Villa Medici in Fiesole

The fourth villa built for the family, after the Villa Cafaggiolo, the Villa di Trebbio and the Villa Careggi, the Villa Medici (or Villa Belcanto, or Palagio di Fiesole) was long attributed to Michelozzo for Cosimo il Vecchio, until a new study in 2004 showed it to be the work of Leon Battista Alberti, commissioned by Cosimo's second son Giovanni.

It would be the prototype for the classic Renaissance villa, according to Alberti's own concept of a villa suburba. Unlike its predecessors, it had a garden and a view, but no agricultural estate. Unlike the previous three Medici villas with their fortifications, the villa in Fiesole is simple, beautiful because of its proportions and harmonious setting in the landscape. Walls are white; square windows are lined in pietra serena; loggias look out over the beautiful gardens.