Villa I Tatti was the private villa and garden of Bernard and Mary Berenson for 52 years.
Bernard, who died at age 94 in 1959, was a world-renowned art historian and left the villa to his alma mater, Harvard.
The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies was created as a result of a donation by Bernard Berenson (class of 1887), the eminent historian and critic of art. The donation included his 16th century villa in Florence, Italy, with its library, archive of photographs and other visual material, and 120 works of Renaissance and oriental art. Villa I Tatti is set in celebrated gardens created by the English landscape architect Cecil Pinsent. (See La Foce in Chianciano Terme) Willed to Harvard University as a center for Renaissance studies.
To arrange a visit to this private villa send a request to:
Harvard University
Cambridge Office
The Secretary for Villa I Tatti
124 Mount Auburn Street
Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
E-mail: amason@harvard.edu
Alternately, you can send your request directly:
The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies
Via di Vincigliata 26
50135 Florence, Italy
E-mail:info@itatti.it
Tours allow a maximum of eight persons at a time.
A wonderful book, that may enhance your visit, is “A Legacy of Excellence: The Story of Villa I Tatti” by William Weaver, photographs by David Finn and published by Abrams, 1997.
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