Villa Torlonia is a villa in Rome, now public, overlooking Via Nomentana, in the Nomentano district. Its main fame is due to the fact that it was the Roman private residence of Benito Mussolini.

History
The villa, from the seventeenth century until the mid- eighteenth century, was owned by the Pamphilj family, who used it as an agricultural estate, similarly to how it did with others located in the same area. The Colonna family purchased the property around 1760, maintaining the nature of agricultural land.

The construction of the villa began, however, only in 1806 on a project by the architect Giuseppe Valadier for the banker Giovanni Raimondo Torlonia (who had bought the estate from the Colonna family in 1797) and was completed for his son Alessandro. Valadier transformed two pre-existing buildings (the main building and the Abbati casino) into a palace and in today’s Casino dei Principi; he built the stables and an entrance, now demolished following the expansion of the Via Nomentana. The architect rearranged the park, creating symmetrical and perpendicular avenues at the intersection of which the palace is located. At the same time, the villa was embellished with specially purchased classical art sculptures.

In 1832 Alessandro Torlonia, succeeding the late father Giovanni, commissioned Giovan Battista Caretti to continue the work on the villa. The particular tastes of the prince determined the construction of a Temple of Saturn, of the False Ruins and of the Tribune with Fountain, as well as of the Caffe-House, of the Chapel of Sant’Alessandro and of the Amphitheater, now no longer existing.

They collaborated in the design of the villa Giuseppe Jappelli, who took care of the arrangement of the southern part and built the Swiss Hut and the Serra Moresca, and Quintiliano Raimondi, who worked on the Theater and on the Orangery, today Limonaia.

Theater
In the southern area, differently from the northern one, characterized by a neoclassical taste, ponds, serpentine boulevards and new buildings were created: the Swiss Hut, the Serra, the Tower, the Grotta Moresca and the Tournament Field. Furthermore, in 1842, Alexander had two obelisks erected in memory of his parents.

The successor, Giovanni, in addition to transforming the Swiss Hut into the current Casina delle Civette, had a new surrounding wall built, the Medieval Villino and the Villino Rosso.

In 1919 a Jewish cemetery was discovered in the basement of the Villa.

In the 1920s, Giovanni Torlonia Junior granted official residence to Benito Mussolini, who paid a symbolic annual rent of one lira; rent granted on the same conditions even after the death of the prince, which occurred in 1938, by the heir Alessandro Gerini. Mussolini and Prince Torlonia built a refuge against bombing raids in the Jewish catacombs of the third and fourth centuries located under the villa.

In the period following the war, the villa was abandoned through a period of decline, until, in 1978, it was purchased by the Municipality of Rome and transformed into a public park.

Components of the Villa

The Park
The Park of Villa Torlonia lies on the north boundary between the Municipality sections 2 and 3. It covers 13.2 hectares and has a rich and complex past, socially and historically, particularly regarding the development of its landscaped grounds.

It originally belonged to the Pamphilj family (from the late seventeenth to mid-eighteenth century) by whom it was used principally as a farm. This was typical of the properties at that time along the Via Nomentana and other areas that lay outside the city walls. Around 1760 it passed to the Colonna family but they did not change the property much and retained its “vineyard” character. Towards the end of the eighteenth century the many farms that lined the Via Nomentana, with their orchards, vineyards and cane fields, were turned into magnificent residences, and it was

Giovanni Torlonia who started the trend when he began the transformation of his rural-style property into a sumptuous mansion, enhanced with various themed architectural outbuildings surrounded by nature. The result is that Villa Torlonia has a differentiated and planimetric structure created by the different projects carried out by architects and landscape gardeners over the years: Valadier’s work (the architect for Giovanni Torlonia) in the north section of the park in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries has a traditional layout, with straight, symmetrical avenues of ilexes, some of which close to the principal Palace still remain; the arrangement of the south section, however, was the result of the more dramatic taste of Alessandro Torlonia (1828 to the end of the century), who had the park enlarged by the landscape gardener Giuseppe Jappelli. Jappelli gave the grounds a romantic, “English-style” atmosphere with the use of winding paths and imaginative exotic buildings.

In the early years of the twentieth century, the widening of the Via Nomentana and alterations to the entrance gave the area in front of the Casino Nobile a less symmetrical character, and this once again was used for social occasions. During Mussolini’s stay (1925–43) the garden was used for both sporting and social events but was also altered by the installation of vegetable gardens during the war. Crops of corn and potatoes, and chicken and rabbit houses were a reminder of the Villa’s rural past. The subsequent neglect the property suffered was furthered by the events of World War II, and the damage and alterations inflicted by its use as the Allied Command were the culmination of the process.

Owing to a lack of maintenance over a period of several decades, when it was opened to the public in 1978 Villa Torlonia was in extremely poor condition, necessitating an extensive municipal project of restoration drawn up by a workgroup in Department X. This was led by the architect Massimo Carlieri with the assistance of the Ministry of the Environment and Land and Sea Protection.

The current inputs
Monumental entrance with propylaea
The current entrance on Via Nomentana and its boundary wall were built between 1905 and 1911 on a project by Enrico Gennari following the withdrawal of the facade due to the widening of the roadway which involved the demolition of the old boundary wall and the annexed entrances. At the sides of the entrance there are two propylaea with ionic and composite order with rusticated base and travertine slabs; the six-leaf gate is in wrought iron interspersed with two travertine pillars supporting glass globes which in turn support eaglesbronze. In the basement of the two buildings there is the security guard of the villa and the ticket office. Upstairs there are marble pilasters with grooves with Ionic capitals. On the sides there are composite capitals. On the sides of the two loggias there are copies of statues whose originals are placed in the museum of the Casino Nobile, among which, worthy of mention: Pandora, modesty and a faun.

Via Spallanzani entrance and concierge house
The construction of the medieval Villino made it necessary to open a new entrance on Via Spallanzani and to build a concierge building. The entrance consists of a simple structure with two brick pillars surmounted by two terracotta vases. The cottage, in which the caretaker of the villa lives, is a two-level building that imitates the medieval cottage in a reduced format.

The hoot owls
The current Casina delle Civette stands where the Swiss Hut once stood, which, built by Alessandro Torlonia, was built in 1840 by Giuseppe Jappelli, sheltered from the main building by a small artificial hill. Today’s Casina retains only the “L” shaped wall structure, the coverage and the rustic taste of the whole which once presented itself as the imitation of an alpine refuge.

On the instructions of Giovanni Torlonia the Younger, from 1908, the hut began to be transformed, by the architect Enrico Gennari, into a “Medieval Village” characterized by arcades, turrets and loggias, decorated with majolica and stained glass windows.

In 1914 a stained glass window was installed, designed by Duilio Cambellotti, depicting two owls and ivy branches. Thanks to it and the recurring presence of this bird in the decorations, inspired by Giovanni ‘s love for esotericism, the cottage began to be called Villino delle Civette.

In 1917 new Liberty style structures were added by Vincenzo Fasolo, who took care of the southern side of the building.

Inside, the Casina, arranged on two floors, is richly decorated with stuccos, majolica, mosaics, paintings, sculptures and wrought iron. Among all, the numerous windows that characterize the entire building stand out.

The deterioration of the Villa began in 1944, when it was occupied by allied troops who would remain there until 1947.

La Casina, already in poor condition at the time of purchase by the Municipality, suffered, in addition to various thefts and vandalism, a fire in 1991.

However, from 1992 to 1997 the Casina delle Civette underwent a long restoration which allowed this building to open to the public, first of all those of the villa.

Noble Casino or Casino Main
The Casino Nobile is an example of neoclassical architecture, with columns and pilasters marble of giant order. The arcades side and the porch Palladian are by Giovan Battista Caretti: he is devon well as decorative Gothic parties and numerous Pompeian interiors. The pediment in terracotta, depicting the triumph of Bacchus, is a student of Canova, Rinaldo Rinaldi.

Once the Vigna Colonna was purchased in 1797, Giovanni Torlonia entrusted Giuseppe Valadier with the task of renovating the palace.

