Palazzina Reale delle Cascine
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43°46′57.84″N 11°13′12.13″E / 43.7827333°N 11.2200361°E
The Palazzina Reale delle Cascine (Royal Palace of the Cascine) is a small Neoclassical palace sited on the Piazzale delle Cascine within the public park (Parco delle Cascine) located along the north bank of the Arno river just north of central Florence, Italy. Built in the mid-18th century by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in 2020 now houses part of the offices of the faculty of agricultural and forestry sciences of the University of Florence.
The Grand Duke Peter Leopold of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine transformed the lands the former Medici rulers had used as a farm and hunting ground into a public park around 1765. At the site, he built this small palace, also described as a casino, which in its time described an often rural or semi-rural house for outdoor or garden jaunts or entertainment. Planning of the two-story structure was begun in 1785 by the artist and architect Gaspare Maria Paoletti, who was soon replaced by his young pupil Giuseppe Manetti. The road network around the building was designed by the architect Giuseppe Cacialli.
By the nineteenth century, the Florentine park management offices were housed in the Palazina, and a part was rented to the Italian-English Giacomo Thompson, who built an iron and glass roof in the courtyard behind the building, where he housed his Caffè Ristorante Doney.
After several transitions, the Palazzina was transformed into the Faculty of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences of the University of Florence in 1936.
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