Palazzo Fantini

Palazzo Fantini is situated in the heart of Tredozio, a village on the border between Romagna and Tuscany. Its tranquil setting is far away from the chaos of modern life, surrounded by woods and winding roads.

Palazzo Fantini is the splendid result of a series of constructions superimposed throught the centuries. The original structures dates back to the 17th century but it was only in the middle eighteenth that the palace took on its present aspect.

The elegant but rather austere eighteenth century façade does not give even a hint of the welcoming secrecy of the garden. Nothing can be guessed from outside, but after passing through the doorway into the first courtyard, guests are welcomed by a game of carved box hedges, salvia splendida and a pond containing water plants.

The courtyard is surrounded by private entrances and a series of buildings which were once part of the farm.
Suddenly there is a surprise, an Italianate garden which is raised in comparison to the level of the house, and which can only be reached by a flight of steps by the side of a large bulkhead. The garden consists of various sections which are set down on the hill and on the slope.
The garden was designed in the nineteenth century, reflecting the classical themes of the period, such as the secret paths, the fountain with water lilies, the precise geometry of the hedges, the topiary hedges and the ancient rose bushes with lamb's ears plants and borders of “old-fashioned” flowers, such as dahlias, begonias, irises and lantanas.
Further up the hill, there is a park of ancient trees, such as cedars of Lebanon, holm-oaks, horse-chestnuts, acacias, limes and oaks, as well as the lawns beneath them, with wild flowers such as daisies, violets, primroses and cyclamens.

This part gets mysteriously lost in a rocky garden with romantic nineteenth-century-style steps and walls, and quiet little paths.
The corner of Aromatic Herbs, in contrast, was designed and created more recently. A new trapezoid-shaped flower-bed which was not present in the original structure of the garden, with box-hedge borders to shelter the local aromatic herbs, including periwinkle, calamint, variegated mint, thyme, laurel, tarragon, rue, garden savory, radish and milfoil etc.
The dark green of the box hedges forms a contrast with the red and yellow horizontal stripes painted on the internal walls. According to local tradition, farm buildings used to be painted with the typical motif of two-colour stripes. The charming lemon-house forms a frame for the central flower-bed.