The Villa Fiorentino in Sorrento

Walking down Corso Italia (main artery of the Sorrento Peninsula and shopping street par excellence of
Sorrento), near the Cathedral we find Villa Fiorentino .

In addition to the Municipal Villa, this elegant and majestic villa is also worth a visit!

Villa Fiorentino is sandwiched between the ancient city walls and the historic center, preceded by a large fountain, flower beds and surrounded by a beautiful garden.

Villa Fiorentino: The Origins

The beautiful Villa Fiorentino was built in the 1930s as the home of the Fiorentino-Cuomo family, historic weavers of handkerchiefs with the finest and most sought-after embroidery.

In order to bring prestige to their craftsmanship, the Fiorentino-Cuomo family thought of using the rooms on the ground floor of the villa precisely as a display venue for their work.

Mr. Fiorentino’s former workshop, in fact, was based on Luigi De Maio Street in the historic center.

As soon as one enters the courtyard, one is immediately fascinated by the building’s particular aesthetic, which is atypical in Italy and reminiscent of American mansions of the late 19th century: it was precisely the U.S. architectural magazines that inspired Mr. and Mrs. Antonino and Lucia Fiorentino on the style to adopt for their home.

The Villa, in fact, is in the Neoclassical style with neo-colonial influences, typical of 19th-century southern American architecture.

Villa Fiorentino: The Farmhouse

“Villa Fazzoletti” (so named by the Sorrentini in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Fiorentino and their business) occupies an area of about ten thousand square meters, surrounded by a huge garden of citrus trees, camellias and roses.

Behind the building, in the overlying part of the fund that houses the citrus grove, we find a pre-existing farm building incorporated into the city walls themselves.

The Farmhouse was used as the residence of the Villa janitor and occupied until the early 2000s.

From some cadastral documents of the late 19th century, in fact, we learn of the existence of the farmhouse.

Not only that, in the early 1920s, the building had only the ground floor with the related “typical” rooms of a peasant house: the millstone, the oven, the cooper, the stables for the animals, and the rooms for the family.

When the building of the Villa was finished, the farmhouse saw its expansion with the construction of the upper floor and the attic, so as to make living conditions easier for the occupants.

One curiosity is the presence of frescoes all along the walls of the house and which remain of unknown origin and subject matter.

However, it is plausible that Mr. and Mrs. Fiorentino, lovers of beauty and sensitive to Art, had somehow “instructed” the then occupant of the house, to make it less “anonymous” and therefore good-looking to the eye.

The Sorrento Foundation

When the profitable business ceased, at the end of their days, the couple donated Villa Fiorentino to the City of Sorrento, with the desire that it could become exclusively a museum and historical-cultural city enhancement center.

In fact, today it is the headquarters of the Sorrento Foundation, a cultural promotion organization, which sees as its President the Arm. Gianluigi Aponte – who brought prestige to the City for its international reputation in the maritime field – and as Director the Adv. Gaetano Milano.

Both of them, moved by a spirit of unconditional love for their city and embodying the ideals of Mr. and Mrs. Fiorentino, Promote with the invaluable help of Foundation members everything related to local cultural and artistic heritage, organizing art exhibitions and encouraging activities and events open to the citizens of Sorrento and the many tourists who visit the Sorrento Peninsula.

Most importantly. to the tourism of excellence that the Sorrento Foundation directs its activities to promote the area, with the aim of introducing as many people as possible to the cultural, historical and traditional richness of Sorrento that is not limited to “commonplaces” but holds prestige and uniqueness, just like the fine handkerchiefs made by the Fiorentino family.