The heart of the complex is Villa La Topaia. In medieval times (13th -14th century) this manor house was the only building on the estate. Only much later, in the 19th century, was this ancient structure expanded with the addition of a large farmhouse, and later a cowshed, a barn and a loggia.

The long and careful renovation carried out by the present owners over the past two decades has managed to bring new life to the farm, adapting those buildings which were no longer necessary to the management of the actual farm to guest quarters. As the new accommodation units were completed, they were named after their former use to preserve the memory: therefore, you will find Loggia 1, Loggia 2, Stalla...

Dino Campana and Sibilla Aleramo
At Villa La Topaia, our hospitality is honoured by an outstanding literary tradition: La Topaia is in fact known in literary circles for having provided the backdrop for the budding love story between novelist Sibilla Aleramo (pen name of Rina Faccio, 1876-1960) and Dino Campana (1885-1932), one of the most intriguing Italian poets of the early 20th century, and author of the “Canti Orfici”.

At the time of their affair, in the summer of 1916, Sibilla Aleramo was staying at Villa La Topaia as a guest of Maria and Julien Luchaire (1876-1958), a French intellectual and politician who some years earlier founded the French Institute of Florence, to this day one of the leading French institutions in Italy.

A “mad” poet with a solitary and wayward personality, a social outcast who died in an asylum, Dino Campana was born in Marradi, in the Tuscan Apennines just north of La Topaia Agriturismo, and he had a deeply conflictual relationship with Mugello: yet this land, and its nature, forged his character and left a mark in his writings: “…there is a beautiful vegetation, the deep blue of the sky meets the Tuscan light every morning and evening along the mountain ridges. The river is very beautiful…” The Community Montana del Mugello, our local tourist and agricultural board, has published an interesting booklet called “A piedi con Dino Campana” (On foot with Dino Campana), describing a number of trails in the area based on Campana's diaries and letters.

The passionate yet painful love story between Campana and Aleramo was also portrayed a few years ago in the feature film “Un viaggio chiamato amore“ (internationally released as “A Journey Called Love”) directed by Michele Placido and starring Stefano Accorsi and Laura Morante, whose screenplay was based on the correspondence between the two protagonists.

Here are some short excerpts from the letters that Sibilla Aleramo wrote to Dino Campana from Villa La Topaia:

La Topaia Borgo San Lorenzo Monday [July 24th 1916]
“...and the whole Mugello is new to me. Here I am lodged in a large, empty country house. The hosts have left it all to myself, while they are away, for two weeks.“

[Villa La Topaia, Borgo S. Lorenzo] Wednesday evening [August 1916]
“... This is the last evening that I spend alone at La Topaia. (Those bloody Luchaires, had I known they were to be this late in coming back!... But they should not be despised: for without this holiday spent at their place, who knows when you and I would ever have met...