THE HISTORIC GARDENS

The suburban villa of the Sienese banker Agostino Chigi, called the “Magnificent” (1466-1520), a significant example of Renaissance culture, corresponded to the owner’s taste for possessing a residence far from the clamor of the City, immersed in greenery.

In the sixteenth century the Villa was surrounded by a wonderful viridarium whose composition harmoniously connected with the very architectural forms of the villa through the two lateral projecting bodies of the building’s facade, with the festive floral decorations of the Loggia of Cupid and Psyche, work of Giovanni da Udine.

The extraordinary representations of New World plants, such as corn, zucchini, winter squash and musk squash, common beans, medicinal plants, fruit plants, but also ornamental and exotic species were created with the intent to amaze and arouse the visitor’s admiration and to show guests, dignitaries of the papal court, and the pontiff himself, the magnificence and refinement of the owner Chigi.

Today only a small strip of the northern part of the garden remains, while at the back of the Villa (south side, where the entrance is now) one accesses the “secret garden” inspired by the sixteenth-century hortus conclusus, separated, by means of a high hedge, from the “formal garden“.

The latter extends southward to a section of the Aurelian Walls which constitutes one of the few remains of the wall circuit that stood on the right bank of the Tiber, whose side toward the river was lost in the late nineteenth-century renovation works.

After a careful restoration intervention, tree specimens have found their home according to the eighteenth-nineteenth century arrangement: pines and some cypresses, the laurel grove – which constitutes, perhaps, the most ancient pre-existence – useful and ornamental species (roses, quinces, medlars, farnesiana acacia, Constantinople acacia, collection citrus fruits, cherry trees, holm oaks, antique camellias), some shrub species mentioned in archival documents, such as Myrtus communis, Cornus mas, Berberis, as well as perennial herbaceous plants and bulbs such as Viola odorata in ancient varieties, Lilium, Hyacinthus and Iris that compose the varied and colorful border along the ancient Farnesian wall.

A small collection of archaeological artifacts, sarcophagi, capitals and statues used as decorative elements, contributes to testifying to the ancient opulence of an environment rich in surprising pleasantness, in the heart of Trastevere.

A journey through history, art and nature in the gardens and outdoor spaces of Villa Farnesina

Walking through the avenues and buildings surrounding Villa Farnesina means taking a journey through different eras and atmospheres: from ancient Roman walls to secret Renaissance gardens, from botanical collections to contemporary artworks, from historic architecture to archaeological artifacts.

Each stop holds stories of illustrious figures, urban transformations and memories that interweave the life of the Villa with that of Rome.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
1

Auditorium Building

The Auditorium Building, developed on three levels, is intended for the offices and conference events of the National Academy of the Lincei.

The building, of nineteenth-century design, originally dedicated to the charitable work of Queen Margherita of Savoy, for the reception of unwed mothers, was transformed in the 1930s to house the Library of the Royal Academy of Italy, which at that time established its representative headquarters at Villa Farnesina.

The renovation project, developed by engineer Giovanni Massari in 1933, provided for the replacement of floors, the creation of a warehouse for over 50,000 volumes, meeting rooms, offices and a large conference hall. On the suggestion of architects Cesare Bazzani and Marcello Piacentini, an apse was added to the north side of the building, transforming the rectangular hall into an auditorium with approximately 250 seats. Hence the name “Auditorium Building”. To facilitate access for scholars, an underground connection with the Villa was also created.

The Building perpetuates the ancient stables of Agostino Chigi commissioned from Raphael the architect, known only through drawings and structured in three naves with a staircase behind. Of this construction remain the base, the pedestals, the bases of the pilasters and part of the walls, once intended for the stables.

2

Courtyard of the Loggia of Cupid and Psyche

Villa Farnesina was perfectly designed to accommodate gardens – so much so that in the sixteenth century it was called “Palace of the Garden” – also from an architectural point of view, with the two projecting wings that define the north facade and frame the Loggia of Cupid and Psyche.

