ABAMELEK VILLA

VILLA ABAMELEK
Via Aurelia Antica 12

About 1739 from a project by Alessandro Galilei (1691/1737) for the Cardinal Ferroni

In 1792 it was bought by the Duke Giovanni Torlonia
Later it belonged to the Valentini family and to the Giraud family

In 1849 it suffered serious damage during the siege of Rome by French troops

In 1854 it was bought by Filippo Andrea V Doria Pamphili who had it restored by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911)

In 1863 it was bought by Bettino Ricasoli (1809/80), the mayor of Florence, and the second Prime Minister of Italian history in chronological order after Cavour
Bettino Ricasoli was also the inventor of the formula for the vinification of the Chianti wine: the product specification drawn up by him is still followed today with few changes

In 1907 the villa was bought by the Russian prince Lazarew Abamelek who had it restored by Vincenzo Monaldi and expanded to a total area of about 27 hectares (67 acres)
In 1914 prince Abamelek left it to the Academy of Russia in Rome and now it is the residence of the Russian ambassador

St. MARY OF GRACES BY THE KILNS

S. MARIA DELLE GRAZIE ALLE FORNACI

Piazza S. Maria alle Fornaci 30

Original church built in the fifteenth century

Rebuilt in the years 1694/1720 by the Roman priest Giuseppe Faraldi

FAÇADE

1727 maybe by Filippo Raguzzini (1680/1771)

The BELL TOWER dates back to 1952

The name of the church comes from the brick factories with kilns that were present in the area

RIGHT TRANSEPT

Above the altar “Holy Trinity and Saints” 1737 by Onofrio Avellino (about 1674/1741), a pupil of Francesco Solimena

MAIN ALTAR

“Virgin Mary of the Graces” by the Belgian Gilles Hallet (1620/94)

2^nd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. JOHN THE BAPTIST

Above the altar “Holy Family and St. John the Baptist” by Giuseppe Chiari (1654/1727) favorite pupil of Carlo Maratta

On the right “Nativity” by Nicolò Ricciolini (1687/1772)

On the left “Rest on the Flight into Egypt” by Pietro Bianchi aka il Creatura (1694/1740) Roman pupil of Benedetto Luti and Baciccio

“In 1707, aged 13, Pietro Bianchi won a competition of the Academy of St. Luke, hence his nickname 'Creatura' (small baby) with which he was mocked by the other competitors for his young age and his physical features is not particularly developed. This was the first in a series of successes. Bianchi was not a very prolific artist; biographers describe him as shy and reticent, never satisfied and almost obsessed with details. It seems that he was often distracted from his work to help friends; works attributed to him include drawings and models for the sculptors Filippo Della Valle, G.B. Maini and Pietro Bracci. Much of his work has been lost or not yet identified” (William Crelly - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

Lunettes “Preaching of St. John the Baptist” and “Beheading of St. John the Baptist” about 1721 masterpieces by the great Roman painter Marco Benefial (1684/1764)

The terribly bloody beheading of St. John the Baptist is a tour de force of composition with excruciating crossed diagonal and blood dripping not only from the poor physically tortured neck of St. John the Baptist, but also, figuratively, from every square inch of the painting 

“The public debut of Benefial is marked by rebellion against the academical practices dominating Roman art at that time, and his whole life is marked by controversy stances. (...) (In his painting) is always possible to isolate examples of an icastic, vivid representation of reality, of singular naturalistic clarity” (Evelina Borea - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

In the dome very damaged frescos by Pietro de Pietri (1663/1716)

1^st LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE CRUCIFIXION

Above the altar “Crucifixion” by the Roman Odoardo Vicinelli (1683/1755)

MONUMENT TO ALCIDE DE GASPERI

MONUMENTO AD ALCIDE DE GASPERI

Via delle Fornaci/angolo Via Alcide De Gasperi

2005 Maria Dompè (1959)

It was commissioned by the City of Rome on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of the Italian political leader

The phrases engraved on the monument remind of his dream of European unification

The cars constantly parked in a no parking zone around the work hide it and prevent unfortunately the appreciation it deserves

Alcide De Gasperi (1881/1954) was one of the founding fathers of the Italian Republic and of the European Union

He was antifascist and believed in the secular state. In 1952 he rejected the Vatican's suggestion to form a government in alliance with the neo-fascists to prevent the success of the communists. Pius XII Pacelli (1939/58), in turn, refused to receive him at the Vatican on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of his wedding

He was born in the Trentino region and in Rome he lived simply in what is now Via Alcide De Gasperi, a few steps from the monument

He was an honest politician, armed with solid values, a rare flower sadly never bloomed again in the corrupt and treacherous swamp of Italian politics

"The memory function does not work on the past but on the future, as a stimulus to implement and enhance the moral legacy of the great statesman. Therefore, the monument embodied his thought, rather than portray him in an official capacity. Without rhetoric, it expresses his profound ideals, eternal and incorruptible as the memory. Bronze plates welcome a verdant meadow, 'essence' of the valleys of Trentino where he was De Gasperi born. The triangle indicates movement, energy, reachingthe new. The manifestos of the early avant-garde movements were full similar of signs, praising progress and confidence in its infinite potential. (...) From above, the structure resembles a kite, or a paper airplane: simple forms with which children have always shaped their dreams of freedom. The same dreams of De Gasperi, cast by Maria Dompè with the 'gravity of lightness', which connotes, always, her work" (Maria Egizia Fiaschetti - Web Site of Maria Dompè - www.mariadompe.com)