A PLACE WITH A PAST
The history of Villa Emilia
Two villas. A connection to Tuscany.
Villa Emilia and neighbouring Villa Margherita were built in the first half of the twentieth century by the family of the Counts della Gherardesca. The two villas tell a chapter in the history of this stretch of coast.
This heritage lives on in the architecture and the relationship with the sea and the park, and gives a stay here its distinctive character.
On the Tuscan seafront since the early twentieth century
The villas and the della Gherardesca family
The two villas were built in the early decades of the twentieth century by the Counts della Gherardesca, one of Italy’s oldest families, whose ancestors include popes and historical figures such as Count Ugolino, mentioned by Dante in a famous canto of the Divine Comedy.
Villa Margherita, to the north, was built in 1913 to celebrate the marriage of Count Walfredo and Princess Margherita Ruspoli. Villa Emilia followed in 1927, on the occasion of the marriage of Gaddo della Gherardesca, Walfredo’s son, to his bride Emilia.
Villa Emilia has been fully renovated in recent times and divided into private apartments, while Villa Margherita is still home to a descendant of the Gherardesca family.
The Donoratico boatyard
In 1946, Count Gaddo founded the Cantiere Navale Donoratico next to Villa Emilia, on a site now occupied by a holiday resort. The CND played a major role in the history of rowing and sailing: boats bearing the Donoratico name soon became famous around the world.
Working with Honduran cedar, the finest master boatbuilders of the time created boats of legendary perfection. From the 1950s onwards, they became unrivalled in international competition, winning Olympic gold medals and supplying boats to the universities of Cambridge and Oxford.
