Villa Poniatowski

The villa is located in Flaminio district and was formerly known as Villa Cesi. The famous french traveller Michel de Montaigne mentioned it among the most beautiful villas of Rome at the end of the 16th century. It was also depicted in the engravings of Giovanni Francesco Venturini (1683) and Giuseppe Vasi ( 1757).

The building takes its name from Prince Stanislao Poniatowski -the nephew of the last king of Poland - who bought it from Marquis Sinibaldi in 1781. The restoration works were carried out by the architect Giuseppe Valadier, who took inspiration from the neoclassical style.

Pools and fountains embellish the villa; ancient sculptures adorn the large Italian-style garden, formed by stepped terraces and enclosed in the past by the Loggia of delights at the top.

The interiors have beautiful halls with refined decorations: the Sala dell'Ercole Farnese on the ground floor; the Sala Indiana - with exotic themed 19th-century frescoes; the Sala Egizia or Sala delle Colonne Doriche on the noble floor - with neoclassical frescoes depicting Egyptian landscapes and the perspective colonnade.

Over the years, the building went through different properties, from General Sykes to the painter Domenico Carelli and the English nobleman Francesco Moore Esmeade. During the Roman Republic, the villa was heavily damaged following the battles between Garibaldi and the French troops in 1849.  In 1871 it was purchased by the Riganti family, who built a tannery in the garden area, where the Library is currently housed.

In 1988, Villa Poniatowski was acquired by the Italian State and is now one of the two venues of ETRU, the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia, where precious antiquities from Latium Vetus and Umbria are kept.

Photo ETRU - Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia