Tuesday, September 8, 2020

DORIA PAMPHILJ VILLA

VILLA DORIA PAMPHILJ

Via Aurelia Antica 183

The largest public park in Rome, with 184 hectares (208 acres) of surface and 6.5 km (4 miles) of perimeter

It was completely open to the public in 1971

Original building: VILLA VECCHIA (old villa) or CASINO DELLA FAMIGLIA (mansion of the family

1630 for Pamphilio Pamphilj brother of Pope Innocent X Pamphilj (1644/55), built on top of the Acqua Paola aqueduct

Renovated in the years 1749/51 by Francesco Nicoletti (?/1776)

GARDEN OF THE CEDARS

In front of the Villa Vecchia. In the first half of the eighteenth century the following artists took part in the decoration: Gabriele Valvassori (1683/1761), Paolo Ameli (1739/49) and Francesco Nicoletti

GREENHOUSES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

1846/47 in neo-Gothic style, designed by Giovanni Guj, and modified later by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911)

They represent one of the finest examples of nineteenth century greenhouses still in existence. The three buildings originally were supposed to be respectively a cold, a temperate and a warm greenhouse, meant to be used for cultivation of exotic fruits and, in particular, of pineapple plants

1896/1902 Edoardo Collamarini (1863/1928) still owned by the Doria Pamphili family in eclectic neo-medieval style with remarkable mosaics

"Executed with great quality materials, it has a medieval-style air with dashes of Byzantine and Romanesque-Gothic styles, all in absolute contrast with the surroundings of the seventeenth-century villa by Algardi. The work has, however, points of interest and it is demonstrative of the Italian architectural eclectic climate that went beyond its historical limits. Frescoes, mosaics and glazed cartons were prepared and executed by the painter from Trieste P. Bortoluzzi, known since 1898 as Pieretto Bianco: the engineer Paraccini directed the works" (Giuseppe Miano - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

Architectures by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911) for Filippo Andrea V Pamphilj:

ARCO DEI QUATTRO VENTI (Arch of the Four Winds) 1857/59

HOUSE OF THE GUARDIAN 1881

MONUMENTAL TOMB TO THE FALLEN FRENCH 1851

Andrea Busiri Vici also designed a ROUND CHAPEL used as a family tomb and later as a tank of water to control the fountains of the park

The Arch of the Four Winds was built using the ruins of the former Villa Corsini also known as the Casino dei Quattro Venti (Four Winds Casino) which was decorated inside with paintings by Giuseppe Passeri (1654/1714)

On June 3, 1849 it was destroyed during the resistance of the partisans who protected the ephemeral Roman Republic against the French

36,000 French soldiers with 75 guns besieged Rome defended by 19,000 volunteer fighters followers of Garibaldi of which 938 were killed

On the other side of the large Via Leone XIII there is the latest sector of the park with the CASALE DI GIOVIO (Giovio’s Country House) built over a Roman funerary temple

ROMAN NECROPOLIS

Two columbaria dating back to the time of Augustus (27 BC/14 AD) and one dating back to the time of Hadrian (117/138). The frescoes are now at National Roman Museum in Palazzo Massimo

There is also a tomb of the first century BC in tuff with a fake door in peperino stone

Casino delle Allegrezze o Casino del Bel Respiro

Mansion of Joyfulness or Mansion of the Nice Breath

1644/48 project by Alessandro Algardi (1598/1654) executed by the Bolognese Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi (1606/80) for Camillo Pamphili nephew of Pope Innocent X Pamphilj

It was renovated in 1984 to be a representative office for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers

Round Hall

Stuccos by Alessandro Algardi

Hercules Room

Frescoes by Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi

The original design of the Casino was by Francesco Borromini (1599/1667) and it is now kept in the Vatican Library, but it was not chosen because Camillo Pamphilj didn’t like it

The project would have beeen inspired by scholarly astronomical references, relevant also to the celebration of the new pontiff, with a statue of Innocent X inside, whose foot would have been lit by the sun once a year, on the same day and the same hour in which he had been elected pope

The project by Algardi also included two wings for the main building but they were never built, even when, two hundred years later, Andrea Busiri Vici himself was asked for a project for the two wings

Fountains

FOUNTAIN OF THE SNAIL AND FOUNTAIN OF THE LILY FLOWER

Works of the great artist from Bologna Alessandro Algardi (1598/1654)

The original sculpture of the Fountain of the Snail was by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680) and it is now housed in the Galleria Doria Pamphili

"Francesco Bettini, commissioned at the end of the eighteenth century to modernize the complex, moved the Fontana del Giglio in line with the underlying 'waterway', enriched the channel with waterfalls and jets, and modified and enlarged the perimeter of the lake. The monument has been fully restored and put back into operation in the spring of 2004" (Official website of the Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali, Capitoline Superintendent to Cultural Heritage - www.sovraintendenzaroma.it)

1646 by Alessandro Algardi. On the south side of the Secret Garden. There are mythological images related to the theme by Virgil of the Winning Love

Mid-nineteenth century by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911) at the center of the Garden of the Theater

Busiri Vici reused ancient materials and placed a cherub in the center which was stolen in 1971, immediately after the public opening of the villa

NYMPHAEUM OF THE FAUN or NYMPHAEUM OF THE MERMEN

Mid-seventeenth century by Alessandro Algardi and Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi (1606/80) in the Garden of the Theater

It was remodeled in the nineteenth century by Andrea Busiri Vici who eliminated the pond in front and made the two basins on the ground, placing the statue of the faun on the central base

FOUNTAIN OF THE RIVER TIBER

Mid-seventeenth century by Alessandro Algardi and Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi in the square in front of the Villa Vecchia

In the mid-eighteenth century Gabriele Valvassori (1683/1761) inserted it in the perimeter of the Garden of the Cedars and added the front steps. It was restored in the year 2000

FOUNTAIN OF THE RINGDOVE

Mid-seventeenth century, by Alessandro Algardi and Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi near the Garden of the Cedars. Transformed in the nineteenth century

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