The architect, between 1802 and 1806, renovated and enlarged the building, also called “noble casino”.

Valadier inserted mirrors in the dining room (Salle à manger, known today as the Ballroom) to improve and multiply the effect of lighting from outside.

Domenico Del Frate made paintings and Antonio Canova painted plaster bas-reliefs, some of which are exhibited in the room at ” Bercerau “.

After Giovanni’s death, the task of improving the Casino passed to his son Alessandro (in 1832) who, to improve the visual impact of the building, added a pronaos with a loggia at the entrance. Furthermore, he entrusted Francesco Podesti with the fresco decoration of the Sala di Bacco; Podesti thus painted the Myth of Bacchus, the four seasons and the three continents.

The ground floor and the main floor were used to host the nobles in the receptions, hence the name “Casino nobile”, while the basement and second floor were left to the servants.

The basement also leads to a bunker built by Benito Mussolini and to an underground hall in the style of an “Etruscan tomb”.

Casino dei Principi
This casino, originally a rural building of the Vigna Abati, was restored, by order of Alessandro, by Giovan Battista Caretti between 1835 and 1840, in the neo-Renaissance style. Connected to the “Main Casino” through an underground gallery, it served as a reception room.

Among the original decorations, the frieze representing the ” Triumph of Alexander in Babylon “, while, in the three rooms of the noble floor, frescoes depicting ancient Greece and ancient Rome once made a fine display, and in the dining room, some paintings of the Gulf of Naples, the work of Caretti’s students. Other valuable works include the twentieth-century decorations in the first room by Giovan Battista Caretti and Filippo Bigioli.

The Theater Torlonia
Built between 1841 and 1873. It was restored in 2013.

Serra Moresca
It dates back to 1840 and is in the Moorish style.

False Ruins
They are located on the avenue leading to the Casina delle Civette, above the wall.

The introduction of false ruins was due to a fashion that was born in the sixteenth century, to then develop in the second half of the eighteenth century and continue in the following century.

The complex is composed of a retaining wall brick divided into six niches, plus a central niche with semi- dome it consists of a caisson in lozenges. The niches, where the statues now housed in the Casino Nobile were housed, are divided by Corinthian pilasters. Opposite, there is a row of ruins of travertine columns with grooves and Attic bases.

Temple of Saturn
It is located on the avenue leading to the Casina delle Civette. Raised by Giovan Battista Caretti between 1836 and 1838 in imitation of the ancient temples, it has as its model the Temple of Asclepius of Asprucci built in 1786 for Villa Borghese. The building is small, consisting of only portico and four columns Doric columns of granite. The vegetation hides the back part which has remained incomplete. There are two farmhouses used in ancient times as kitchens and a fenced area. In the ancient engravings, in front of the temple, there are round tables, perhaps used for outdoor meetings. The pediment has a terracotta decoration by Vincenzo Gajassi, which has as its theme the ” Allegory of human life” and Time triumphing over Joy, Art and Culture. “At the center of the representation is the God of Time, that is Saturn holding the scythe, between asnake and a lion. On the sides “The Four Seasons”. On the sides of the building there are casts of some high reliefs of the Palazzo dei Conservatori. Above the portal there is a terracotta relief from the late eighteenth century which has Bacchus donating the vine as its subject; flanked by two theatrical masks in stucco. Busts that crowned the tympanum were lost.

It is one of the few buildings in Villa Torlonia that still needs to be restored.

Tribuna with fountain
It is located on the eastern side of the Casino Nobile close to the artificial hill of Jappelli. Probably, it is the latest work designed for Villa Torlonia by Caretti. The side facing the hill is divided by some columns placed close to the marble wall with two bas – reliefs depicting two cherubs on the sides of a celebratory inscription by the client. The prospect on Via Nomentana is monumental. On the lateral steps covered with peperino are placed tiles of azaleas. In front of the floral arrangement there must have been statues, sarcophagi and archaeological ruins, now lost. In the central niche there was a decoration depicting Aeneas fleeing fromTroia, and there is still the baroque fountain consisting of a semicircular basin and a wall decoration, while works from the Torlonia collection have been placed in the lateral ones. Above the fountain there is a plaque with an inscription. The three niches are separated by Ionic columns.

