Villa Mazzarosa - Segromigno in Monte

Villa Mazzarosa is located in Segromigno in Monte and dates back to the early years of the eighteenth century. Before becoming properties of the Mazzarosa family the estate was owned by the Arnolfini, Orsucci and Lucchesini families.

As notary certificates of 1622 and 1629, the estate was enlarged throuh successive acquisitions.
Mazzarosa had various modifications to the original building ordered. A 1634 letter of the abbot Paolo Cenami described  the final structure of the villa.

The building has a double flight of steps on  both the façade toward the valley and on the one facing the mountains. In the hall the ceiling corresponds to the one of the elevated floor that links the rooms of the first floor. The ceiling and the walls of the hall are decorated with fine plasters of the end of the eighteenth century. In the northern area there is another hall, probably once an open courtyard, with glass doors overlooking the garden below. The present garden was created by Antonio Mazzarosa in 1810 and embellished in 1830 with a “Famedio”, a neoclassic round little temple in which were exposed important works of artists of Lucca.

The park of the villa is entirely enclosed by a dry-stone wall. The entrance gate is made of stone pillars and is not aligned with the villa. The entrance path is aligned with the garden and it is painted in sketches of the first half of the eighteenth century, flanked by a halberd-like railing. It led to a stout gate enclosed by four pillars surmounted by a putto sitting of the tails of three dolphins. There also is a centre oval pool with a nymphaeum decorated with mosaics and earthenware statues. The nymphaeum was designed in 1714 by the architect Filippo Juvarra who proposed different never adopted solutions. Another nymphaeum is placed along the way that leads to the main façade of the villa and is decorated with mosaics and a water spout in the shape of a monster.
A little creek supplies the property with water and runs in the garden toward a lake-like pool surrounded by ancient trees of liriodendron.

In the northern area of the garden there are a camellia’s grove and ancient plane trees. In the park there are a lemon-house, a little chapel, buildings related to the farmhouse and the house of the gardeners. The actual aspect of the villa and of the park is the result of the well preserved modifications made in the early years of the nineteenth century by Antonio Mazzarosa, politician and man of culture. The villa belongs to Barbara Maria Mac Neil in Silvestrini, nephew of the marquise Elena Mazzarosa Devincenzi in Cenami.