Casali Mellini

The two Casali Mellini stand on the left side of the southern entrance of the Villa of the same name, currently the Astronomical Observatory.

One dates back to the 15th century, the other to the 17th. The oldest has incorporated a pre-existing 14th-century farmhouse leaning against the Oratory of the Santa Croce, which the Mellini family (a noble Roman family of the 14th - 17th centuries) restored at the end of the 15th century at the same time as the construction of their Villa. Part of the masonry of this Oratory relating to the double ramp facade on via Trionfale has been brought to light, offering concrete confirmation of the data emerging from both a watercolour by the architects Gaspare Servi and Salvatore Parisi, preserved in the Capitoline Historical Archive, and from the view by G. Carelli, both dating back to around the mid-19th century, therefore a few decades before the demolition of the building, which occurred at the end of the same century, due to the construction of the Forte di Monte Mario.

Inside the Casale, a room with stucco decorations was found, and a Crucifixion in relief, dating back to the fifteenth century, was also found. The latter, given the subject, appears to be connected to the presence of the oratory built or rebuilt by the Mellinis, to whose patronage it must therefore be traced back.

Photo credits: courtesy of the Capitoline Superintendency