Volkonsky villa
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The Wolkonsky Villa in Rome is the official residence of the British Ambassador to Italy . The villa with its 4.5 hectare park is located on the Esquiline , near the Lateran Basilica . The German embassy was based here from 1922 to 1943 .
history
The villa, located in the southeast of the city, still within the Aurelian Wall , comprises parts of an aqueduct built under Nero , which forms a branch of the Aqua Claudia . The area then served agricultural purposes until the beginning of the 19th century. Princess Sinaida Alexandrovna Volkonskaya, daughter of a Russian diplomat, acquired the land in 1830. The Princess grew up in Turin , where her father was an ambassador. She lived in Rome from 1820 to 1822 and then returned to the Eternal City with her family in 1829. Volkonskaya commissioned the architect Giovanni Azzurri with the construction of a villa, had the associated park laid out and the part of the aqueduct that ran there restored. Her villa soon developed into a renowned literary salon , which was visited by Karl Brullow , Alexander Iwanow , Bertel Thorvaldsen , Gaetano Donizetti , Stendhal , Sir Walter Scott and Nikolai Gogol , among others . Princess Volkonskaya mainly used the villa as a country residence, as she had other apartments in the city center. After Sinaida Volkonskaya's death in 1862, her son Alexander inherited the villa, then it passed to Marchesa Nadia Campanari, a granddaughter of Alexander Volkonsky. The Campanari family built a new building south of the original villa, which was then rented out. At the end of the 19th century, the property lost much of its scenic charm due to the urban expansion of Rome. In 1922 the Campanaris sold the Wolkonsky villa to the German government, which set up its embassy to the Kingdom of Italy and the ambassador's residence there. The main building and the old building were expanded, and another building was built at the main entrance. With the German occupation of Italy in September 1943 ( Axis case ), the embassy ceased its diplomatic service. After the liberation of Rome on June 4, 1944, the Italian government confiscated the embassy, which had been used as a prison during the occupation with its branch in Via Tasso, among other things. The property was temporarily left to the diplomatic mission of Switzerland and the Italian Red Cross .
On December 31, 1946, the British Embassy at Porta Pia was the target of a terrorist attack by the Zionist underground movement Irgun Tzwa'i Le'umi . The Italian government then made the Villa Wolkonsky available to the British embassy. It was acquired by the British government in 1951. At the end of the 1950s, extensive restoration work was carried out. In 1971 the embassy office at Porta Pia could be moved into. The Wolkonsky villa has since served as the residence of the British ambassador again. In addition, there are accommodations for the rest of the embassy staff on the site. The extensive property is also used or rented by the embassy for cultural events, seminars, workshops and the like. The British monarch's birthday is celebrated annually in the park with around 200 different species of trees and plants.
Web links
- Brief description on wantedinrome.com (English)
Coordinates: 41 ° 53 ′ 18.6 " N , 12 ° 30 ′ 36.1" E