Here, on the vault frescoed in 1518 by Giovanni da Udine, pupil of Raphael Sanzio, 170 species of fruits and flowers are recognized, symbols of prosperity and love, conceived as a continuum with the exterior, rich in botanical varieties that came from the Mediterranean and from then exotic lands, even from the New World, testifying to the vast resources and relationships of the banker Agostino Chigi.

The small courtyard of the Loggia, enclosed by walls, had the characteristics of the secret garden, like the other in the opposite section, at the south entrance of the villa. The two secret gardens, called Horti conclusi, inspired by the ancient Roman vignae and monastery cloisters, intimate refuges in nature and silence according to the ideal of the locus amoenus, were created between 1506 and 1511.

This courtyard, with a central fountain (not original), was fed by an ingenious water system that exploited the water of the Tiber, the result of the mastery of engineers working together with architect Baldassarre Peruzzi. The space had been conceived as a “theater of greenery” for staging theatrical performances, a “container” in which to position scenography facing the palace which thus became the stage and backdrop of the performances.

3

Citrus Collection

Citrus fruits have always constituted the main arboreal wealth of the viridarium and their presence has remained constant over the centuries. Still at the end of the nineteenth century, Pierre Fremont, protagonist of the novel Rome by French writer Émile Zola, recounts that in the garden of the Farnesina, even if “abandoned […] devastated, bent, invaded by weeds […] the golden fruits of oranges and cedars always ripened“.

Among the citrus fruits visible today, the giant citron (Citrus medica maxima) stands out, a vigorous plant with an upright habit and irregular, thorny crown. It has smaller, elliptical-oblong leaves with rounded tips. It is highly productive and reblooming, with main flowering periods in spring and autumn. It features large, fragrant white flowers arranged in clusters. The fruits are very large, wrinkled, and oblong-pyriform in shape. The peel is very thick and yellow in color.

An ornamental variant of citron that can be admired in the Villa’s garden is the so-called “Buddha’s hand” (Citrus medica digitata) which produces fruits with “fingers.”

Other rare species include the ribbed bitter orange, the Sweet Lime of Rome, the Mellarosa lemon, the Adam’s Apple, and the Florentine Citron.

4

Farnese Casino

Before the death of its rightful owner, and before being purchased by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese in 1579, Villa Farnesina bordered on its southeast side with a property belonging to the Farnese family. This property was established in the late fifteenth century, at the expense and will of the then-Cardinal Alessandro Farnese senior, grandfather of the Alessandro Farnese who would later purchase the Villa, and future Pope Paul III. He found this place very pleasant due to its healthiness and contact with nature, and he used to visit it daily, even after his ascension to the papal throne, to distract himself and recover from daily commitments.

The property primarily included the building facing Via della Lungara, the so-called Casino Farnese, now the ticket office and guest house of the Accademia dei Lincei, which underwent significant modifications in the second half of the nineteenth century. It was a spacious residence, without a loggia or belvedere, featuring architraves and openings distributed in a not entirely symmetrical manner.

Behind the Casino opened a courtyard, called the cypress courtyard for the tree planted there by the cardinal on the occasion of his graduation. At the center of the courtyard stood, and is still visible today, a wall fountain surmounted by the Farnese lily. There were also a walled garden adjacent to the cypress courtyard, and a large garden at the back, towards the Tiber, bounded by the city walls.

5

Strigillated Sarcophagus

Facing the first clearing of the path surrounded by citrus trees, there is a fountain created at an unknown time by combining two different archaeological artifacts.
A large sarcophagus has been repurposed as the basin, belonging to the type known as strigillated sarcophagi, a term derived from the type of fluted decoration arranged symmetrically on the front, whose wavy pattern recalls the “strigil,” the curved instrument ancient athletes used to cleanse themselves. The front of the sarcophagus is enclosed within an elegant frame (kymation) with ovules and astragals, topped with a pattern of wide trilobed leaves and bordered laterally and below by a braided motif. These decorative elements suggest the sarcophagus dates between the late 3rd and early 4th century AD.

The colossal head used as a water spout above the sarcophagus was adapted for this function through the loss of its nose and part of its lips.

The sculpture, documented in the context of the Chigi-Farnese properties since the 17th century, depicts a marine Triton, as revealed by the seaweed crossing the surface of the face. The wavy hair, which descends to cover the neck with short curls, is worked to give the hair a wet effect.

