I love venues that take you to a different place and time; places where you really have no idea that you are even in California and you are able to let yourself get swept up in the overwhelming grandeur and romance that surrounds you. The Villa del Sol d’Oro in Sierra Madre (just outside Pasadena) is this type of magical place. The Santa Anita Gardens Catering (the venue’s caterer) website explains why this magic comes so easy: “The Alverno Villa is a duplicate of the Villa Collazzi located on the outskirts of Florence Italy… legend has it that the Villa is the only one ever designed by the immortal Michelangelo. The Villa del Sol d’Oro is one―quarter scale to the original. Nestled at the foot of the beautiful San Gabriel Mountains in the picturesque City of Sierra Madre, the Villa was built in the “pure” Italian Renaissance Style in 1922 by the famous Pasadena architect Wallace Neff and was completed by 1928. The estate was built by Dr. Jarvis Barlow for his wife, who had visited the Villa Collazzi and wanted a house just like it.” The pictures most definitely speak for themsleves:
by Kerrie
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