The History of the Villa

The Villa del Teatro Santucci, located 13 kilometers northeast of Lucca, was purchased in 1953 by my grandfather (and namesake) following a business trip to Tuscany when he decided he'd like to return on a regular basis. The property was in particularly poor local repute as Mussolini had commandeered it as a residence for one of his mistresses. It's likely that it was available at an unusually attractive price—family lore puts it at $25,000, fully furnished with antiques.

Beardsley Ruml used the villa regularly in the following summers (as a villa, it was designed to be occupied only during the summer: high ceilings make it very difficult to heat) until his death in 1960 when my father inherited it. The villa was rented to a Scottish sculptor who had another studio which he used in July and August. Alison and I were the first family members to use the villa, spending July and August of 1964 there following my first year of law school—I really needed the rest. Frances was a year old and we had a most pleasant summer.

We spent the summer of 1974 at the villa when Frances was 11 and Wheeler 3, and were there again during the summer of 1978 when Frances was 15 and Wheeler 7. In the mid-80s, my father retired and began to spend his summers at the villa with his second wife Barbara. I visited the villa only once briefly in 1988 until my father's death in 1996.

Although the villa real estate was given to the six of us; my father's personal property passed to Barbara as part of the residuary bequest to her so she then owned all of the antique furniture which had belonged to the villa for decades. Having no intention to use the villa again herself, she contacted a local furniture dealer and sold it all in a single lot for a song leaving her stepchildren with 25 empty rooms, including the kitchen.

In the intervening 20 years, I've furnished the three important rooms (living room, bedroom and the original kitchen) and it's been Deb's and my base for Vespa touring during the past nine years in addition to its primary function as a restful place to relax in the midst of Italian culture -- Florence is an hour away.

[After 8 weeks around Greece, 2011]