Castello di Sammezzano, Reggello, Italy
Sammezzano castle was built in the early 17th Century in the Tuscan town of Reggello, 19 miles from Florence. Its remarkable Moorish architecture is a succession of domes and arches in an array of colours. In the 19th century, Marquis Ferdinando Panciatichi Ximenes d’Aragona renovated the interior galleries and added to their general eclecticism.
On former agricultural land around the buildings, he designed a vast park filled with exotic plants. The castle was auctioned in 1999 to be converted into a luxury hotel complex, but later abandoned and inevitably fell prey to passing looters.
