Altitude 426 m (1,400 feet). 9,000 inhabitants
It is
located on the site of the ancient city of Alba
Longa, founded, according to the legend, by Ascanius son of Aeneas
The town
was named after the Gandolfi family, the rulers of the area in the twelfth
century
In 1279 it
came into possession of the Savelli family
In 1604 it
became domain of the Holy See and Pope Urban VIII Barberini (1623/44) was the
first pope to stay here during the summer in 1626
Villa Albana di Domiziano
Albana Villa of Domitian
It was built
over the preexisting Villa di Pompeo
(Villa of Pompey)
The central
part corresponded to the current papal gardens but the villa encompassed all of
Lake Albano and reached the current city of Albano
THREE
NARROW TERRACES about 500 m (1,640 feet) high:
In the first from above service areas, cemetery
of the imperial servants and tanks in which the water of the aqueducts
Malaffitto and Palazzolo was conveyed to
In the second residential area, panoramic
terrace, four niches-nymphs and porch
In the third underground portico built in bricks
narrow and long (120 x 7.5 m - 323 x 24 feet) with, by the north exit,
"Statue of Polyphemus" from the Bergantino fountain
There are also
remains of a THEATER: three wedges, corridor beneath the auditorium (crypt) and
steps
There are
just traces of a CIRCUS, a racetrack for horses, almost disappeared now
Villa Torlonia
Torlonia Villa
Restored 1817 by Giuseppe
Valadier (1762/1839)
Also known
as Delizia Carolina with sculptures by
Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770/1844)
Main FAÇADE
consisting of a portico bordered by six Doric columns on which a terrace was
built
Rising
above there are six columns with Ionic capitals supporting a triangular
pediment
Fresco
"Apollo and the Hours" about 1844 by Pietro
Gagliardi (1809/90)
The PARK
with numerous trees more than a century old is a national monument
Ninfeo
Dorico e Bergantino
Doric
and Bergantino Nymphea (Fountains)
On the road
going down to the lake there is the Doric
Nymphaeum dating back to the first half of the first century BC
2 km (1.2
miles) further north on the shore of the lake there is the Bergantino Nymphaeum designed in a cave and that surely was part of
the Villa of Domitian
Fontana di Piazza della Libertà
Fountain of Liberty Square
Designed by
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680)
Palazzo
Pontificio
Papal
Palace
1624/29 Carlo Maderno (1556/1629) by order of Urban VIII
Barberini (1623/44) on the ruins of the Savelli Castle
Enlarged
and restored for Alessandro VII Chigi (1655/67) and others with the exception
of the façade
In 1773 the
nearby Cybo Villa was included in the
villa and in 1929 it was the turn of the Barberini
Villa
PAPAL
CHAPEL
Stucco and
frescoes by Taddeo Zuccari (1529/66) and his
younger brother Federico Zuccari (about
1542/1609)
Since 1936
there is the Specola Vaticana,
Vatican observatory with laboratory astrophysics among the best in Europe,
originally founded by Gregory XIII Boncompagni (1572/85)
S. Tommaso da Villanova
St. Thomas of Villanova
1658/61 Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680) for Alessandro VII
Chigi (1655/67) in honor of the Spanish saint who had died in 1555 and was canonized
by the Chigi pope in 1658
"It is
a simple Greek cross, reminiscent of perfect Renaissance churches. The
proportions are of the utmost simplicity, the length of the arms of the cross,
for example, is half of their width. But compared to the Renaissance churches,
the height has been greatly increased and absolute dominance was given to the
dome" (Rudolf Wittkower)
Stuccos on
the altar "Angels", on the pendentives "Allegories of the
Evangelists" and in the dome "Eight stories of St. Thomas of
Villanova" by Ercole Antonio Raggi (1624/86)
The stuccos
are illusionistically suspended in the large space of the dome as the coffers
seem to continue behind the reliefs. Raggi used as models the ephemeral structures
recently used for the feast of the canonization in St. Peter’s Basilica
"The
spirit of austerity outside prevails also in the interior, but, in the area of
the vault, Bernini abandoned the moderation that he had imposed to himself.
It was this type of Bernini dome with ribs and coffers old-style which was
followed on countless occasions after 1660 by architects both in Italy and in
the rest of Europe" (Rudolf Wittkower)
TO THE
RIGHT
"Ecstasy
of St. Thomas of Villanova" by Giacinto Gimignani (1606/81)
MAIN ALTAR
"Crucifixion" by Pietro Berrettini aka
Pietro da Cortona (1597/1669)
TO THE LEFT
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