Villa Brandi is located in Vignano in the province of Siena. The construction of the villa, probably designed by Baldassarre Peruzzi, dates back to the sixteenth century as evidenced by the stucco decorations in the first floor hall. In the mid-eighteenth century, the complex became the property of the Brandi family, who in 1767 had a small chapel erected in front of the main building with a dedicatory inscription to the Virgin Mary. The building retains the original appearance of a Sienese country manor: it is spread over three levels and consists of a single square-shaped body with sloping walls and a corner loggia with three arches. The garden structure dates back to an intervention in the early twentieth century. Cesare Brandi (1906-1988), art critic and historian, founder with Giulio Carlo Argan of the Central Institute for Restoration, was the last owner of the villa. Cesare Brandi stayed in various Italian and foreign cities, but continued to frequent the family residence immersed in the Sienese countryside as a favorite retreat and as a permanent residence in his last years of life. He died here in 1988, leaving the complex as an inheritance to the Italian State. The interiors of the villa are furnished with furnishings, artworks, and furniture from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, as well as paintings and sculptures of modern art. Cesare Brandi's collection includes many works donated to him by artists with whom he had an intellectual and deep friendship, representing a sort of compendium of Italian figurative culture of the twentieth century, featuring the most significant names of the period: De Pisis, Morandi, Manzù, Guttuso, Mastroianni, Scialoja, Burri, and many others. In addition to the villa and the artworks, the Brandi legacy includes a rich library, a manuscript collection of over thirteen thousand letters, and a photographic collection of about seven thousand images. From the section dedicated to family photos, artists, and writers, over seventy shots have been exhibited in the tinaia illustrating Cesare Brandi's interests and passions for art, literature, restoration, music, and travel.