The villa, originally known as Poggio Baroncelli (after the family that owned it in 1400), became property of the Medici family following the confiscation of the properties of the Salviati Family in 1565. Cosimo I gave it to his daughter Isabella, who left it to her son, Don Virginio Orsini, who in turn left it to Paolo Giordano Orsini II, who sold it to Maria Maddalena d'Austria, wife of Archduke Cosimo II. The Archduchess selected the palace because of its proximity to the court, which then resided in Palazzo Pitti, and had it restructured by Giulio Parigi. Once the work was completed the villa was renamed Del Poggio Imperiale, with an edict dated May 23, 1624. The Poggio Imperiale estate, on the other hand, consisted of 16 farms that were bought over a number of years. The villa's 17th century layout remained unchanged until 1766, when Archduke Pietro Leopoldo asked Gaspare Maria Paoletti to renovate the structure. The work took 15 years, and involved the addition of many stuccos to the interior, the transformation of the side-gardens into courtyards surrounded by wings of the palace, the redesign of the lateral façades, and the restoration of the main fa�ade, which was left unchanged. In 1807, however, the main fa�ade was restructured by Giuseppe Cacialli, on the basis of a design by Pasquale Poccianti, a disciple of Paoletti's. When Florence was declared Capital of Italy, the villa was transformed into a girl's school, run by SS. Annunziata.