Villa Strozzi in Florence has Medieval origins and underwent major changes in the XVI century, when Giovan Battista di Lorenzo bought it from the Aldimaris. It acquired great fame in the XIX century when, in 1855 and after decades of neglect, Ferdinando Strozzi entrusted Giuseppe Poggi with refurbishing the building in order to bring back its old splendor. Poggi worked both on the whole complex of buildings and the estate grounds  that comprised the property: he redesigned the accesses to the vast grounds and its pathways, paying particular attention to the harmony between the architectural elements and the surrounding environment. The result was the building of a limonia (a hothouse for citrus plants during the winter months), the enhancement of the grounds by the creation of an access road for carriages, and a new, larger gate at the entrance to the villa. 

The whole structure of the main building was altered both in its perimeter and its internal volume.
A few years earlier, Giovanni Rosini had set some scenes of his novel Luisa Strozzi (1833) in the garden of The Grove, situated on the grounds of the villa, thus contributing to a revival of its fame.  Ferdinando Strozzi kept this episode in mind as a guide when, in 1857, he appointed a number of famous artists of the time, such as Antonio Marini, Antonio Puccinelli, Carlo Brini and Cesare Mussini, to paint and decorate the ceilings and the vaults of the villa.  With the exception of Marini, who was responsible for the formal stateroom, whose ceiling still had in the center the small fresco Allegory of Temperance by Santi di Tito, the other painters found inspiration in the episodes from Luisa Strozzi.
Marini completed the theme of the allegory with four symmetrical frescoes showing Prudence, Charity, Fortitude and Justice.  The rest of the walls are ornate with white and golden stuccoes, base reliefs of music playing cherubs and four large coats of arms showing the heraldic colors of the Strozzis as well as the Spontins and the Centuriones, respectively Ferdinando Strozzi’s mother’s family and his wife.

Ferdinando Strozzi gave Puccinelli, Brini and Mussini very detailed instructions as to the scenes that were to appear in the three frescoes: he chose three episodes which take place in the garden from the seventh chapter, entitled “The Grove”, of Rosini’s novel.  He strictly followed the narrative order for the series of rooms, writing,
Subjects assigned for the painting of the Grove:
“Luisa Strozzi, historic novel by Rosini. Chapter entitled The Grove, in which there is the description of a stroll taken by Luisa together with Clarice de’ Medici, her mother, Leone Strozzi, her brother, Caterina Ginori, a friend, Michelangelo, Antonio Muscetta (minister of the Emperor) and Francesco Nasi, Luisa’s lover.  - Published by N. Capurro, Pisa, 1832 [...]”.
Ferdinando Strozzi assigned the billiard room to Mussini, the dining room to Brini and the corner drawing room to Puccinelli.
One of the decorative elements, almost obsessive in its recurrence, is that of the three heraldic moons requested by his wife Antonietta. They can be found not only on doors, but also embossed on the leather covering the walls of one of the halls near the central ballroom. Antonietta even insisted on having them embroidered on an evening gown created especially for her on the occasion of a grand ball in 1872.  In the previous centuries, another branch of the family had done something similar in the nearby villa Strozzino at Bellosguardo, known in fact as Villa of the Moons.

In the course of the XX century the villa and the park became the property of the Giambassi family.  After a number of suggestions were discarded - one of them  suggested transforming the whole area into a residential zone - the Villa Strozzi complex was acquired by the city of Florence. The city  started a number of projects to reclaim the grounds, which were opened to the public, and to restore the buildings and their frescoes.

After dismissing the idea of using the villa, the stables and the limonia either as a museum of modern art or as a community centre, the complex has become Polimoda’s headquarters.  At present, the wonderful rooms painted by Antonio Marini, Antonio Puccinelli, Carlo Brini e Cesare Mussini host Polimoda’s library.