Golf tournaments
The tournament field is located between the Theater and the Serra Moresca, designed by Jappelli on the medieval, Christian and Ludovico Ariosto- style model. The steps for the spectators are in peperino. On one side there are three red-black curtains. Vintage photos show that on the eastern side there must have been an iron and copper tent supported by cast iron figures, and there the princess Torlonia stood with her court. Instead, the prince’s tent was placed on top of the hill and was decorated by onecoat of arms in copper and another in metal. Today, the tents of the princes have disappeared, like the cast iron figures, but they still existed at the time of Benito Mussolini, as evidenced by some photos that portray him on the spot while playing tennis.

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Finta Etruscan tomb
During the restoration of the Casino Nobile, a hypogeum was found under a concrete block that closed a marble platform in which there were eight iron cylinders that were considered to be gazebo bases. This room, located at a depth of 2.50 meters and composed of about 20 square meters, is circular in shape. An oculus, closed by a grate, acts as an air intake. Probably, to access the underground room some underground tunnels had to be used, which are currently only partially accessible. These are 1.80 meters high and came from the north and one from the south. The north one is closed by a landslide, the south one is closed by the anti-aircraft bunker wanted byBenito Mussolini. The underground room is frescoed with bands, of which the first is with lanceolate tips, the second, the fourth and sixth with zoomorphic figures, the third with stylized phytomorphic figures, the fifth is composed of spirals and phytomorphic figures, in the last band, within a circle of acanthus there are female figures who wear tunic, crown and carry a mirror in their hand. The walls have the same background color as the whole decoration. It is attributed to the usual Caretti.

Other equipment of the villa

Obelisks
The two obelisks of Villa Torlonia are placed at equal distance from the Casino Nobile in line with the two main elevations. Customer Alessandro Torlonia to honor the memory of the parents. They are just over ten meters tall and weigh more than 22 tons each. The bases are covered with travertine and marble. The stones to make the two obelisks were extracted from the Baveno pink granite quarries, worked in Milan, then transported across the Po to the sea, to be embarked in Venice and circumnavigate the peninsula to Fiumicino, across the Tiber to the confluence With the’Aniene; then transport along the Via Nomentana to Villa Torlonia where they arrive on January 4th 1840. From there began a long work for the elevation. The hieroglyphics of the two obelisks are the work of the Barnabite father Luigi Ungarelli.
The first obelisk was erected on June 4, 1842 in the presence of the pope and Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and dedicated to the father Giovanni Torlonia.
The second was raised on 26 July on the occasion of the feast of Sant’Anna and dedicated to the mother Anna Maria and located in the rear area of the building.

Honorary columns
The two honorary columns are placed:
the first at the obelisk dedicated to Anna Maria Torlonia and elevated by Alessandro Torlonia in 1840 in honor of his brother Carlo;
the second was located in an unspecified place in the villa, later moved to the exedra of the theater. It was dedicated by Carlo Torlonia to parents.

Marian newsstand
It is located south of the tournament field within a rustic brick cliff with white marble pilasters with the Torlonia and Colonna coats of arms and dedicated by Alessandro Torlonia to Carlo. It is currently the only religious testimony in the Villa after the demolition of the Chapel of Sant’Alessandro.

Other furnishings of interest
The Fucino lake. It is located between the Casina delle Civette and the theater. This is a small lake surrounded by a bamboo forest created in memory of the drying up of Lake Fucino.
The large avenues of holm oaks on both sides of the casino remained unchanged over time.

The artificial hill of Jappelli. It is located between the Casino Nobile and the Casina delle Civette. Currently, the paths that climb the hill have been protected by wooden fences that modify Jappelli’s natural project.
Another pond located behind the Casino Nobile.

Other restored buildings
Since ninety years they have been restored these other buildings.

