Villa Chigi

The Villa, built starting in 1763 for Cardinal Flavio Chigi, represents a fine example of a "holiday casino", or eighteenth-century suburban villa, located in the Salario district.

When Cardinal Chigi purchased the land on the "Monte delle Gioie” in fact, he started the renovation work on a rustic farmhouse to adapt it to a manor house, entrusting it first to Tommaso Bianchi and then to Pietro Camporese the Elder. The six main entrances were enriched with frames and the chapel was built. Between 1765 and 1769 the decoration of the internal rooms was also completed by Filippo Cataldi and Gioacchino Paver, with frescoes of views by Francesco Nubale and Giacomo Rubini, while the chapel, dedicated to the Virgin, was created by Antonio Bicchierai. The interiors of the Villa were enriched with furniture and wooden carvings made between 1763 and 1771 by Nicola Carletti and Giovanni Ermans; from inlaid and gilded chairs and benches.

By 1776 the garden of the Villa was also planted. On the western side, an Italian garden was created with flowerbeds and holm oak groves and decorated with sculptural furnishings; while in the eastern one a promenade consisting of a long central avenue. Halfway along the main avenue there was an open space decorated with a central fountain.

The Villa remained almost completely unused during the 19th century; subsequently, after the Second World War, the Chigis sold the entire agricultural area and the underlying park. Even all the original furnishings were sold by the Chigi family and dispersed.

At the end of the 1970s the Municipality of Rome started an expropriation action at least for the park area. Currently the public park is separated by a fence from the ancient building and the adjoining Italian garden, which is privately owned. In 2003 the municipal administration carried out the restoration work on the park, with the revival of the eighteenth-century design.

Photo: Capitoline Superintendency