Museums of Villa Torlonia

Located along Via Nomentana, Villa Torlonia still retains a particular charm due to the originality of the English style garden and the rich number of buildings and artistic furnishings scattered throughout the park. Originally an agricultural property of the Pamphilj family, it was taken over at the end of the eighteenth century by the banker Giovanni Torlonia who commissioned Giuseppe Valadier to transform the rural estate into his own residence.

In 1832, the heir Alessandro Torlonia continued the embellishment works, through the construction of other buildings, and the arrangement of the park according to the taste of the romantic gardens. After a long period of abandonment, the villa became the residence of the Mussolini family in the 1920s and finally, in 1978, it was acquired by the Municipality of Rome and transformed into a public park.

The museums of Villa Torlonia features:

The “Casino Nobile” which owes its appearance to the contribution of Giuseppe Valadier (1802), Giovan Battista Caretti (1835-40) who added the pronaos of the facade, and to the many artists who worked on the interior decoration, including Podesti, Coghetti and Thorvaldsen .

When the Villa was rented by Benito Mussolini from 1925 to 1943 a gas shelter and an anti-aircraft bunker were built in the basement, which can be visited by appointment.

In the two main floors there are the original rooms, with original sculptures and furnishings.

On the second floor you can find the Museum of the Roman School, with paintings, sculptures and drawings by the artists of that artistic tide.

the “casino dei principi” also features The Archives of the Roman School, with plenty of documents, host temporary exhibitions.

The Casina delle Civette, originally designed in 1839 by the architect Giuseppe Jappelli as a Swiss hut, was transformed in the early twentieth century into an eclectic cottage. The hut owes it’s name to the many  decorative elements inspired by the theme of the owl. The numerous polychrome stained glass windows present were largely made in Cesare Picchiarini's workshop between 1910 and 1925.

The Theater of Villa Torlonia, opened in 2013 after a long restoration, hosts a program of shows and is worth a visit to admire the extraordinary frescoes, mosaics, statues and paintings.

Address: Via Nomentana, 70 Roma

Official website: www.museivillatorlonia.it/it

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