Villa Farnese

Coordinates: 42°19′47.99″N 12°13′55.19″E / 42.3299972°N 12.2319972°E / 42.3299972; 12.2319972
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with the Palazzo Farnese or Villa Farnesina, both in Rome.
Side view of the main Southeastern front of Villa Farnese
Aerial view of the Villa

The Villa Farnese, also known as Villa Caprarola, is a

Palazzo Farnese and the Villa Farnesina, both in Rome
.

The Villa Farnese is situated directly above the town of Caprarola and dominates its surroundings. It is a massive

volcanic hills. It is built on a five-sided plan in reddish gold stone; buttresses support the upper floors. As a centerpiece of the vast Farnese holdings, Caprarola was always an expression of Farnese power, rather than a villa
in the more usual agricultural or pleasure senses.

History

Prospetto principale di Palazzo di Caprarola by Giuseppe Vasi, c. 1746–1748

In 1504, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, the future Pope

fortress foundations, constructed probably between 1515 and 1530,[2]
became the base upon which the present villa sits; so the overall form of the villa was predetermined by the rocca foundations.

Subsequently, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, a grandson of Pope Paul III, and a man who was known for promoting his family's interests, planned to turn this partly constructed fortified edifice into a villa or country house. In 1556, he commissioned Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola as his architect,[3] building work commenced in 1559 and Vignola continued to work on the villa at Caprarola until his death in 1573.[4] Farnese was a courteous man of letters; however, the Farnese family as a whole became unpopular with the following pope, Julius III, and, accordingly, Alessandro Farnese decided it would be politic to retire from the Vatican for a period. He therefore selected Caprarola on the family holding of Ronciglione, being both near and yet far enough from Rome as the ideal place to build a country house.

Design

The Scala Regia in the Villa Farnese
For other uses, see Palazzo Farnese.

The villa is one of the finest examples of Renaissance architecture. Ornament is used sparingly to achieve proportion and harmony. Thus while the villa dominates the surroundings, its severe design also complements the site. This particular style, known today as Mannerism, was a reaction to the earlier High Renaissance designs of twenty years earlier.

Vignola, the

staircases
around the courtyard: the most important of these is the Scala Regia ("Royal Stairs") rising through the principal floors.

Approach and entrance

The approach to the Villa Farnese is from the town's main street, which is centred on the villa, to a

facade
at this level is terminated by massive solid corner projections.

Above this is the double-height piano nobile, where five huge arched windows incongruously dominate the facade over the front door; above this sit a further two floors for housing gentlefolk with servants above them, the numerous windows divided on the exterior by rusticated pilasters in dressed stone.

Fasti Farnesiani ( Farnese Deeds") by Taddeo Zuccari, portrays Francis I of France and Charles V

Interiors

The villa's interiors are arranged over five floors, each floor designed for a different function. The main rooms are located on the first floor or piano nobile, where a large central loggia (now glazed in) looks down over the town, its main street and the surrounding countryside. This hall is known as the Room of Hercules on account of its fresco decorations,[6] and was used as a summer dining hall. It has a grotto-like fountain with sculpture at one end. To either side of the loggia are two circular rooms: one is the chapel, the other accommodates the principal staircase or Scala Regia, a graceful spiral of steps supported by pairs of Ionic columns rising up through three floors and frescoed by Antonio Tempesta.

The two grand apartments at first floor level are symmetrically-matched in plan and complete the remaining enclosure of the courtyard. Each has a series of five rooms with state rooms, which begin with the largest reception hall nearest the entrance and proceed, with increasing intimacy and decreased size, to a bedroom, wardrobe and studiolo at the northern end; an ordered suite that would become standardized in the 17th century as the Baroque state apartment. The different orientations of these two apartments allows for a seasonal differentiation; the east, or summer apartment is associated with the active life, the west, or winter range with the contemplative life.[7] The scrupulous symmetrical balance of the two apartments is carried through by their matching parterre gardens, each reached by a bridge across the moat and cut into the hillslope.

The suites are famous for their

Bartholomaeus Spranger assisted il Bertoia with the decorations in the rooms he had been commissioned to finish.[10]

Among the frescoed subjects of the contemplative winter suite is the famous "Room of the World Map" or Sala del Mappamondo, displaying the whole known world as it was in 1574 when the frescoes were completed.[11] Above, the frescoed vault depicts the celestial spheres and the constellations of the zodiac.

Gardens

The catena d'acqua, with the Casino in the background

The gardens of the villa are as impressive as the building itself, a significant example of the Italian Renaissance garden period. The villa's fortress theme is carried through by a surrounding moat and three drawbridges. Two facades of the pentagonal arrangement face the two gardens cut into the hill; each garden is accessed across the moat by a drawbridge from the apartments on the piano nobile and each is a parterre garden of box topiary with fountains. A grotto-like theatre was once here. A walk through the chestnut woods beyond, leads to the giardino segreto, or secret garden, with its well-known casino.

