Villa Grazioli

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The southeast facade of Villa Grazioli
North-west facade to the valley towards Rome
Villa Grazioli by Matteo Greuter 1620, then still called Villa Montalto
Piano nobile with numerous frescoes
Ceiling frescoes

The rural Villa Grazioli (former names: Villa Acquaviva, Villa Montalto, Villa Bracciano ) is a listed villa with a park in the village of Grottaferrata , Lazio region near Rome in Italy . It is a building of the Renaissance and was built around 1580 by Cardinal Antonio Carafa . The villa is rich in frescoes from the 16th to 18th centuries.

history

The engraved marble slab in the chapel of Villa Grazioli cites a letter from 1580 in which Pope Gregory XIII. the chapel dedicated to John the Baptist . After the death of Cardinal Carafa, ownership of the villa passed to Cardinal Ottavio Acquaviva d'Aragona in 1592 . He commissioned the execution of most of the frescoes in the vaults of the four halls on the ground floor.

From 1613 the villa belonged to the Cardinals Scipione Caffarelli Borghese and Ferdinando Taverna for a short time due to an exchange . In 1614 the villa came into the possession of the Peretti-Montalto family and later that of the Savelli family.

In 1683 the Odescalchi family , the Dukes of Bracciano , bought the building. Up until the first half of the 19th century, the property was therefore also known as Villa Bracciano . The Odescalchi made structural changes on the southern side. The large terrace from the 16th century was converted into a gallery so that a third floor could be added.

In 1737 Baldassarre Erba Odescalchi commissioned the design of the new gallery on the first floor. Giovanni Paolo Pannini created the frescoes . Until the middle of the 19th century, the property was also visited by German travelers to Italy, mostly out of an interest in art history such as Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff or on hikes such as Wilhelm Waiblinger . Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein visited the villa together with Friedrich Münter :

“We visited the Villa Bracciano. There are many beautiful portraits in one room, especially the beautiful girl's head that Tischbein had copied, and the like. that I kept in my room for so long. "

- Friedrich Münter

In 1831 the widowed Duchess of Anhalt-Köthen stayed in the villa and received Pope Gregory XVI there. for breakfast together. From 1833 to 1843 the villa was owned by the Collegio di Propaganda Fide . In 1843 the villa was sold to Duke Pio Grazioli , who initiated further redesigns.

Nearby Frascati was bombed during World War II. The villa served as an emergency shelter for numerous families. After that it stood empty for many years. Extensive restorations were carried out from 1987 onwards. Today it is used as a hotel.

Frescoes

The interior of the villa is decorated with ceiling and wall paintings. In addition to Giovanni Paolo Pannini, they created artists from the schools of Antonio Carracci and Agostino Ciampelli , they may also have been involved in the execution themselves. Landscapes, architectural elements, the sky with angels, putti and clouds, ancient deities such as Apollo and Diana , allegories of the four seasons and the four continents known at the time, the four elements fire, water, air and earth with appropriate decoration are depicted.

park

The park of the property is located on a slope of Monte Tuscolo, a mountain of the volcanic ring of the Alban Hills . It has a size of over 15,000 m². In addition to the old trees of oak , plane trees and horse chestnuts , cedars and Mediterranean ornamental plants dominate.

literature

  • Clara Louisa Wells: The Alban Hills, Vol. I: Frascati . Barbera, Rome 1878
  • Marcello Fagiolo, Roberto Schezen: Roman Gardens. Villas of the countryside . Monacelli Press, New York 1997
  • Zaccaria Mari: Il Lazio tra antichità e medioevo. Studi in memoria di Jean Coste . Quasar, Rome 1999

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff: Art history journal of a princely educational trip to Italy 1765/66 . German Kunstverlag, Munich 2001, p. 384
  2. ^ Wilhelm Waiblinger: Collected works. With the poet's life . Heubel, Hamburg 1842, p. 176
  3. ↑ Frederik Münter, et mindeskrift: From the diaries of Friedrich Münter . P. Haase, Køobenhavn 1937, p. 142
  4. ↑ Bayerische Landbötin 1831 , No. 137. Rösl, Munich 1831, p. 1086
  5. ^ Zaccaria Mari: Il Lazio tra antichità e medioevo. Studi in memoria di Jean Coste. Quasar, Rome 1999, p. 431

Web links

Commons : Villa Grazioli  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 41 ° 47 ′ 55.3 "  N , 12 ° 40 ′ 39"  E