Villa Sammarughi

These two buildings, very close to each other, most likely served as a Customs House, and a Post Office, stables and shelter for soldiers, the other. With the unification of Italy, the Customs House and the Post Office, as administrative structures, were no longer needed, and the buildings were also separated in their purpose: the former Customs House, in an excellent position and with a wide view of the Scoltenna Torrent Valley, before being transformed into a villa (Villa SAMMARUGHI), was for a few years, in the summer months, the “Pensione Major”, from the name of its owner, Prof. C.J. Forsyth Major, (1834-1922), a Scottish doctor, who had moved to Florence with his family. Forsyth Major, a man of great culture and passionate about Natural Sciences, travelled to many parts of the world, collecting and studying many scientific finds. We owe him a notable collection of fossil remains of vertebrates from the Upper and Lower Valdarno and other Tuscan locations. Many of the finds he collected are in the Paleontology Section of the Natural History Museum of the University of Florence, where he taught for several years. He had three daughters who probably ran the Pensione. Around the 1930s the building was purchased by the Roman Sammarughi family who spent their summer holidays there until the 1950s, when a new owner took over and transformed it into the “Piccolo Hotel Cristallo”, which was partly destroyed a few years ago due to a fire, and is still awaiting restoration. Via Brennero (formerly Via Giardini), 514 51021 Abetone