Formerly property of the Florentine Riccardi family and situated in the locality of Treggiaia in the vicinity of Pontedera, the Villa was originally a farm. In the course of the 17th century, it was considerably embellished to the point of becoming one of the most famous villas of the Pisan area for its sumptuous furnishings and refined architectural elements. When it became the property of the Toscanelli family towards the mid 18th century, the Villa underwent further refurbishing.

The naturalist interests of Giuseppe and Nello Toscanelli led to the creation of a garden where botanical and picturesque aspects combine in pleasant harmony, as already noted in the second half of the eighteenth century by famed naturalist Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti who celebrated the park in his Relazioni d'alcuni viaggi fatti in diverse parti della Toscana [Reports from several journeys to various parts of Tuscany]. An outstanding specimen of the numerous trees – mainly conifers (Atlantic cedars, Arizona cypresses, sequoias and others) – that embellish the park, is a Platanus orientalis, planted in 1917 and today 45 metres in height.