<p>Palazzo dei Congressi is hosted inside 19th-century Villa Vittoria. Surrounded by a century-old park, it exudes a boundless elegance and boasts state-of-the-art technologies. It can host a wide variety of congresses and events thanks to its meeting rooms, a 1,000-seat Auditorium and a futuristic Amphitheatre set into the greenery – one of the most prestigious and charming locations in Florence.</p>
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<h2>Palazzo dei Congressi, a History of Art and Innovation</h2>
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<h4>The Origins of Villa Vittoria</h4>
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<p>Villa Vittoria was built between 1886 and 1891 by Gerolamo Passeri, a pupil of architect Giuseppe Poggi, and was commissioned by Marquis Massimiliano degli Strozzi. Originally, it had two floors, with two projecting bodies on the sides according to the best tradition of neo-sixteenth-century style villas. The Belvedere was only added in 1925.<br />
A monumental staircase connects the ground floor to the main floor, leading to a gallery overlooked by reception rooms.<br />
All the rooms maintain their original charm – lunette vaults on the ground floor, finely decorated coffered ceilings on the first floor. And then, mosaic floors in marble and terracotta, stone portals with marble inlays, elegant coat of arms, finely ornated gates in wrought iron, and precious painted polychrome glass windows.</p>
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<h4>Gio Ponti&#8217;s Furnishings and the Art Collections</h4>
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<p>The name Villa Vittoria is due to Counts Contini-Bonacossi, who acquired it in 1931. The second floor was chosen to host the private residence of the family, whose elegant, 1930s-style design was entrusted to Milanese architects Gio Ponti and Tommaso Buzzi. In some rooms, you can still admire furnishings and accessories made by expert artisans of the time, based on original designs by Gio Ponti.<br />
Here, Counts Contini-Bonacossi created one of the most prestigious private collections of the time, including the Modern Painting Collection, with works by contemporary artists such as Giorgio De Chirico, Mario Sironi, Carlo Carrà and Marino Marini.</p>
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<h4>Birth of the International Congress Center</h4>
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<p>In 1964, the villa was acquired by the local Tourist Board, which turned it into an International Congress Center on a project by architect Pierluigi Spadolini.<br />
It hosts various meeting rooms for 50, 80 and 200 people, equipped with all the comforts and state-of-the-art facilities, and boasting an Auditorium with attached exhibiting spaces and a charming Amphitheatre.<br />
Surrounded by a century-old park with rare and original trees – according to the original project by Poggi – Palazzo dei Congressi, along with the adjacent Limonaia, is located opposite Palazzo degli Affari and is connected to the sixteenth-century Fortezza da Basso through a pedestrian square, to form a unique congress and exhibition citadel.</p>
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<p><strong><a href="https://old.firenzefiera.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/pannello-villavittoria04-1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here</a>,</strong> if you wish to learn more about the charming history of Villa Vittoria.</p>
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Esternanl view of the Palazzo dei Congressi