The lemon house.
It is also called Aranciera. The construction was commissioned by Alessandro Torlonia. Originally, it was intended as a citrus grove and flower greenhouse. In the sketch by Giuseppe Jappelli of 1839, one can see a wording: “Theater and Orangery of Mr. Raimondi”. Despite the lack of sources, it can be said that the construction of the building took place after 1840, i.e. after the wedding of Alessandro Torlonia with Teresa Colonna because, on the facade, there are the coats of arms of the two families to sanction the union of the two families. Quintiliano Raimondihe built this building differently than Jappelli’s project by building it detached from the adjacent theater. The plan is rectangular.

The exterior features indentations in tuff. The windows are alternated with the doors-windows with embrasures very accentuated and surmounted by windows in the shape of oculi. The roof is covered with Marseille tiles. The interior is in tuff with wooden trusses. The checkerboard floor is in travertine and peperino. In a 1905 description, a small three- arched stage for the shelter of citrus fruits is mentionedand of flowers placed beside a small wooden baroque fireplace, on the sides of which were placed two satyrs and, on the molding, two cherubs holding a clock. In addition, on the sides of the fireplace there were two small barrels made of peperino which served as rustic fountains.

The whole was painted with purple in imitation of gilded bronze. The fireplace was probably destroyed during the ‘ occupation of the Allies in 1944 – 1947 and was replaced by a smaller brick and concrete. Behind the Limonaia there was a dependence used to shelter thelaborers and as a tool case, building that was replaced by the Medieval Villino as the residence of Giulio Borghese Colonna. A 1911 document mentions a fountain near the lemon grove, which today is difficult to identify. In the thirties of the twentieth century, it was rented to the Institute for Cinematography, but it was also used for projections during the residence of Benito Mussolini in the villa. Once restored, the lemon house has now been used as a refreshment point. In the neighboring courtyard, lemons were planted in memory of its ancient use.

The medieval cottage.
Before her death Anna Maria Torlonia drew up a will in which she let her husband choose one of his buildings from among his properties. Her husband, with his children, opted for the construction of a building from scratch, with entrance to via Spallanzani, in the Villa. The project, designed by Enrico Gennari was presented in 1906 and the works were already completed the following year. Already in October 1906 lots of works were paid in which reinforced concrete was used, while the following year the decorations were completed. Cesare Picchiariniinstead, he took care of the artistic windows. The building, which is one of the largest in the villa, uses the support on one side of the lemon house, while the other on via Spallanzani is on three levels. The building is very composite and consists of a tower, a roof terrace, stairways and arcades and is in neo- medieval style. The roses and stars, elements of the Torlonia coat of arms, are placed on columns that support the loggia located above the western entrance of the cottage.

On the facade of via Spallanzani there is a clock decorated with the zodiac signs. Above the western side entrance is a phoenixwhich rises from the ashes, to mean the eternity of the Torlonia family. The walls are in tuff, brick and marble decorations. The main areas are: a living room on the ground floor with a large fireplace and ceiling to lacunar decorated and a first floor room with the ceiling trusses with underlying frieze painted with the city’s coat of arms and the Roma neighborhoods, where it was probably inserted the Torlonia coat of arms, now almost completely faded. The prince also created a garden in which he planted bulb flowers while in a greenhouse, of which remains remain, valuable plants were preserved. The house was inhabited by Giulio Borghese Torlonia until his death in 1915. The restoration has brought back the original aspect. Currently, it houses a game library with advanced technologies and virtual reality itineraries.

The red cottage.
This building is located in the corner of the Villa at the intersection of Via Spallanzani and Via Siracusa. Giovanni Torlonia junior was erected for his administrator between 1920 and 1922 through a project by Paolo Gianoli. The street side consists of a central door placed under a large canopy while, on the garden side, another door leads into a ramp that crosses a bridge and goes up alongside a row of cypresses. The area under the bridge was formerly used for access to carriages. Currently, there is a polylobed fountain and a mask resting on the wall surmounted by the Torlonia coat of armswhere the water came from. At the entrance of the bridge there are two travertine sphinxes from one of the Valadier fountains located in front of the Palace demolished during the transformations of Alessandro Torlonia.

