La Foce: Paradise in Tuscany

Author Katia Lysy, Prologue by Benedetta Origo, Photographs by Simon Upton and Matteo Carassale

Discover La Foce, the Renaissance villa and classically inspired twentieth-century garden, at the dawn of its hundredth anniversary—once a barren Tuscan estate brought to life through the extraordinary vision and determination of Iris and Antonio Origo.

In 1924, English-born biographer and writer Iris Origo (1902–1988) and her husband, Antonio, purchased La Foce, a sprawling estate centered around a half-ruined fifteenth-century villa with a dream that was as ambitious as it was audacious. Guided by a deep-seated desire to make a difference, the Origos dedicated their lives to transforming an impoverished terrain into a thriving landscape of wheat fields, olive groves, and vineyards. With English architect Cecil Pinsent, they refurbished the house and designed an elegant terraced garden with box hedges, a rose garden, fountains, and a wisteria-covered pergola.