The best dog-friendly hikes and walks around Area Marina Protetta Secche della Meloria

The entire area on which the villa stands has been inhabited, albeit sporadically, since prehistoric times, as evidenced by some artefacts (flints and arrowheads) from the Paleolithic and Neolithic era. In the 19th century, two bronze daggers were found and, more recently, the remains of a marble sarcophagus dating back to a period between 100 and 200 AD.

Beautiful cycle path along the Livorno seafront.

Only the large park was partially saved from abandonment and is today open as a public garden. it is a large green space (8 hectares, with valuable and exotic plants: palm trees, cedars of Lebanon, Aleppo pines, eucalyptus...), which was enriched by an oval basin and berceau and crossed by a double colonnade which led westward to a guest cottage; here a railing allowed you to admire the countryside sloping down to the sea. Finally, some service buildings (now in ruins) and a private chapel embellished with frescoes and paintings, the Scafurno Chapel, happily restored by a private individual a few years ago, were also part of the property. images: https://ascosilasciti.com/it/2021/04/29/il-bucolico-giardino-abbandonato-d winter/

Despite the state of total abandonment in which the building currently finds itself, you can still admire the greenhouse, or the grandiose winter garden in cast iron and colored glass (built in 1871 by the Gambaro foundry of Livorno), which on the entrance door shows the family coat of arms: a phoenix rising from the flames towards the shining sun, while on the sides of the shield two rampant lions with a helmet in the center enclose everything. The glass on three sides and on the sloping roof allowed the passage of light and heat and were adjustable to circulate air when necessary. A thin balcony, then, started from a paved terrace on the first floor and following the peak of the greenhouse roof, it allowed you to have a panoramic view of the park and of the city and the sea in the distance, giving the impression of being suspended in the air .

Today the Casini complex is made up of private homes and therefore cannot be visited, except by direct agreements with the owners; among other things it hosts a B&B which has preserved decorations and interior furnishings typical of a late 19th century summer residence.

The correct name is Villa Levi-Dupouy (https://www.komoot.com/it-it/highlight/4159707) so as not to confuse it with the other Villa Dupouy or Villa delle Rose (https://www.komoot.com /it-it/highlight/5861131) located not in Monterotondo, but in Montenero Basso

Also known as the Villa of Monterotondo, it was purchased in 1771 by the rich Livorno merchant Giuseppe Calamai, consul of Russia, and used as a country residence. It passed first to the Polish prince Stanisław Poniatowski, then to the rich Livorno merchant, of Greek origin, Pandely Maurogordato (who also owned a magnificent palace in the city, along the Fosso Reale); he enriched the villa inside with valuable frescoes, paintings and furnishings; outside with a large romantic garden equipped with an oval pool and berceau and a long masonry colonnade surmounted by an iron structure, with a park full of ornamental plants, and above all with a stupendous winter garden in worked cast iron and colored glass. To the west a railing allowed a panoramic view of the city. After World War II the villa was sold first to the USL, then to the Province of Livorno, and finally to the Municipality of Livorno, intended as a garden. Today the property is in a state of complete degradation: the combined action of neglect, atmospheric agents, vegetation and vandals has affected the structures of the building, the interiors and furnishings and the garden, despite the numerous renovation projects recovery. {images: https://www.meer.com/it/65900-la-villa-abbandonata-d\ei-maurogordato}

It is called Villa Dupouy