The plan is structured in a way conditioned by the two aforementioned ways. The style of the building is medieval, as evidenced by some zoomorphic and Renaissance heads such as ashlar, loggias and majolica. The interior decorations have as their main theme the heraldic symbols of the Torlonia. On the first floor there is the mosaic depicting the ” Phoenix rising triumphantly from the ashes”. The octagonal sitting room on the first floor is decorated in tempera with fake pillarssorreggenti a cornice surmounted by a dome in the pavilion. The pillars are grotesque in liberty style with allegories of the four seasons and the zodiac signs; the wall is finally covered with a striped wallpaper with drawings of bunches of grapes. Above is engraved the date of construction of the building: MCMXX. Currently, after the restoration, the building has been granted for use by the Academy of Sciences or the Quaranta, which has also set up a scientific library open to the public.

The old stables
This building was built in the early 19th century by Giuseppe Valadier. Valadier designed a building with a loggia with statues above it and ashlar facades. In the second quarter of the 19th century, it was enlarged by Giovan Battista Caretti in a neo – Gothic style. The appearance after these changes came to us only through descriptions and a drawing of the interior preserved in the Quaroni Archive, which shows us pointed arches and Gothic paintings. After buying Alessandro Torlonia, it was decorated with pilasters in Doric style. After the restoration, the various rooms of the old stables were used as a library of the Academy of Sciences, at the headquarters of the Garden Service, as guardhouse for the surveillance of the nearby Jewish catacombs, at the warehouse and premises for cultural activities.

Buildings and furniture disappeared
Due to the expansion of the Via Nomentana, which took place between 1908 and 1909, the villa moved back for 20 meters: therefore, some buildings and furnishings were destroyed. The latter are known to us through prints, descriptions and photographic images. They are:

The main entrance
It was designed and built by Giuseppe Valadier around 1828. It was placed towards the northeast corner of the villa. It was designed as a niche within the boundary wall. At the sides it consisted of pylons in ashlar smooth, each surmounted by a pair of sphinx. Between the two pairs of sphinxes there was the Torlonia coat of arms. The gate was curved. Of the sphinxes located at the entrance, some are currently located in front of the Casino dei Principi entrance; two more are located in the Villa of Federico Zeri in Mentana.

A second entrance
This other entrance was located at the other end of the same wall in axis with the Palazzo. It was restored by Giovan Battista Caretti. On the two pillars there were pairs of winged Genius holding up the Torlonia coat of arms. The gate was adorned with the same symbols.

The Amphitheater
It was located in front of the main facade of the Casino dei Principi. It was built by Alessandro Torlonia to show you various shows, including: horse racing, circus performances and bullfighting. The plan was elliptical. The elevation was composed of ashlar and opus reticolatum alternated surmounted by a railing with pedestals that supported candelabra. In the ambulatory there were dressing rooms and spaces for animals. The construction of the amphitheater is attributed to Giovan Battista Caretti and Francesco Gasparoni who probably collaborated on it since 1833. At the time of construction, it was defined wider than the “Korean Theater”, as the Mausoleum of Augustus was called.

The false ruins
They were placed by Giovan Battista Caretti along the ancient wall of the Nomentana. They consisted of:
Temple of Minerva. It was a peripteral temple placed on a podium with square ashlars that raised the ruined columns and the remains of the cell above the surrounding wall.
Ruin of an amphitheater. It consisted of two orders of arches separated by a cornice.

The Chapel of Sant’Alessandro
This building disappeared in 1903 for unknown reasons. It was built by Alessandro Torlonia between 1833 and 1840. It was designed by Caretti and was located between the Theater, the mountain and the Fucino lake. The descriptions that have come down to us mention that the building consisted of a portico with simple interior decoration in the fifteenth century style and with statues made by Carlo Aureli. The frescoes by Caneva portrayed fourteenth – century style figures. The surviving decorative elements are kept in the Museo del Casino Nobile.

Using modern villa
In 1977, the Villa was purchased by the Municipality of Rome and has been open to the public since 1978.

The Casino Nobile and the Casina delle Civette are currently used as a museum while, in the Limonaia, there is a municipal museum of technology dedicated to children.

