Villa Torlonia is a villa and surrounding gardens in Rome, formerly belonging to the Torlonia family. It was designed by the Neoclassical architect Giuseppe Valadier. Construction began in 1806 for the banker Giovanni Torlonia (1756–1829) and was finished by his son Alessandro (1800–1880).

Mussolini rented it from the Torlonia for one lira a year to use as his state residence from the 1920s onwards. He and his family lived there for the next 18 years. Underground, an air-raid shelter was first constructed in the garden of the villa, and then, in a second stage of building, a much larger and more complex airtight bunker was constructed under the villa itself, with the intention of resisting both aerial bombardment and chemical warfare.

In June 1944 the property was all occupied by the Allied High Command, which remained there until 1947.

It was abandoned after 1945, and allowed to decay in the following decades, but recent restoration work has allowed it to be opened to the public as a museum owned and operated by Rome’s municipality.

To plan and carry out other works, Alessandro employed Quintiliano Raimondi for the theatre and orangerie (today known as the “Lemon-house”), and Giuseppe Jappelli, who was in charge of the entire south section of the grounds, which he transformed with avenues, small lakes, exotic plants and unusual buildings. These included the Swiss Hut (later rebuilt as the Casina delle Civette), the Conservatory, the Tower and Moorish Grotto, and the Tournament Field. The project culminated in 1842 with the erection of two pink granite obelisks that commemorated Alessandro’s parents.

In 1919 a large underground 3rd- and 4th-century Jewish catacomb was discovered in the north-west area of the grounds. There are about 3,800 graves in the cemetery.[1] It is still not open to the public because the excavation of the catacomb has been questioned by many due to a Jewish religious law that states that all human bodies must remain buried at all times.[1] In 1925 the Villa was given to Mussolini as a residence, where he remained until 1943, with few changes to the aboveground structures.

Underground, an air-raid shelter was first constructed in the garden of the villa, and then, in a second stage of building, a much larger and more complex airtight bunker was constructed under the villa itself, with the intention of resisting both aerial bombardment and chemical warfare.[2]

In June 1944 the property was all occupied by the Allied High Command, which remained there until 1947. The Villa was bought by the Municipality of Rome in 1977 and a year later it was opened to the public, but with many of the buildings in a run-down state. Restoration was initiated in the 1990s, and has been largely completed with the exception of the Moorish Conservatory (Serra Moresca), although there is an ongoing restoration of the villa.[3] The landscaped grounds are in the English ‘picturesque’ style.

Between 1802 and 1806 Valadier turned the main building. which you’ve been looking at above, into a palace, and transformed other buildings. He also laid out the park with symmetrical avenues around the palace.

Numerous works of classical art, many of which were sculptures, were purchased to furnish the palace.

Following the death of Giovanni, Alessandro commissioned the painter and architect Giovan Battisti Caretti in 1832 to further develop the property. In addition to expanding the buildings, Caretti constructed several buildings in the park. These included the False Ruins, the Temple of Saturn, and the Tribuna con Fontana.

To plan and carry out other works, Alessandro employed Quintiliano Raimondi for the theatre and orangerie (today known as the “Lemon-house”), and Giuseppe Jappelli, who was in charge of the entire south section of the grounds, which he transformed with avenues, small lakes, exotic plants and unusual buildings. These included the Swiss Hut (later rebuilt as the Casina delle Civette), the Conservatory, the Tower and Moorish Grotto, and the Tournament Field. The project culminated in 1842 with the erection of two pink granite obelisks that commemorated Alessandro’s parents.

In 1919 a large underground 3rd- and 4th-century Jewish catacomb was discovered in the north-west area of the grounds. There are about 3,800 graves in the cemetery. It is still not open to the public because the excavation of the catacomb has been questioned by many due to a Jewish religious law that states that all human bodies must remain buried at all times.

The Villa was bought by the Municipality of Rome in 1977 and a year later it was opened to the public, but with many of the buildings in a run-down state. Restoration was initiated in the 1990s, and has been largely completed with the exception of the Moorish Conservatory (Serra Moresca), although there is an ongoing restoration of the villa. The landscaped grounds are in the English ‘picturesque’ style.

I’ve been posting about a lot of serious minded things as is my Capricornian wont. But as summer shifts into August, I think it is time for a short palette cleanser

I saw this strange fountain in Benevento, Italy and rate it among the strangest and ugliest thing I’ve ever seen in Italy. Your thoughts?!

In May 2026 I had the good fortune to spend a couple of weeks in Rome and I saw and did so many things it is a whirlwind of memories in my mind.