The Casino

The

terrace is lined by stone herms
with cypress trees. To the north of the casino is a private garden which steps up slightly and accommodates roses.

Today

Alessandro Farnese died in 1589 bequeathing his

heir to the throne of the newly united Italy
.

Elements of the villa's Renaissance gardens have influenced many estate gardens of the 19th and 20th century by

A.E. Hanson, and Florence Yoch. 1920s gardens with a catena d'acqua include the Harold Lloyd Estate in Beverly Hills and 'Las Tejas' in Montecito, California, with the latter also having a casino in direct homage to the original at Villa Farnese.[13]

The villa Farnese in Caprarola provided the model for the Pentagon in Washington D.C.[14]

Today the casino and its gardens are one of the homes of the

President of the Italian Republic
. The empty main villa, owned by the State, is open to the public. The numerous rooms, salons and halls with their marbles and frescoes, and the architecture of the great palazzo-like villa are still as impressive and daunting as they were first intended to be.

Filmography

The Villa was depicted both as the interior of Papal Palace in Vatican and as Castel Gandolfo in the original Netflix movie The Two Popes.

Several major scenes were filmed at Villa Farnese’s Casino (that is “summerhouse” that is not a main villa but separate smaller building with gardens) in 2013 film Romeo and Juliet. Particularly, the loggia of casino served as Juliet’s balcony where Romeo and Juliet exchanged an oath of love; for the filming the empty loggia’s walls were decorated by artificial climbing roses on supports that Romeo used to climb up. The casino’s southern side garden staircase with water cascade ( catena d'acqua) and fountain at the bottom were the ones in the scene of Romeo and Juliet separation at dawn after their first night together.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ Coffin David, The Villa in the Life of Renaissance Rome, Princeton University Press, 1979: 281-5
  2. ^ Coffin, 1979: 281
  3. ^ Coffin, 1979: 285
  4. ^ Partridge, Loren W. "Vignola and the Villa Farnese at Caprarola", Part I The Art Bulletin 52.1 (March 1970:81-87), Part II
  5. ^ Partridge Loren W., "The Farnese Circular Courtyard at Caprarola: God, Geopolitics, Genealogy, and Gender", The Art Bulletin 83.2 (June 2001:259-293)
  6. ^ Partridge, Loren W. "The Sala d'Ercole in the Villa Farnese at Caprarola, Part I" The Art Bulletin 53.4 (December 1971:467-486), "Part II" The Art Bulletin 54.1 (March 1972:50-62).
  7. ^ Baumgart, 1935 noted by Kish 1953:51; Coffin, 1979: 296-7.
  8. ^ Robertson, Clare. "Annibal Caro as Iconographer: Sources and Method Annibal Caro as Iconographer: Sources and Method" Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 45 (1982:160-181); see also Baumgart, Fritz. "La Caprarola di Ameto Orti", Studi Romanzi, 25 (1935:80); in 240 Latin verses, La Caprarola of Ameto Orti (c 1585-89) describes the beauties of the Farnese castello.
  9. ^ Partridge, Loren W. "Divinity and Dynasty at Caprarola: Perfect History in the Room of Farnese Deeds", The Art Bulletin 60.3 (September 1978:494-530).
  10. ^ Véronique Bücken, "Deux flamands dans l’atelier de Jacopo Bertoja: Joos van Winghe et Bartholomaeus Spranger", in: Jadranka Bertini (red.), Lelio Orsi e la cultura del suo tempo. Atti del convegno internazionale di studi, Reggio Emilia – Novellara 1988, Bologna, 1990, pp. 49–56
  11. ^ Kish, G. " 'The Mural Atlas' of Caprarola" Imago Mundi 10 (1953:51-56); the date 1574 is worked into the border of the map of Europe (p. 53); Kish identifies the sources in contemporary printed maps; the ideology of status, service, and personal merit behind the presentation of maps was interpreted by Partridge, Loren W. "The Room of Maps at Caprarola, 1573-75" The Art Bulletin, 77.3 (September 1995:413-444); the frescoes are revisited by Quinlan-McGrath, Mary. "Caprarola's Sala della Cosmografi", Renaissance Quarterly 50.4 (Winter 1997:1045-1100).
  12. ^ Coffin, 1979: 302 although later alterations were made to the area around the casino by the architect Girolamo Rainaldi.
  13. ISBN 1-55859-453-1
    . pp. 127. 107-11.
  14. ISBN 978-1-58839-379-1
    . On Caprarola, see jestaz 1994, pp. 35-48. Caprarola provided the model for the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
  15. ^ "Palazzo Farnese a Caprarola: le location della serie tv i Medici Masters of Florence". 6 March 2017.

External links

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42°19′47.99″N 12°13′55.19″E / 42.3299972°N 12.2319972°E / 42.3299972; 12.2319972

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