In the villa a WiFi network has been installed by the Municipality of Rome which allows you free access to the Internet.

Inside the Villa there is today the Social Center for the elderly “The ancient stables”.

Despite recent renovations that are allowing new parts of the villa to be opened to the public, some buildings are still in a condition of dangerous degradation.

Following an intense wave of bad weather that occurred between 22 and 23 March 2008, about fifty trees in the villa’s garden were heavily damaged, requiring the temporary closure of the entire southern area.

Restoration
Collinette, boschi, vialetti, fontanelle, piante esotiche e costruzioni eclettiche. Questa è lo scenario che caratterizza Villa Torlonia, un tesoro che Roma può vantare di avere a ridosso del suo centro storico, al cui interno si ritrovano legate insieme arte e natura, ovvero importanti testimonianze architettoniche e pregiate tipologie di verde.

Per tornare a far risplendere questo patrimonio, l’Amministrazione Comunale ha realizzato nel corso degli ultimi anni un vasto programma di recupero della Villa. Dopo il restauro dei più importanti edifici che si articolano nel giardino, fra cui la Casina delle Civette, il Casino dei Principi e il Casino Nobile, trasformati in musei aperti alle visite, è stata messa a punto anche un’accurata riqualificazione del verde, la prima dopo l’acquisizione della Villa da parte del Comune di Roma nel 1978.

Hills, woods, avenues, fountains, exotic plants and eclectic buildings: These are the features of Villa Torlonia, a treasure close to the city centre, one which contains the beauties of art, architecture and nature combined.

To return the property to its early splendour, after the Municipality had purchased it in 1978, a long and far-reaching restoration plan was drawn up for the Villa. Following restoration of the more important buildings in the garden – the Casina delle Civette, the Casino dei Principi and the Casino Nobile, which were turned into museums open to the public – the state of the grounds was also enhanced. The basic criterion for this latter phase of the overall plan was respect for the environmental dictates of the period on the basis of careful research. The restoration of the park of Villa Torlonia falls within the restoration plan for all Rome’s Historical Villas, which is being run in collaboration with the Sovrintendenza Comunale with the aim of recreating the original layouts of the gardens from archive drawings, paintings and photographs.

The purpose is to reproduce and conserve the aesthetic tastes of the past whilst also ensuring the protection of important species of trees and allowing better use of the parks by the inhabitants of Rome. The reclamation and upgrading of natural areas include the improvement of public services like the laying out of walkways, installation of benches and waste-bins, the fitting of irrigation and lighting systems, and the building and enclosure of children’s play areas, public toilets and areas reserved for dogs.

Care of Rome’s natural areas in the historic centre contributes to the environmental system of the city as a whole. Parks like that in Villa Torlonia provide significant areas of greenery that add to the city’s Ecological Network, i.e., the connected areas of different environmental types created to protect animal and plant biodiversity and to contribute to the improvement of the urban eco-system.

In Rome, protection of the environment is linked to the strengthening of the city’s historical identity as represented by such residences as Villa Torlonia, which today has been transformed into a living garden open to all. Visitors have the opportunity to relax in the gardens or to become involved in the various cultural offerings available in the buildings of the Villa.

Restoration Works

The underlying project
The aim of the recovery plan for the Villa was, using bibliographic and cartographic sources, to restore the historic and naturalistic features of the property that were still visible and surround them with a setting that would be suited to modern requirements.

Works were undertaken that would restore Villa Torlonia’s unmistakable character of a “historical garden” whilst bearing in mind the public’s changing needs. Thus the manmade lake (made in the early nineteenth century to celebrate the draining of the Lago del Fucino by Alessandro Torlonia) was cleaned up, the view of which had been covered over by infestations of spontaneous vegetation along its banks and on the bed. The project included a new water recycling and purification system. The artificial hill that dates from Jappelli’s work on the property (ca. 1839) had been damaged by landslips that brought down trees and plants, so this was consolidated and laid out anew to recompress the soil and plant new growths in the topsoil that had become sterile and therefore no longer resistant to water erosion.

Restoration was carried out on two architectural features: the Tribuna con Fontana, described in the 1905 Perizia Parisi publication as a “colossal jardinière” composed of slabs of peperino and decorated “with vases containing seasonal, many-coloured flowers”, and the “great tank” built in the nineteenth century in front of the south face of the Casino Nobile. Work on the Tribuna consolidated the supporting walls and rebuilt the peperino shelves on which large vases of guelder roses stood. In the fountain a rectangular body of water was uncovered and the twin fountains were restored, while the walking area around the tank was recreated lined with eight large vases of azaleas standing on peperino bases. The job was completed with a new water recycling system and lighting plant. Together with the restoration work carried out on other buildings by the Sovrintendenza, these two mini-projects represent one of the most important aesthetic improvements to the Villa in which art and nature are combined.

The vegetation reclamation project
The improvement of the plant coverage began with a survey of all the plant and tree life on the area in question (a total of 12.6 hectares, which excludes the south and much of the west sides of Villa Torlonia). Thus it was possible to compare the evolution of the tree and plant growth over the last century against the information on the subject provided by the study of documentation. This development included some unusual episodes, some of which derived from the improper use of the land during World War II, for example, the creation of vegetable gardens and the degradation of the land during the Villa’s occupation by Allied troops, which resulted in the destruction of areas of vegetation to allow vehicle manoeuvres and of many of the remaining ornamental features of the Park. Following acquisition of the property by the Municipality of Rome and its opening to the public, work on the Park (excluding the area surrounding the Casina delle Civette) was limited to the initial reclamation work and then routine maintenance to ensure its usage by the public.

The vegetation reclamation project was split into two main types of work: first, rehabilitation of the land, with the reintroduction or replacement of plants and trees that were considered important from the original layout and which were not fully represented in its modern state, and second, maintenance of the land, both routine and extraordinary. Thus the rings of Phoenix canariensis were reintroduced, with new plants symmetrically laid out in the two beds at the foot of the Palace steps. With the reintroduction of perennial grasses and large, winter-blooming and bulb plants, an attempt was made to recreate the harmonious and cheerful image of the Villa referred to in so many descriptions of the property: “Flower beds, copses, bushes, cypresses, pines, oaks, of all there is an abundance, not excluding the ornamental and flowering plants scattered here, there and everywhere” (Perizia Parisi, 1905). With regard to what are more strictly maintenance operations, the degraded areas were properly cleaned up with the selective elimination of trees and shrubs, the removal of trees requiring reshaping and of tree stumps to allow for the regeneration of grassy areas, and the trimming of trees and bushes.

In addition, a completely new irrigation system was installed in the grass-covered areas to ensure the year-round covering of plants though, at the same time, avoiding excessive compression of the soil. The state of the existing paths was so poor that the overall design was no longer apparent, so these were attended to structurally and functionally. Problems relating to the flow of water were overcome by incorporating rises and falls in the paths, rehabilitating the drainage system and building new piping to carry away the water to the existing collector. The avenues were completely reformed using a consolidation layer, a layer of draining material, a layer of stabilised pozzolan, and a covering of fine limestone granules rolled and wetted for greater compactness. These materials were chosen for their attractive appearance but primarily for their functionality.

The design of the flower-beds was emphasised by a vertical border of rounded tufa stones as was done in the nineteenth century. This was low in the flat areas and of average height in sloping areas where the soil required containment. In certain places where the border was highest, benches were sometimes inserted.

All the garden furniture was made from iron, having been designed by the planners with the intention of maintaining an atmosphere of the past. These included period-style benches, railings along the boundary wall and around the area of the Tribuna, and, in an intimate natural setting, a gazebo based on the design of the original that has been lost. The new path lights are of the lantern sort already used for the Casina delle Civette, and the paired cylindrical waste-bins were chosen as being the most suitable from a stylistic standpoint. A few marble works from the Villa’s collection that had been kept in the stores were placed along the paths and in flower-beds so as to hark back to the time the Villa appeared as a fanciful and picturesque set of romantic “ruins” set among nature.

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