Villa Flora

Villa Flora represents the most important example of historic greenery in the Portuense district, awaiting recovery and valorization work. The area, already the subject of residential and productive settlements starting from the 17th century, is known in 19th and 20th century documents as Villa Signorini. Originally an agricultural estate like most of the villas that stood in the direction of Fiumicino, it retains the nineteenth-century structure typical of an organization of this kind: it is in fact a valuable complex dating back to the nineteenth century with buildings of refined residence, today in a serious state of decay.

The Villa consists of a noble casino of eclectic taste with a neo-Gothic turret with mullioned windows, some buildings for agricultural use inspired by industrial archeology and two very valuable greenhouses in cast iron and glass in neo-medieval style. Behind the noble casino and on the sides of it there are various service buildings, some of which host associations that operate in the district. The park is of notable beauty, characterized by a long avenue with a modern design, paved with herringbone tiles, flanked by cypresses that line the slopes of the villa, distinguished by lush pines and other essences typical of the Roman flora. On the right at the end of the avenue there is a fountain with a circular basin. In the square in front of the Villa, palm trees, cedars and pines rise, dating back to the original arrangement of the place. The current name of the villa owes the name to the "Hotel Flora", assigned to the complex by the General House of the Order of the Servants of Mary from whom it was expropriated in 1975 by the Lazio Region for the "construction of an equipped public park in the Gianicolense district". In 1978 the Villa was acquired by the Municipality of Rome.

Photo: Capitoline Superintendency