I can tell you that sundown is not the perfect time to visit the Roman Forum if you want to get good quality pictures, but since visiting the Forum ANY TIME AT ALL is always a great idea, I am posting my not so great photos from that visit.

Sigh….Roma!

As ruins go, these are among the greatest!!😊

The red pin in the picture below marks the place where my friend Francesco was born and raised. It is little mountain village, that looks new to the eye because it has been rebuilt after many recurring earthquakes, that nestles in the picturesque hills and dales of the mountainous region about 40 miles east of Naples.

More than 10 years ago the mayor of this small town published the following plea:

Buy my Town, please! The plea from the mayor of San Sossio Baronia, a picturesque hill town of 1,742 residents in the southern Italian Campania region, was aimed particularly but not exclusively at Chinese investors. Its immediate effect, though, was to call attention to the fact that towns, villages and hamlets around Europe increasingly are putting themselves up for sale in a bid to replenish their dwindling coffers and solve their serious economic and demographic difficulties.

As far as I can tell, the town didn’t find a buyer, but from what I saw during the week I spent there, it is a well cared for place. Clean, tidy and the services worked well.

You can read the whole article here:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2016/06/17/buy-my-town-please-italian-mayor-promises-it-will-cost-less-than-a-soccer-team

I always meant to take a daytime picture of this vista out my bedroom window, because it was truly lovely. In the early morning light, right after sunrise, the little town looked like a Cubist painting to me. But, I never got a daytime shot.

Instead, let me show you the countryside, which is truly beautiful!

I have no idea what is going on with WordPress; I have had more problems uploading videos and pictures for this post than any other post ever in all my years writing this blog.

Today I determined: basta! enough! I am going to post what I have and move on.

In Denver, Colorado exists this most unusual shop filled with middle and far eastern treasures and some American Indian objects as well. I consigned my 19th century Korean medicine chest to Sarkisians recently as I was cleaning out my son’s childhood home and was compelled to write something about this shop on my blog. It is just such an anomaly!

Above is the picture of the fascinating man who opened the shop in Denver in the late 19th century. I’ve lived in Denver for decades of my life and I can promise you I would never have thought there was a market for such exotic things in this city, but he had a different point of view!

Still in Tuscania, let’s take a quick partial look at the Church of San Pietro. It was closed when I visited the town, and so these were the best pix I could get.

Had I been the one planning the day trip from Rome, rather than a passenger, I would have timed the visit differently so I could see the facade and interior of this august church. Ah well, you can’t win them all.

Above and below are pictures of the apse.

The last 2 pictures show the medieval walls of the little town on a hill. Next time I would love to enter the town.

Alla prossima! Arrivederci Tuscania!

Yes, you read that right! There is an ancient town in Lazio, right by edge of Tuscany, called Tuscania.

On a recent road trip to Maremma from Rome, we stopped by to see the ancient churches in the small town. It is a place I would love to revisit, to see some of the Etruscan finds.

Until the late 19th century the town was known as Toscanella.

According to the legend, Tuscania was founded by Aeneas’ son, Ascanius, where he had found twelve dog pups (whence the Etruscan name Tus-Cana, cana being similar to Latin canis for “dog”). Another legend attributes the foundation to one Tusco, son of Hercules and Araxes.

Evidence of human presence in the area dates from the Neolithic age, but probably the city proper was founded in the 7th century BC when the acropolis on St. Peter’s Hill was surrounded by a line of walls. Villages existed in the vicinity. In the following years its strategic position gave Tuscania a leading role in the Etruscan world. After the defeat of the coastal cities by the Greeks (4th century BC), Tuscania also became a maritime trade centre through the port of Regas (next to today’s Montalto di Castro). There is no record of Tuscania being involved in the battles that led to the Roman conquest of the Etruscan northern Lazio (280 BC), as the city probably entered into the Roman orbit peacefully. The agricultural development and construction of the Via Clodia further boosted the economic situation of the city. It became a municipium in 88 BC.

Middle Ages and Renaissance
In the 5th century AD (or earlier, depending on the source), Tuscania became one of the first bishopric sees in Italy.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it fell to the Lombards in 569 or 574. In 781 it became part of the Papal States. In 967–1066 it was a fief of the Anguillara family and then of the marquises of Tuscany. In 1081 it was besieged by Emperor Henry IV.

In the following century it became a free commune with authority over a wide territory, including numerous castles. The inner struggles within Tuscania led to a loss of prestige, in favour of the nearby Viterbo, which was made a diocese in 1192, formally on split-off territory, but virtually achieved a transfer by immediate, constant personal union under Viterbo’s bishops until the 1896 former merger of the Tuscania bishopric (as it had been renamed in 1911) into the Viterbo diocese. In 1222 St. Francis of Assisi visited.

