We are excited to announce that we are getting married at Villa Campestri in Florence, Italy! We have prayerfully made the decision to get married in Florence, Italy after our mission trip with Heart of David in Naples, Italy!! :)

Villa Campestri is an 800 year old home that is now and Olive Oil farm surrounded by olive groves! We are in love with the idea of our wedding among the olive trees because of the symbolism of the olive trees and olive oil in the Bible!

Symbolism of Olive Oil in the Bible

In the Bible olive oil is mentioned several times as the oil used for lighting lamps (Leviticus 24:2; Exodus 27:20). Olive oil was also used for anointing oil (Exodus 30:23–25) and as part of the grain offerings (Leviticus 2:1–10). Kings were anointed with olive oil as a sign that they were chosen by God to rule (1 Samuel 16:1). As an important ingredient in the recipe for anointing oil, olive oil was used to sanctify priests (Exodus 29:7) and the tabernacle and all its furnishings (Exodus 40:9).

Because of its centrality to much of Jewish life, olive oil was sometimes used as a symbol of richness, joy, and health (Jeremiah 31:12; Hebrews 1:9). Olive oil can also be seen as a symbol of the Holy Spirit or faith in Jesus' parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1–13). The five wise virgins in the wedding party had made sure they had olive oil for their lamps as they waited for the bridegroom to come. There are many passages in which olive oil can be a picture of the Holy Spirit, the One who sanctifies us, fills us, readies us to see Christ, and brings us light, joy, and spiritual health - this is our prayer for our future marriage! :)

The History of Villa Campestri

Before going down the tree-lined road, you will catch sight of a shrine with a sinopia of the splendid fresco created by the illustrious Lorenzo di Bicci (who probably studied under Spinello Aretino) in the second half of the 1300's. The original fresco is now in the Beato Angelico Museum of Vicchio. Originally a small fortress, Villa Campestri becomes a manor house and comes to life between 1430 and the 1600's. The manor house that you see today began to take on its present form when the building was enlarged in 1430. It was completed as a Renaissance Villa at the end of the 1600's. The façade of the building was completed between the end of the 1800's and the beginning of the 1900's. Its decorative frieze was painted; it seems, according to a drawing by the famous Michelozzo Michelozzi.

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