6

Secret Garden

On the south side of Villa Farnesina was one of the two “secret gardens” that once surrounded the building.

Enclosed by walls, this rectangular space extended to the nearby Casino Farnese, now the Villa’s ticket office and guest house of the Accademia dei Lincei. The garden was divided into geometric flowerbeds, adorned with flower pergolas and fruits, with a central fountain, whose remains are still visible today.

The current appearance of this space is due to a renovation and conservation intervention promoted by the National Academy of Lincei in the early 2000s, aimed at restoring the sixteenth-century spatiality of the secret garden through the placement of yew hedges, which were present in the sixteenth-century garden. The secret garden of Agostino Chigi also contained other species of trees and plants, as well as a rose garden with many varieties of roses.

7

Cesare Pascarella’s Laurel

The laurel (Laurus nobilis) is an ancient and famous plant that in the classical world symbolized knowledge and glory. It was sacred to Apollo, the solar god and protector of arts, music, and poetry, who always wore a laurel crown after Daphne transformed into this plant. In Apollo’s temple at Delphi, a priestess, intoxicated by laurel potions, would issue oracles that dispelled – not always explicitly – doubts and uncertainties.

This laurel tree was planted by Cesare Pascarella, a dialect poet, writer, and painter, during the decade (1930-1940) when he was a member of the Royal Academy of Italy.

8

Sarcophagus with Winged Victories

The section of the Aurelian Walls present in Villa Farnesina’s park is one of the oldest remaining in Rome. Built in 271 AD by order of Emperor Aurelian with the aim of stopping the advance of Northern European populations towards the Roman Empire, the Aurelian Walls extended for 19 km and were up to 6.5 meters high.

This wall circuit connects directly with Porta Settimiana, which since medieval times opened onto the via sancta, later renamed Via Settimiana by Pope Julius II della Rovere, which connected Trastevere with the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica.

The state of preservation allows recognition of various construction phases, evidenced by different building techniques. The base belongs to a possibly eighteenth-century reinforcement intervention and consists of massive masonry of irregular tufa blocks alternating with few bricks and is bordered by a brick cornice. In the upper part, the curtain wall built under Emperor Honorius (by whose order around 403 AD the height of the walls was almost doubled) can be seen, above which some modern masonry repairs can be distinguished that might date back to the pontificate of Pius IX. The left tower, which is preserved in its full height, shows the remains of the protiro that connected the upper maneuvering chamber with the uncovered walkway. The right tower, in worse condition, was inhabited in the nineteenth century by one of Rome’s public washerwomen, who carried out her activity inside.

What can be observed today in Villa Farnesina’s gardens is a surviving section of the glorious walls that from 1876 were sectioned and removed to make way for the construction of Lungotevere della Farnesina, considered the first engineering intervention of national scope in the newly formed Kingdom of Italy.

9

Aurelian Walls

At the end of the path that branches off to the left of the avenue running along the boundary wall between the garden and the area of the current John Cabot University, there is a rectangular sarcophagus without its lid, on whose front are carved two winged Victories, with linear and synthetic features. Facing each other in mirror image toward the center, they support a “tabula ansata“, that is, a plaque with handles, dating to the 2nd century AD, which bears a Greek inscription with the name of the Greek freedman Marcus Aurelius Giocondo who was buried there.

The Victories are dressed in a tunic that covers the entire body, whose folds follow the movement and flow of air. The feathering of the wings is also rendered with remarkable realism. The faces, in profile, show a simple hairstyle formed by a “tenia”, a braided band that follows the forehead and is gathered in a chignon at the nape. The sarcophagus was probably part of Agostino Chigi’s collection of antiquities, as reported by some contemporary testimonies.

10

Guglielmo Marconi’s Sequoia Stump

A stump of California sequoia (Sequoia sempervirens) is what remains after the felling – in the 1980s, due to wood rot – of the specimen planted by Guglielmo Marconi during the seven-year period 1930-1937 (the year of his death) when he was President of the Royal Academy of Italy, which was then housed in Villa Farnesina. Marconi took great care of the Villa’s garden and its plants.

