A 14th Century Tuscan Villa that became a favourite holiday destination of Queen Victoria has been put on the market for more than £40million.
Villa Palmieri sits on nine hectares in the hills above Florence and has 23 bedrooms, some of which look out onto stunning views of the city.
Victoria stayed there three times between 1888 and 1894 at the invitation of its then owner, the aristocrat the Earl of Crawford.
The incredible property, which also has 19 bathrooms, looks strikingly similar to Queen Victoria’s beloved Osborne House, her palazzo-style retreat on the Isle of Wight.
The monarch ensured that her apartments at Villa Palmieri were decorated to make them as homely as possible.
Before a visit in 1888, she was reported by the New York Times to have sent, ‘the bed, the furniture, a bathroom, with all the bathroom fixtures, a rocking chair, two armchairs, a sofa and a desk, as well as two portraits of the Prince Consort, a box of photographs of the members of the family and a basket of books.’

Villa Palmieri in Tuscany, Italy has been put on the market for more than 50 million euros

An illustration depicting Queen Victoria visiting Villa Palmieri in 1893

The Italian villa looks strikingly similar to Victoria’s beloved Isle of Wight residence, Osborne House, pictured above
Villa Palmieri is being sold via Dreamer Real Estate, a Florence-based estate agency.
The exact asking price has not been revealed but it is more than 50million euros, making it one of the most expensive available homes in Italy.
Originally built in the 1300s, Villa Palmieri was first owned by the Fini family and was sold to Matteo di Marco Palmieri in 1454.
Palmiero Palmieri inherited the property and in 1697 added a south-facing terrace and the sweeping curved staircase that lead to a lemon garden which still exists today.
It now also has a helicopter landing strip, a private tennis court and a pool.
The impressive gardens still has trees with plaques that commemorate the times Victoria stayed at the villa in the late 1800s.
Italian Renaissance writer Giovanni Boccaccio, who died in 1375, is thought to have used the gardens as inspiration for his classic work The Decameron, which is believed to have influenced Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales.
The characters in the work hide out in a deserted villa and then tell stories.
Boccaccio wrote of his character’s reaction to the villa’s grounds: ‘If Paradise could be made on earth, they couldn’t think of any other form it would take than this garden.’
The gardens were renovated in the mid-19th century by owner James Ludovic Lindsay, the Earl of Crawford, who added typically English features and exotic plants.
The Earl also built the impressive ‘Fountain of the Three Faces’ and a neo-Baroque chapel in the grounds.
The lemon garden features boxed flower beds fenced in by hedges in an impressive geometric pattern.
When Victoria stayed, the lavish house was specially redecorated and the monarch enjoyed tea in a gazebo outside.

Queen Victoria visited the villa three times and furnished private apartments with her own decorations. Above: The late monarch pictured in 1887

An elegantly decorated room inside the villa with a fresco painted ceiling

Elaborate stuccoes frame the doors and ceiling of a room inside the Tuscan villa

Geometric boxed hedges decorate the expansive gardens of the villa

The garden boasts an ancient pool that could be converted into a swimming pool

A drawing of Queen Victoria visiting the King of Italy and the Duke of Aosta in Florence in 1893

Queen Victoria’s beloved Osborne House looks strikingly similar to Villa Palmieri, located on the Isle of Wight

The gardens of Osborne House leading down to the ocean
The Mail told in 1898 how Victoria would take with her ‘the vast collection of bric-a-brac which ornaments her rooms’ including ‘busts, statutettes, photographs, screens, and flower vases’ when she went away.
Now, Villa Palmieri’s ground floor halls are decorated with elaborate stuccoes and marble busts of former notable residents.
On the historic mansion’s other floors, the rooms carry different aspects of each century, though are more modern, each decorated in a different style.