| Villa Madama | |
|---|---|
 Garden with Raphael's loggia | |
 Click on the map for a fullscreen view | |
| General information | |
| Location | Rome,Italy |
| Coordinates | 41°55′42″N12°27′10″E / 41.928353°N 12.452781°E /41.928353; 12.452781 |
| Construction started | 1518 |
| Completed | 1525 |
| Client | Cardinal Giulio de' Medici Prime Minister of Italy |
| Design and construction | |
| Architects | Raphael Antonio da Sangallo the Younger |
Villa Madama is aRenaissance-style rural palace (villa) located on Via di Villa Madama #250 in Rome, Italy. Located west of the city center and a few miles north of the Vatican, and just south of theForo Olimpico Stadium. Even though incomplete, this villa with itsloggia and segmented columned garden court and its casino with an open center and terraced gardens, was initially planned byRaphael, and highly influential for subsequent architects of theHigh Renaissance.
In the 1518, then theCardinal Giulio de' Medici, cousin of the reigning pontiffLeo X, commissioned the initial design of the villa from Raphael. However Raphael died in 1520, and the work continued under disciples of Raphael, includingAntonio da Sangallo the Younger in construction and a large team involved in the decoration. There appear to have been frequent disputes over the plans. Construction soon ceased and the villa was far from complete, when after the death of Leo X in 1521, the cardinal had returned to Florence. In 1523, with Giulio de' Medici's ascension to Pope Clement VII, work restarted and the apartment and garden loggia were completed that year. The decorations of the Villa are byGiulio Romano andBaldassare Peruzzi, both major architects in their own right;Giovanni da Udine completed thebas-reliefs instucco, inspired by the classic Ancient Roman reliefs unearthed from the then rediscoveredDomus Aurea of Nero; and finally, bothGiovan Francesco Penni ("il Fattore") and the Florentine sculptorBaccio Bandinelli worked there too. Aside from the Raphael loggia, the villa's greatest artistic element is thesalone painted by Giulio Romano, with its magnificent vaulted ceiling.
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In 1527, during theSack of Rome, parts of the structure were pillaged and suffered from fire. Some sections were rebuilt, but the villa was never completed. It is not entirely clear how much of the layout and decoration can be attributed to any one of the artists involved.
The Villa Madama was one of the first of the revivedRoman type of suburban villas designed for parties and entertainment built in 16th century Rome, and it was consciously conceived to rival descriptions of the villas of Antiquity, likePliny's famous description of his own.
It had a courtyard with a monumental flight of steps, a circular court around which formal gardens were arranged, an open-air theater excavated in the hillside, ahippodrome below, and a terraced garden with views of theTiber river.
In the garden facing the loggia, the Elephant Fountain, designed byGiovanni da Udine, commemorates theIndian elephant "Annone", brought to Rome by a Portuguese ambassador for the consecration of Leo X in 1514.
The "Madama" of its name wasMargaret of Austria, the same who is remembered inPalazzo Madama in Rome, seat of theItalian Senate. After the death of Clement VII, the villa remained Medici property, first belonging toCardinal Ippolito de' Medici, and later toDuke Alessandro, Lord of Florence, who married Margaret of Parma the illegitimate daughter ofCharles V, but left her a widow at the age of 15. She marriedOttavio Farnese, a nephew ofPope Paul III and was soon widowed again, but at Margaret's death, the villa passed into theFarnese family,Dukes of Parma and Piacenza, who let it slowly fall into ruin.
The villa was restored by CountCarlo Dentice di Frasso, who acquired the property in 1925, and his American wife, the former Dorothy Cadwell Taylor. Eventually the Frassos leased it to the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and it was soon purchased byMussolini in 1941. Mussolini's monumental neo-Roman Foro Italico sports complex is next to the villa, on the site of its racetrack.
Villa Madama is the property of the Italian Government, which uses it for international guests and press conferences. Entrance is limited and touring of gardens requires prior permission with Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On April 20, 2015 the Italian EU Presidency hosted a dinner in the Villa Madama for all Speakers and Presidents of national parliaments of the European Union.
Media related toVilla Madama (Rome) at Wikimedia Commons
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| Preceded by Villa Giulia | Landmarks of Rome Villa Madama | Succeeded by Fontana delle Api |
