Villa Sonnino, built during the sixteenth Century, hosts the Castelvecchio Restaurant; it is situated up the slope of a hill in the heart of Tuscany halfway between Pisa and Florence in San Miniato.

The eye of the attentive observer will sense the presence of a the recently restored church on the hill near  a little town which it dominates Cigoli.

Immediately below you will find a long avenue of cypresses, climbing is lost in a thicket far more widely than green in which we can glimpse the outline of a building: this is Villa Sonnino.

History

Illustrious families have owned the Villa: Grifoni family, originally from San Miniato and loyal ally of Medici family, had purchased the building in 1600.

Then in 1880 the Villa went to Sonninos, a Jewish family entered in the golden age of Italian nobility. His Majesty the King of Italy Umberto I granted to this family the title of Baron.  Born in Pisa in 1847, Giorgio Sidney Sonnino got hold of the building. He was a politician and Member of Italian Parliment;  from 1880 to 1919 he was Finance Minister in two Crispi cabinets,able to remedy the budget thanks to a brave and austere fiscal policy.The Villa has belonged to Sonnino family until 1946.

Notable artists have worked at this villa including: Antonio Ferri (Florentine architect) and Carlo Marcellini (Florentine artist of the late Baroque culture).

The site buildings

Several hotel buildings were unveiled in April 2000 Nell’aprile dei 2000 sono stati inaugurate le strutture alberghiere:

• the Hotel
• the main Restaturant
• the meeting Hall and oher common spaces.

The kitchen, a part of our structure (designed and made by Zanussi Grandi Impianti), spreads over 3 floors and is accessible by two modern lifts.