Villa Albani Torlonia
“There are magnificent places which have no need of praise. This is the case of Villa Albani.” Thus begins the invitation to the reader of the guide by Morcelli, Fea and Visconti (La Villa Albani descritta, Rome 1869), printed on the occasion of the purchase (1866) on behalf of Prince Alessandro Torlonia of the noble residence which had once belonged to Cardinal Alessandro Albani. After decades of abandonment, Prince Alessandro ordered major restoration works to be carried out, as we are reminded by the inscription in bronze lettering on the façade: “Alexander Albani vir eminentissimus instruxit et ornavit / Alexander Torlonia vir princeps in melius restituit” (Built and decorated by the most eminent Alessandro Albani / Restored by Prince Alessandro Torlonia), bringing back lustre and prestige to this precious jewel of neoclassical architecture, to the point that in 1870, the Capture of Rome from the Papal States was signed here.
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The nephew of Pope Clement XI, respectful patron and skilled diplomat, Cardinal Alessandro Albani (1692-1779) was one of the greatest collectors of ancient sculptures in 18th-century Rome, and a promotor of that neo-classical taste that forms the basis of modern archaeological studies.
The Villa, lying just outside the city walls, along the Via Salaria, was built between 1747 and 1763, designed by the architect Carlo Marchionni, when the extensive green area, previously owned by Accoramboni, Ercolani and Orsi, was purchased by Cardinal Albani.
A building of representation more than a residence, as suggested by the high-ceilinged rooms, the care of the interiors, the elegant interior façade covering two floors with the majestic terraced loggia, looking onto the Italian-style garden, the Villa was most of all a cultural powerhouse, hosting pleasant moments for the circle of antiquarian friends that the learned churchman had gathered around him. This was the stage of erudite discussions, concerts, dances and masked comedies, and guests would be astonished by the wealth of the furnishings, made up of polychrome marbles, stuccoes, stained glass, paintings, and above all, an exceptional collection of original Greek and Roman sculptures: a passion for the ancient world that Albani had nurtured since his youth, sponsoring vast excavation projects and making purchases both in Rome and in the surrounding areas.
Statues, busts, bas-reliefs, vases, capitals and columns, all carefully selected, decorated the refined interiors, the gardens, the fountains and the various buildings of the villa, which stands as a vast architectural complex of locales and structures (like the Temple of Diana, the Temple of the Caryatids, the coffee-house, the ruined tempietto, the billiards area, etc.), which dialogue with one another with the intention of creating an educational and emotional itinerary, studied down to the last detail, aiming to compete with the villas of Imperial Rome, and leaving its visitors enchanted.
While the Cardinal was the real director of works, for the layout of the works, it is hypothesized that Marchionni took advice from Johann Joachim Winckelmann, who at that time, having been hired as librarian by the Cardinal (1759), was creating a catalogue of the collections of antiquities of his patron, paving the way for the reappraisal of Greek art. Winckelmann was a notable force behind the enlargement of the collection, and as he would write in a letter dated August 1766, in the construction process, Albani always adopted Descartes’s maxim not to leave any space empty. And so, in the Sala di Antinoo, the famous relief of Villa Adriana embellished the fireplace, and this room also hosts the famous fresco of Parnassus (1761), created by Anton Raphaël Mengs for the vault of the Galleria, which would go on to become the pictorial manifesto of the nascent neoclassical style.
The Villa remained largely intact even after the death of the Cardinal: the works removed during the Napoleonic period (1797-1815) to decorate the Musée Napoléon in Paris were in fact partly returned after 1815 to their legitimate owner, Prince Carlo Albani while the residence remained property of the Albani family up until the first half of the 19th century, when from the last heir it was passed on to the Albani-Castelbarco family, from whom the Torlonia Family would then purchase it.
An exceptional building, the Villa has been conserved intact right up to the present day, saved from the destruction of the Umbertine urbanisation, which soon afterwards would wipe out most of the historical villas of the city, thus dispersing the ancient heritage that for three centuries had made Rome the heart of European artistic life.
Text by Lucia Franchi Viceré
