The Villa Brandi is located in Vignano in the province of Siena. The construction of the villa, probably based on a design by Baldassarre Peruzzi, dates back to the sixteenth century as evidenced by the stucco decorations in the hall on the first floor. 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 dedication inscription to the Virgin. The building retains the original appearance of a Sienese manor house outside the city: it is spread over three levels and is made up of a single body with a square plan with sloping walls and a corner loggia with three arches. The structure of the garden dates back to an intervention of the early twentieth century. Cesare Brandi (1906-1988), critic and art historian, founder with Giulio Carlo Argan of the Central Institute of Restoration, was the last owner of the villa. Cesare Brandi stayed in various Italian and foreign cities, however continuing to frequent the family residence immersed in the Sienese countryside as a favorite place of retreat and as a permanent home in the last years of his life. Here he died in 1988, bequeathing the complex to the Italian State. The interiors of the villa are furnished with furnishings, works of art and furniture from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, as well as modern art paintings and sculptures. Cesare Brandi's collection includes the many works donated to him by the artists with whom he was linked by an intellectual relationship and deep friendship and represents a sort of compendium of Italian figurative culture of the twentieth century, in which the most significant names of the period appear: De Pisis, Morandi, Manzù, Guttuso, Mastroianni, Scialoja, Burri and many others. In addition to the villa and the works of art, the Brandi bequest includes a rich library, a manuscript fund of over thirteen thousand letters and a photographic collection of around seven thousand images. From the collection dedicated to family photos, artists and writers, over seventy shots were exhibited in the "vat cellar" illustrating Cesare Brandi's interests and passions for art, literature, restoration, music and travel.