During the struggle between the Guelphs and Ghibellines throughout the Holy Roman Empire, it was captured by Frederick II of Hohenstaufen on March 2, 1240, and provided with a line of walls.

A failed military expedition against Pope Boniface VIII (early 14th century), led to the submission to Rome, with the pejorative name of Tuscanella. In 1348–49 a bubonic plague struck Tuscania very hard. Shortly thereafter, in 1354, Cardinal Gil Alvarez De Albornoz definitively returned the town to the Papal States.

In 1421 it became a county under the condottiero Angelo Broglio da Lavello.

In 1495 it was ravaged by the French troops of King Charles VIII during his march towards the Kingdom of Naples, much thanks to the destruction of the walls ordered by Cardinal Giovanni Vitelleschi in reply to the continual internecine struggles and public riots. Thereafter the city experienced a long decline which lasted until the annexation to the new unified Kingdom of Italy in 1870.

In the 19th century the local Campanari family spearheaded the exploration of Etruscan tombs. They organized the first Etruscan exhibition in London. Many of the valuable discoveries ended up in various European museums, as well as Tuscania’s own Archeological Museum.

On February 6, 1971 an earthquake caused 31 deaths. The town has been meticulously restored since, and the historic quarter is substantial, completely surrounded by the medieval city walls that offer excellent views over the surrounding countryside and the church of St Peter.

The church, my pictures of which are above and below is the dedicated to Santa Maria Maggiore. The facade of the Romanesque Basilica has three finely decorated portals.

A church named Santa Maria Maggiore is first documented here in a Papal bull from the year 852 from Pope Leo IV to the Bishop of Tuscania—records of a consecration date to 1206. The church has been reconstructed many times over the centuries.

The facade has three distinctive and finely decorated medieval portals. The central one is flanked by two spiral-fluted marble columns nestled on two “lion” bases, and topped by an animal figure. These enclose four thinner columns receding backwards, each with their individual capital, generally Corinthian in appearance but some contain human figures. In the pilasters flanking the door stand two figures of the Apostles Peter and Paul, partly rebuilt after an act of vandalism. In the lunette are rectangular bas-reliefs, somewhat haphazardly assembled, depicting the Madonna and Child Blessing and images of Balaam, the Sacrifice of Isaac, and the Agnus Dei-like archetype. The right portal is decorated with classically inspired foliage, while the arch on the left features an ornament of the Sicilian-Norman style. At the top is spread between a lion and a griffin, and the loggia above the entrance has nine columns and ten arches.

The interior is on a nave and two aisles, divided by columns with sculpted capitals. The semicircular apse is covered by pilasters and bands of arches. The interior has columns and pillars with Romanesque capitals also carved with plant and zoomorphic motifs. Along the walls of the aisles are blind arches that enclose blind arcades of half-pillars. The sanctuary is flanked by two transverse arches; the frontal of the altar, surmounted by a Gothic ciborium. There is a bishop’s chair, which consists of a parapet of the eighth and ninth centuries.

In the right aisle is located a 13th-century octagonal baptismal immersion pool. In the nave is a pulpit of the thirteenth century. The apse contains a 13th-century fresco depicting Twelve Apostles; a 14th-century fresco in the chancel arch of the apse depicts San Secondiano and the Last Judgement. This has been attributed to Gregorio and Donato D’Arezzo. One bell tower dates to the 12th century. The church is property of the Ministry for Architectural Structures of the Province of Rome, Rieti and Viterbo.

If I were forced to name my favorite museum in Rome, I would say without hesitation: the Galleria Borghese! It is unbelievably rich in artwork including knock-your-socks-off Baroque masterworks of painting and sculpture; is small enough to actually see pretty much everything on one visit (though I recommend many visits, as often as you can, as many times as you can!); and the location is supreme!

Here it is on a recent Sunday evening. The Galleria was closed, but the park and gardens surrounding it were open to enjoy freely and believe me, I did just that!

And yet, for all its glory, the Galleria is not the only thing to behold! The immediate grounds that surround the fabulous building are very attractive and I am featuring them here today from my recent walk.

I hope you can hear the crunch of the gravel as I walk around the landscape! It’s a sound I love!

I highly recommend spending as much time as you can at this remarkable place, both inside the Galleria and outside! You will come away much richer in experience if you can get there!

American country-western line dancing on the street in my borgo was high on the list! And yet: behold!

He was a lot of trouble! Living with him was like living in an Italian opera! But, he was a fabulous cook and I look back with some fondness!