VILLA TORLONIA

Villa Torlonia is an important Roman villa with sorrounding gardens. The main entrance, located on Via Nomentana, is not the original one. After the widening of the main street the entrance was moved to the actual location and built in a way that resembled the Propylaea of the Acropolis in 1910. It is similar to the Vittoriano, which was opened in 1911 (the fifthies anniversary of the Italian Unification). The works are both characterized by a Classical monumentalism.

The Villa was built around the 17th century, when the area was still wild. In 1673, infatti, the land was acquired by a member of the Pamphilij Family , the Cardinal Benedetto. In 1797 it became property of the wealth Torlonia Family, of French heritage, which didn’t belong to the Roman aristocracy. and della ricchissima famiglia Torlonia, di origine francese e quindi non appartenente alla nobiltà romana. The Torlonias reached an important status in the City thanks to their wealth, the purchase and the renovation of the Villa. They had the chance, for this reason, to rise in the Roman aristocracy. Since ancient times the importance of a family was strictly bound to the possession of large green areas, the famous Gardens, with monumental buildings, statues and fountains.

The most important building of Villa Torlonia is the Casino Nobile, located on a hill in front of the main entrance on Via Nomentana. It was mainly used to welcome visitors and to hold parties and cerimonies. After the purchase of the Villa, the banker Giovanni Raimondo Torlonia entrusted architect Giuseppe Valadier with the project of the general property renovation. After the death of Prince Giovanni Torlonia (1829), the renovation project was commissioned to Caretti, which is the responsable of the final shape. The Casino Nobile was built in a Classical style, according to the trends of that era. Actually it resembles a Pagan temple with tympanum and bas-reliefs standing above a structure made of bossage. Torlonia Family needed a work that marked the power of their own wealth.

Another remarkable site is the so-called Casina delle Civette, which was the house of Prince Giovanni Torlonia Jr until his death in 1938. It was built in the 19th century by Giuseppe Jappelli and commissioned by the Prince Alessandro Torlonia. The Casina is a tuff made structure resembling the British rustic architecture: it was designed as a quiet shelter for the family, hidden from a hill to the main Palace.