Villa Il Tasso. Villa Il Tasso is a villa in Florence located in via Benedetto Fortini 30, in the Gavinana district. Already inhabited by Roberto Longhi and his wife Anna Banti from 1939 to 1970, it is now the headquarters of the Longhi Foundation, which looks after, among other things, the conspicuous art collection put together by the art historian. The villa takes its double name from a white fig, which grew in the area and from an enormous plant that grows in its park: a yew, whence the name of Villa Il Tasso. The building was owned by the Alberti family, then it passed to the monastery of Paradiso, which subsequently entrusted it to the humanist Cristoforo Landino, Florentine intellectual and commentator on Dante, in 1480. Once the monastery of Santa Brigida al Paradiso was closed, all his assets passed to the Compagnia dei Poveri di San Giovanni Battista. The villa then returned to private hands and belonged to the Guasconi, then the Morocchis bought it, then it passed to the Tolomei, the Giorni and the Campani. The villa was purchased by the art historian Roberto Longhi in 1939, who lived there until his death with his wife, the writer Anna Banti. In 1971, through the work of his wife, the Roberto Longhi foundation was born, with headquarters in the villa, which takes care of and makes usable the library, the photo library and the personal art collection of Longhi, destined by him in his will for the advantage of the young generations. The building, despite having ancient origins, has a modest nineteenth-century structure; the part of the building facing the road to Florence retains some traces of the 15th century, while the part behind it was added by the Longhi family. In front of the villa, a stretch of the old road that leads to the Tuscan capital is still visible, which delimits the park above it, also owned by the villa. Next to the gate is a plaque from 1704, which indicated the distance to reach Florence, one mile. Along the wall of the villa there are graffiti, one of which bears the date 1830.