Villa Mazzanti

Built in the second half of the 19th century on a land owned by the Barberini family, the villa occupies the eastern slope of the Monte Mario hill, in a dominant position to the Tiber.

The owner Luigi Mazzanti was a builder who belonged to the rich bourgeoisie, where the fashion of building their own residences in particularly striking places had spread, taking as an example the historic noble villas. From an architectural point of view, the complex reflects the dictates of the eclectic style that established itself from the second half of the nineteenth century and which blended elements of Renaissance and classical architecture with imaginative, symbolic or exotic themes.

The small building is characterized by the presence of a loggia enriched by two side terraces that offer an enchanting view of the city. The interiors have a rich pictorial decoration that reproduces a greenhouse with, inside, the most different varieties of plants including banana, chenzia, agave, ivy, philodendron, combined with fantastic vegetable elements.

The complex consists also of a wonderful English garden, four hectares with a wood of mostly Mediterranean plants crossed by a serpentine path, which climbs along the slopes of the hill. At the end of the climb an artificial lake is visible with an islet in the center of tuff cliff, on which stands a rustic house recalling the model of mountain chalets.

Owned by the Municipality since the 1960s, the villa has been restored and opened to the public. Today it is located in the center of the Monte Mario Reserve and since 1998 it has housed the headquarters of the RomaNatura Regional Body.