Description
Villa Torlonia is a large public park on via Nomentana, in Rome, with a group of eccentric 19th- and 20th-century buildings now turned into museums. It was the residence of the Torlonia princes and then of Mussolini: a place for strolling among fake ruins, a sham temple and a Moorish greenhouse.
The park has three entrances: the monumental one with propylaea on via Nomentana and two on via Spallanzani. The story begins in the 1700s, when the land was a farming estate and Cardinal Girolamo Colonna built the first core of the villa.
In 1797 the banker Giovanni Torlonia bought it and commissioned Giuseppe Valadier to turn it into a neoclassical villa with symmetrical avenues and ancient statues. The Casino Nobile has giant-order columns, a pediment with the triumph of Bacchus and frescoed rooms; from the basement you can go to the bunker Mussolini had built against the bombings.
The Casino dei Principi, neo-Renaissance, was the reception hall, linked to the Casino Nobile by an underground gallery.
His son Alessandro, however, wanted to astonish. He had built a fake Temple of Saturn, the false ruins, a theater, a jousting ground and two obelisks for his parents, in 1842. In the southern area Giuseppe Jappelli added little lakes, serpentine paths and a Moorish Greenhouse in neo-Moorish style, with its tower and grotto.
Where the Casina delle Civette (Owl House) now stands there was a Swiss hut, a fake Alpine refuge built in 1840, also by Jappelli. From 1908 it was turned into a little medieval village, with turrets, small loggias, majolica and stained glass. The name comes from a stained-glass window designed in 1914 by Duilio Cambellotti, with two owls and ivy tendrils.
In 1919 an underground Jewish cemetery from Roman times was discovered in the park. In the 1920s Prince Giovanni Torlonia granted the villa to Benito Mussolini, who moved into the Casino Nobile with his family. He paid one lira a year in rent, while the prince withdrew to the Casina delle Civette.
The Mussolinis left the villa after July 25, 1943. From 1944 to 1947 it was occupied by the Anglo-American command, then fell into ruin. In 1977 the Comune bought it, in 1978 it became a park, and from 1991 the buildings were restored one by one and turned into museums.
Don't miss
• The Casina delle Civette.
• The Casino Nobile.
• The Moorish Greenhouse.
• The Torlonia Theater.
Did you know?
• The Torlonia Theater took more than thirty years to build, between 1841 and 1873.
• In the niches of the false ruins stood ancient statues, now in the Casino Nobile.
The park has three entrances: the monumental one with propylaea on via Nomentana and two on via Spallanzani. The story begins in the 1700s, when the land was a farming estate and Cardinal Girolamo Colonna built the first core of the villa.
In 1797 the banker Giovanni Torlonia bought it and commissioned Giuseppe Valadier to turn it into a neoclassical villa with symmetrical avenues and ancient statues. The Casino Nobile has giant-order columns, a pediment with the triumph of Bacchus and frescoed rooms; from the basement you can go to the bunker Mussolini had built against the bombings.
The Casino dei Principi, neo-Renaissance, was the reception hall, linked to the Casino Nobile by an underground gallery.
His son Alessandro, however, wanted to astonish. He had built a fake Temple of Saturn, the false ruins, a theater, a jousting ground and two obelisks for his parents, in 1842. In the southern area Giuseppe Jappelli added little lakes, serpentine paths and a Moorish Greenhouse in neo-Moorish style, with its tower and grotto.
Where the Casina delle Civette (Owl House) now stands there was a Swiss hut, a fake Alpine refuge built in 1840, also by Jappelli. From 1908 it was turned into a little medieval village, with turrets, small loggias, majolica and stained glass. The name comes from a stained-glass window designed in 1914 by Duilio Cambellotti, with two owls and ivy tendrils.
In 1919 an underground Jewish cemetery from Roman times was discovered in the park. In the 1920s Prince Giovanni Torlonia granted the villa to Benito Mussolini, who moved into the Casino Nobile with his family. He paid one lira a year in rent, while the prince withdrew to the Casina delle Civette.
The Mussolinis left the villa after July 25, 1943. From 1944 to 1947 it was occupied by the Anglo-American command, then fell into ruin. In 1977 the Comune bought it, in 1978 it became a park, and from 1991 the buildings were restored one by one and turned into museums.
Don't miss
• The Casina delle Civette.
• The Casino Nobile.
• The Moorish Greenhouse.
• The Torlonia Theater.
Did you know?
• The Torlonia Theater took more than thirty years to build, between 1841 and 1873.
• In the niches of the false ruins stood ancient statues, now in the Casino Nobile.