Villa Madama

Villa Madama
Raphael Antonio da Sangallo the Younger

Villa Madama is a

.

Construction

In the 1518, then the

worked there too. Aside from the Raphael loggia, the villa's greatest artistic element is the salone painted by Giulio Romano, with its magnificent vaulted ceiling.

In 1527, during the Sack of Rome, parts of the structure were pillaged and suffered from fire. Some sections were rebuilt, but the villa was never completed. It is not entirely clear how much of the layout and decoration can be attributed to any one of the artists involved.

Legacy and gardens

The Villa Madama was one of the first of the revived Roman type of suburban villas designed for parties and entertainment built in 16th century Rome, and it was consciously conceived to rival descriptions of the villas of Antiquity, like Pliny's famous description of his own.

It had a courtyard with a monumental flight of steps, a circular court around which formal gardens were arranged, an open-air theater excavated in the hillside, a hippodrome below, and a terraced garden with views of the Tiber river.

In the garden facing the loggia, the Elephant Fountain, designed by Giovanni da Udine, commemorates the Indian elephant "Annone", brought to Rome by a Portuguese ambassador for the consecration of Leo X in 1514.

Ownership after completion

The "Madama" of its name was

and Piacenza, who let it slowly fall into ruin.

The villa was restored by Carlo, Count Dentice di Frasso, who acquired the property in 1925, and his American wife, the former Dorothy Cadwell Taylor. Eventually the Frassos leased it to the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and it was soon purchased by Mussolini in 1941. Mussolini's monumental neo-Roman Foro Italico sports complex is next to the villa, on the site of its racetrack.

Villa Madama is the property of the Italian Government, which uses it for international guests and press conferences. Entrance is limited and touring of gardens requires prior permission with Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On April 20, 2015 the Italian EU Presidency hosted a dinner in the Villa Madama for all Speakers and Presidents of national parliaments of the European Union.

Further reading

• Attlee, Helena (2006). Italian Gardens - A Cultural History (paperback). London: Frances Lincoln. pp. 240 pages.
  ISBN 978-0-7112-3392-8
  .
• Greenwood, W.E. Villa Madama Rome, A Reconstruction (New York: William Helburn, Inc., 1928)

External links

• Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs website: Villa Madama
• Satellite photo.

Media related to Villa Madama (Rome) at Wikimedia Commons

Preceded by Villa Giulia

Landmarks of Rome Villa Madama

Succeeded by Fontana delle Api