence and the surrounding countryside.

In 1982, Orient-Express Hotels
Orient-Express Hotels
Orient-Express Hotels Ltd is a hotel and leisure company that operates high end hotels, cruise and train services around the world. As of 2008 it owns or partly owns more than 40 individual deluxe hotels, three restaurants, six tourist trains and two river cruise businesses in more than 25...

, which already owned the Hotel Cipriani
Hotel Cipriani
The Hotel Cipriani is a hotel in Venice, northern Italy. On May 26, 1958 Giuseppe Cipriani, founder of Harry’s Bar in Venice and inventor of the Bellini cocktail, opened the Hotel Cipriani on the island of Giudecca....

 in Venice bought the Villa San Michele and the surrounding land. A comprehensive restoration of the buildings was embarked upon, this time with the cooperation of the Florence Fine Arts Authority.
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