Thursday, October 22, 2020

WOLKONSKY VILLA

 VILLA WOLKONSKY

Piazza di Villa Wolkonsky

About 1829 Giovanni Azzurri (1792/1858) for the Russian princess Zenaide Wolkonsky who lived in this villa from 1829 to 1862

Princess Wolkonsky was the daughter of the Russian ambassador at the Saxon court and later at the Savoy court. She was the secret lover of Tsar Alexander I, despite being married to Prince Wolkowsky, his assistant in the field

She used to enjoy throwing legendary parties with guests such as Sir Walter Scott, Gogol, Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka and Gaetano Donizetti

The building was expanded in 1890 by Francesco Azzurri (1831/1901), grandson of Giovanni Azzurri

After the Jewish terrorist attack on October 31st, 1946 which destroyed the British Embassy, ​​the embassy was moved here

In 1951 it was bought by the British government and since 1971, after the construction of the new embassy, it ​​is the residence of the British Ambassador

In the park of the villa there are THIRTY-SIX ARCHES OF THE AQUEDUCT OF NERO (366 meters - 1,200 feet) extension of the aqueduct of the Aqua Claudia up to the Domus Aurea

Columbarium of Tiberius Claudius Vitalis

41/80 AD discovered in 1866 in the park of the villa

It is a kind of tomb built in bricks, common in the second century AD, with three overlapping rooms of 4 x 3 m (13 x 10 feet) each, about 9 m (30 feet) high in total

There is a marble inscription above the door with a dedication to Tiberius Claudius Vitalis made by his father and architect of the same name and by his whole family

The first two floors have three rows of niches. The third doesn’t have any

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