Villa San Martino (Elba)

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Villa San Martino
Demidoff Palace

The Villa San Martino was from May 1814 to February 1815 one of the two seats of government of Napoleon Bonaparte in the town of Portoferraio on Elba , Tuscany . It is located about 6 km from the center of Portoferraio in the San Martino Valley in the direction of Marciana . Napoleon's sister, Pauline Bonaparte , had given the simple country house to her brother.

Demidoff Gallery

To reach the villa today, one crosses the Demidoff Gallery , on whose roof terrace it is located. The impressive gallery was designed by the Italian architect Niccolò Matas (1798–1872) and built in 1851 by Anatole Demidoff. Demidoff was the husband of Napoleon's niece, the daughter of his youngest brother Jérôme Bonaparte , Mathilde Bonaparte .

An approximately 260 m long ascending ramp leads past a modern conference hotel ("Parkhotel Napoleone") to the large metal gate in front of the building. Here the 60 m wide front of the museum shows itself with a central gallery with front gable and two side wings in the Doric style . The building material is a hard rock, here called yellow granite , probably Rosa Sardo . The facade of the gable is characterized by four pillars in front of the wall. A classic frieze alternately shows the initials Napoleon, eagle, bee and the letter "N" in the metopes between the triglyphs . You enter the bright interior of the gallery via a 10 m wide flight of stairs. Two rows of massive columns support the flat vault. The rooms house an important collection of paintings, furniture, engravings and statues, mostly original items from Napoleon, including the Galatea by Antonio Canova . It shows a young woman in a crouching position, her upper body turned towards the viewer and covered by her left arm. The right arm is raised, his hand goes to the back. The hair on the head is braided upwards. Canova is said to have created the statue based on the model of Pauline Bonaparte.

  • San Martino (Saint Martin) relief above a portal of the Parkhotel Napoleone

  • Demidoff Palace

  • Interior of the Demidoff Palace

  • Partial view of the frieze

  • Galatea

Villa San Martino

The imperial villa in the rear area of ​​the roof terrace of the Demidoff gallery - the property is on a hillside - is a two-storey building with a flat pointed roof in the rural architectural style of Tuscany .

The bathrooms are on the ground floor, while Napoleon's apartment is on the first floor. Here, seven more rooms are arranged on three sides of the great Egyptian Hall :

  • the antechamber of the generals, Napoleon's closest confidante
  • the room for General Antoine Drouot (1774–1847)
  • the room for General Henri-Gatien Bertrand (1773–1844)
  • the room of the love knot , named after a ceiling painting depicting two pigeons holding the threads of a knot in their beak and pulling them apart in order to pull the knot even tighter. This room was the meeting place of Napoleon's general staff and was also named council room . The general staff consisted of the two aforementioned generals, who held the offices of interior minister and island governor, the military commander Pierre Cambronne (1770-1842) and the treasury minister Peyrusse.
  • Napoleon's bedroom
  • the vestibule
  • Napoleon's study

The style and representation of the paintings in the Egyptian Hall is reminiscent of the emperor's campaign in Egypt .

From the villa you have a very nice view of the valley with Portoferraio at its end.

  • Egyptian hall

  • Marshal Bertrand's room

  • Napoleon's bedroom (bed)

  • Room of the love knot

  • Blanket in the room of the love knot

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  • Antonio Giubelli: The three hundred days of Napoleon on Elba .

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Coordinates: 42 ° 47 ′ 7.9 ″  N , 10 ° 16 ′ 49.4 ″  E