Season of Rome 2011

Villa Torlonia is the result of a series of alterations made to the estate on the Via Nomentana that had belonged first to the Pamphilj and then to the Colonna families, before passing in 1797 to the Torlonia, who arrived from France around 1750 and became marquises in that year....

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The structure of the Swiss Cabin remained unaltered until the beginning of the 20th century, when the villa was inherited by Giovanni Torlonia, Alessandro's nephew. Giovanni included the small building set apart in the park in his program of renovation and, through a series of alterations, turned it into his residence and a sophisticated model of the fusion of architecture and the decorative arts...

The obsessive presence of the theme of the owl in the most disparate decorative elements, such as stuccoes, majolica tiles, stained-glass windows, wall hangings and furniture led to yet another change in the name of the building, this time to the Casina delle Civette, or House of the Owls. The eccentric and quirky Prince Torlonia chose not to reside in any of the many luxurious palaces and townhouses he owned, but only in this small villa, a bourgeois type of dwelling that was very popular in Rome and the rest of Italy at the beginning of the 20th century.

We know little of the personality of Don Giovanni, known for his surliness and misanthropy, whose motto "Wisdom and Solitude" was carved in stone above the front door. It was because of his esoteric interests that he chose the owl, a disquieting bird of the night and symbol of clairvoyance, as his guiding image: an image that he insisted on repeating, in obsessive fashion, in every corner of the house...

When the villa was acquired by the municipality of Rome the building was in a very serious state of decay; fortunately all the surviving stained-glass windows were removed at once and placed in storage, awaiting a restoration that was not to get underway until 1993.

The Casina delle Civette, after a refurbishment that has taken over four years, now once again offers the surprised and astonished visitor its mixture of styles, from the medieval to art nouveau.... [Source: The Casina delle Civette at Villa Torlonia, Comune di Roma, edited by Alberta Campitelli, Electra 2008]

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• Rome
• Stained Glass
• Architecture
• Decorative Arts
• Giuseppe Verdi