11

Nymphaeum Fountain

Continuing along the avenue that runs along the boundary wall between the garden and the area where John Cabot University is now located, there is positioned a sculpture representing a female figure, covered by drapery that falls only in the lower part of the body, captured in the gesture of supporting a half-open shell. Despite heavy restoration in the upper part, this is a work from the Roman period inspired by a well-known Hellenistic sculptural model: the so-called Aphrodite of Syracuse.

Compared to the original model, however, some significant variations have been introduced, such as the movement of the drapery and the shell basin that transform the goddess of love into a more prosaic sea nymph. The goddess is placed within a niche that imitates a natural grotto, framed by a stone mosaic.

The sculpture could be what remains of a more complex composition, with putti supporting vases as water spouts. In the mid-16th century this ensemble is described as part of the original decoration of the Farnese garden, before the acquisition of the Chigi property, in the famous description of Roman statues compiled in 1556 by the Bolognese naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi.

Image Gallery

PreviousNext

THE HISTORIC GARDENS

The suburban villa of the Sienese banker Agostino Chigi, called the “Magnificent” (1466-1520), a significant example of Renaissance culture, corresponded to the owner’s taste for possessing a residence far from the clamor of the City, immersed in greenery.

In the sixteenth century the Villa was surrounded by a wonderful viridarium whose composition harmoniously connected with the very architectural forms of the villa through the two lateral projecting bodies of the building’s facade, with the festive floral decorations of the Loggia of Cupid and Psyche, work of Giovanni da Udine.

The extraordinary representations of New World plants, such as corn, zucchini, winter squash and musk squash, common beans, medicinal plants, fruit plants, but also ornamental and exotic species were created with the intent to amaze and arouse the visitor’s admiration and to show guests, dignitaries of the papal court, and the pontiff himself, the magnificence and refinement of the owner Chigi.

Today only a small strip of the northern part of the garden remains, while at the back of the Villa (south side, where the entrance is now) one accesses the “secret garden” inspired by the sixteenth-century hortus conclusus, separated, by means of a high hedge, from the “formal garden“.

The latter extends southward to a section of the Aurelian Walls which constitutes one of the few remains of the wall circuit that stood on the right bank of the Tiber, whose side toward the river was lost in the late nineteenth-century renovation works.

After a careful restoration intervention, tree specimens have found their home according to the eighteenth-nineteenth century arrangement: pines and some cypresses, the laurel grove – which constitutes, perhaps, the most ancient pre-existence – useful and ornamental species (roses, quinces, medlars, farnesiana acacia, Constantinople acacia, collection citrus fruits, cherry trees, holm oaks, antique camellias), some shrub species mentioned in archival documents, such as Myrtus communis, Cornus mas, Berberis, as well as perennial herbaceous plants and bulbs such as Viola odorata in ancient varieties, Lilium, Hyacinthus and Iris that compose the varied and colorful border along the ancient Farnesian wall.

A small collection of archaeological artifacts, sarcophagi, capitals and statues used as decorative elements, contributes to testifying to the ancient opulence of an environment rich in surprising pleasantness, in the heart of Trastevere.

A journey through history, art and nature in the gardens and outdoor spaces of Villa Farnesina

Walking through the avenues and buildings surrounding Villa Farnesina means taking a journey through different eras and atmospheres: from ancient Roman walls to secret Renaissance gardens, from botanical collections to contemporary artworks, from historic architecture to archaeological artifacts.

Each one holds stories of illustrious figures, urban transformations and memories that interweave the life of the Villa with that of Rome.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
1

Auditorium Building

The Auditorium Building, developed on three levels, is intended for the offices and conference events of the National Academy of the Lincei.

The building, of nineteenth-century design, originally dedicated to the charitable work of Queen Margherita of Savoy, for the reception of unwed mothers, was transformed in the 1930s to house the Library of the Royal Academy of Italy, which at that time established its representative headquarters at Villa Farnesina.

