Album: Alii Horti Dance Performance and Grant. From the archive to the garden stage

Photographers Viola Parrietti and Marco Berni immortalise the 'Alii Horti' outdoor dance events at Villa La Pietra and Villa La Quiete in Florence on June 29 and July 2 2026. Enjoy highlights from this all-female, student-led performance conceived by Il Palmerino Cultural Association through a grant from the Calliope Arts Foundation, in collaboration with the University of Florence's museum circuit (SMA) and NYU's Villa La Pietra as part of the Estate Fiorentina 2026 programme and 'The Garden Project'.

These 'moving' dance performances were staged in five locations throughout each garden, as the audience accompanied dancers in their exploration of two of Florence's most evocative monumental green spaces. Choreographed by Sophie Robinson (University of Toronto) and coordinated by Federica Parretti, both events were created as tributes to the women connected to the villas' histories.

Choregrapher: Sophie Robinson

Dancers: Celia Donoso Clemente, Margaret Dwyer, Camila Recabarren, Ava Renspie, Sophie Robinson

Original Music: Artemis Skarmoutsos (Viola)

Other music: Florence Price, Luise Adolpha Le Beau, Barbara Strozzi

Costume Designer: Matilda Ponsonby

Interns: Sarah Drotleff, Camille Malgorn, Ally Ralston

Project Coordinator: Federica Parretti

Donors: Margie MacKinnon and Wayne McArdle

Villa La Pietra photography: Viola Parretti

Villa La Quiete photography: Marco Berni

Historial women tributed at Villa La Pietra:

Villa La Quiete: Cristina di Lorena (1565-1636); Eleonora Ramirez Montalvo (1602-1659); Vittoria Della Rovere (1622-1694); Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici (1667-1743)

Historial women tributed at Villa La Quiete:

Hortense Mitchell Acton (1871–1962); Ortensia Capponi Incontri (1814–1844); Maria Maddalena Frescobaldi (1771-1839); Nera Corsi Sassetti (1444-1507); Alessandra Macinghi Strozzi (1406-1471)