Musei di Villa Torlonia

Villa Torlonia's museums preserve the architecture and collections of a Roman princely estate. The Casino Nobile, Casina delle Civette and Casino dei Principi now house collections of decorative glass, Roman painting and the Scuola Romana, alongside the villa's historic buildings and garden.

Why it matters

The villa brings together architecture, decorative arts and the history of Rome in the twentieth century. The Casina delle Civette contains stained glass, while the Casino Nobile includes rooms associated with Benito Mussolini's residence there from 1925 to 1943 and the shelters beneath the building. The Casino dei Principi holds the archive of the Scuola Romana.

What to notice

The Casina delle Civette is known for leaded windows showing birds, flowers and stylised landscapes, including the “Rondini” panel made by the Picchiarini laboratory. The Casino Nobile combines furnished rooms with paintings by the Scuola Romana and older works, including a marble Satiro by Bartolomeo Cavaceppi and a relief of the Danza dei Feaci by Antonio Canova. The bunker and air-raid shelters beneath the Casino Nobile preserve another layer of the villa's history. The Serra Moresca, a cast-iron and glass greenhouse, stands within the estate.

Context and history

The estate began as farmland belonging to the Pamphilj family and passed to the Colonna in 1760. Giovanni Torlonia acquired it at the end of the eighteenth century and commissioned Giuseppe Valadier to develop it as a residence. His heir Alessandro added buildings and designed elements from 1832 onward, including work by Giovan Battista Caretti, Quintiliano Raimondi and Giuseppe Jappelli. A later Giovanni Torlonia transformed the Swiss Cabin into the Casina delle Civette. Mussolini lived at the villa from 1925 to 1943; Allied troops occupied the complex from 1944 to 1947. Rome acquired the estate in 1978, and its buildings later opened as museums.