In midst of designing the famed domed roof atop the Florence Cathedral, Filippo Brunelleschi, one of the greatest architects of the Italian Renaissance, was also building an estate for a noble family on the outskirts of town.
The 2,930-square-meter castle—which has withstood 600 years, hosted multiple popes and was a base for Allied military command during the 1944 liberation of Italy from Nazi occupation—is now available for sale for an undisclosed sum, according to Lionard Luxury real estate, which listed the property on Monday.
A 250-year-old Irish castle inspired by the "original Buckingham Palace" has sold for about $21.5 million, making it one of the most expensive estates sold in the country https://t.co/hd0WEYcrja pic.twitter.com/aQ9VScqohx
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"This is one of the most prestigious properties ever put up for sale," said Dimitri Corti, president of Lionard Luxury Real Estate, in a statement.
Brunelleschi built the Tuscan castle, completed in 1424, with all the trappings of a fortress: Four square turrets stand at each corner and the building is ringed in walkable crenelated battlement walls.
But the castle also contains evidence of the maverick architect’s research in new materials and fascination with Roman architecture, according to Massimo Ricci, one of the leading experts in Brunelleschi's architecture.
For one, the home is built entirely of brick rather than stone, using the same technique as in the dome of the Florence Cathedral, also known as the Duomo.
"Brickwork in this castle has been mastered to such a point that structures which would usually be built with stones were instead all systematically built with this material," according to Mr. Ricci’s research supplied to the brokerage. "No one in those years, except Filippo Brunelleschi, would have been able to do such a thing."
The castle wraps around a central courtyard, which includes hints at the classical Roman architecture that was Brunelleschi’s central curiosity. Columns line an open loggia, and an unusual archway featuring a half-vault system would have been too ahead of its time to be built by anyone other than Brunelleschi, according to Ricci.
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The interiors have seen many decorative changes over the centuries, including Pompeiian- and Baroque-style wall paintings.
The estate, spanning 1,200 hectares, encompasses an additional 18th-century villa, 25 farmhouses and outbuildings, and a chapel in the forest, according to Lionard.
The home played host to at least three Catholic popes, including Leo X, a member of the powerful Medici family and great patron of the arts, Clement VII and Paul III Farnese, according to the brokerage.