Villa Torlonia (Rome) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Villa Torlonia |
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Villa Torlonia
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| General information | |
| Town or city | Rome |
| Country | Italy |
| Coordinates | Lua error in Module:Coordinates at line 614: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Giuseppe Valadier |
Villa Torlonia is a beautiful villa and large gardens located in Rome, Italy. It used to belong to the wealthy Torlonia family. You can enter this amazing place from the via Nomentana street. Today, it is a public museum where you can explore its history and unique buildings.
Contents
What Is the Design of Villa Torlonia Like?
The villa was designed by a famous architect named Giuseppe Valadier. He was known for his Neoclassical style, which means he used ideas from ancient Greek and Roman buildings. Construction began in 1806 for a banker named Giovanni Torlonia. His son, Alessandro, finished the work.
What Is the History of Villa Torlonia?
A famous Italian leader, Benito Mussolini, rented the villa from the Torlonia family for a very small amount of money – just one lira a year. He used it as his official home starting in the 1920s. He and his family lived there for 18 years.
After 1945, the villa was left empty and started to fall apart. But in recent years, a lot of work has been done to fix it up. Now, it is open to everyone as a museum. The city of Rome owns and runs it.
What Buildings and Gardens Can You See?
Between 1802 and 1806, Valadier changed the main building into a grand palace. He also updated other buildings and designed the park with straight paths around the palace. Many old statues and artworks were bought to decorate the palace.
After Giovanni passed away, his son Alessandro hired Giovan Battisti Caretti, an artist and architect, in 1832. Caretti made the property even better. He expanded the buildings and added new ones in the park. These included the False Ruins, the Temple of Saturn, and the Tribuna con Fontana (a fountain with a viewing stand).
Alessandro also hired other experts. Quintiliano Raimondi worked on the theater and the orangerie, which is now called the “Lemon-house.” Giuseppe Jappelli was in charge of the entire southern part of the grounds. He transformed it with paths, small lakes, unusual plants, and unique buildings. These included the Swiss Hut, which later became the Casina delle Civette. He also added a Conservatory (a greenhouse), a Tower, a Moorish Grotto (a cave-like structure), and a Tournament Field. In 1842, two pink granite obelisks were put up to honor Alessandro's parents.
What Is the Underground Catacomb?
In 1919, a large underground Jewish catacomb was found in the northwest part of the grounds. This catacomb dates back to the 3rd and 4th centuries. It has about 3,800 graves. It is not open to the public because of a Jewish religious law that says human bodies should remain buried.
What About the Bunker?
During the time Mussolini lived there, an air-raid shelter was built in the garden. Later, a much bigger and stronger airtight bunker was built under the villa itself. This bunker was meant to protect against air attacks and chemical weapons.
In June 1944, the property was taken over by the Allied High Command, who stayed there until 1947. The city of Rome bought the Villa in 1977. A year later, it was opened to the public, but many of the buildings were in bad shape. Restoration work began in the 1990s and is mostly finished. The gardens are designed in the English 'picturesque' style, which means they look natural and beautiful.
What Can You See in the Museum?
The museum inside the villa has a small collection of statues from the Torlonia family. Some pieces were found in the villa, and others in the gardens. Giovanni and Alessandro Torlonia were very important art collectors for almost a century.
Some of the artworks on display were made by Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, a sculptor and art restorer from the 1700s. Giovanni bought all the works from Cavaceppi's studio in 1800. Other items come from different Torlonia properties. These include pieces of the villa's furniture that survived the years of neglect.
You can also see three plaster reliefs by Antonio Canova, a famous sculptor. There's also a woman's head in the style of Michelangelo, and a marble triangle from a tomb on the Appian Way. All these were found in the basement of the theater in the gardens. One part of the museum is a rebuilt bedroom of Giovanni Torlonia (1872–1938). It has furniture that Mussolini used when he lived in the villa.
What Is the Casina delle Civette?
The Casina delle Civette means "House of the Little Owls." It started as a "Swiss Cabin" in the 1800s, designed by Jappelli in 1840. It was meant to be a cozy escape from the formal main house. The outside was covered with tufa blocks, and the inside was painted.
Today, it has two buildings: the main house and an annex, connected by a small wooden walkway and an underground passage. These buildings look very different from the original cabin. In 1908, architect Enrico Gennari began to change the small building into a home with huge windows, loggias (covered walkways), porticos (porches), and turrets. It was decorated with majolica (colorful pottery) and stained glass.
From 1916, the building became known as the "House of the Little Owls." This is probably because the design of a little owl is used a lot in the decorations and furniture. You can visit the Casina delle Civette as part of the museum. It has 20 rooms, with 54 pieces of stained glass put back in their original spots after being fixed. There are also 18 pieces of stained glass displayed on separate frames, and 105 sketches for stained glass designs.
What About the Theatre?
Alessandro Torlonia ordered the construction of the Teatro Villa Torlonia in 1841. It was finished in 1873 under the architect Quintiliano Raimondi. The inside of the building was decorated by Constantino Brumidi.
The theater was damaged after the war when the Allied forces were there. It remained unused until it was fixed up and reopened in 2013. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the theater sometimes held public performances.
See also
- List of parks and gardens in Rome
- Villa Albani-Torlonia