The renovation project, developed by engineer Giovanni Massari in 1933, provided for the replacement of floors, the creation of a warehouse for over 50,000 volumes, meeting rooms, offices and a large conference hall. On the suggestion of architects Cesare Bazzani and Marcello Piacentini, an apse was added to the north side of the building, transforming the rectangular hall into an auditorium with approximately 250 seats. Hence the name “Auditorium Building”. To facilitate access for scholars, an underground connection with the Villa was also created.

The Building perpetuates the ancient stables of Agostino Chigi commissioned from Raphael the architect, known only through drawings and structured in three naves with a staircase behind. Of this construction remain the base, the pedestals, the bases of the pilasters and part of the walls, once intended for the stables.

2

Courtyard of the Loggia of Cupid and Psyche

Villa Farnesina was perfectly designed to accommodate gardens – so much so that in the sixteenth century it was called “Palace of the Garden” – also from an architectural point of view, with the two projecting wings that define the north facade and frame the Loggia of Cupid and Psyche.

Here, on the vault frescoed in 1518 by Giovanni da Udine, pupil of Raphael Sanzio, 170 species of fruits and flowers are recognized, symbols of prosperity and love, conceived as a continuum with the exterior, rich in botanical varieties that came from the Mediterranean and from then exotic lands, even from the New World, testifying to the vast resources and relationships of the banker Agostino Chigi.

The small courtyard of the Loggia, enclosed by walls, had the characteristics of the secret garden, like the other in the opposite section, at the south entrance of the villa. The two secret gardens, called Horti conclusi, inspired by the ancient Roman vignae and monastery cloisters, intimate refuges in nature and silence according to the ideal of the locus amoenus, were created between 1506 and 1511.

This courtyard, with a central fountain (not original), was fed by an ingenious water system that exploited the water of the Tiber, the result of the mastery of engineers working together with architect Baldassarre Peruzzi. The space had been conceived as a “theater of greenery” for staging theatrical performances, a “container” in which to position scenography facing the palace which thus became the stage and backdrop of the performances.

3

Citrus Collection

Citrus fruits have always constituted the main arboreal wealth of the viridarium and their presence has remained constant over the centuries. Still at the end of the nineteenth century, Pierre Fremont, protagonist of the novel Rome by French writer Émile Zola, recounts that in the garden of the Farnesina, even if “abandoned […] devastated, bent, invaded by weeds […] the golden fruits of oranges and cedars always ripened“.

Among the citrus fruits visible today, the giant citron (Citrus medica maxima) stands out, a vigorous plant with an upright habit and irregular, thorny crown. It has smaller, elliptical-oblong leaves with rounded tips. It is highly productive and reblooming, with main flowering periods in spring and autumn. It features large, fragrant white flowers arranged in clusters. The fruits are very large, wrinkled, and oblong-pyriform in shape. The peel is very thick and yellow in color.

An ornamental variant of citron that can be admired in the Villa’s garden is the so-called “Buddha’s hand” (Citrus medica digitata) which produces fruits with “fingers.”

Other rare species include the ribbed bitter orange, the Sweet Lime of Rome, the Mellarosa lemon, the Adam’s Apple, and the Florentine Citron.

4

Farnese Casino

Before the death of its rightful owner, and before being purchased by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese in 1579, Villa Farnesina bordered on its southeast side with a property belonging to the Farnese family. This property was established in the late fifteenth century, at the expense and will of the then-Cardinal Alessandro Farnese senior, grandfather of the Alessandro Farnese who would later purchase the Villa, and future Pope Paul III. He found this place very pleasant due to its healthiness and contact with nature, and he used to visit it daily, even after his ascension to the papal throne, to distract himself and recover from daily commitments.

The property primarily included the building facing Via della Lungara, the so-called Casino Farnese, now the ticket office and guest house of the Accademia dei Lincei, which underwent significant modifications in the second half of the nineteenth century. It was a spacious residence, without a loggia or belvedere, featuring architraves and openings distributed in a not entirely symmetrical manner.

Behind the Casino opened a courtyard, called the cypress courtyard for the tree planted there by the cardinal on the occasion of his graduation. At the center of the courtyard stood, and is still visible today, a wall fountain surmounted by the Farnese lily. There were also a walled garden adjacent to the cypress courtyard, and a large garden at the back, towards the Tiber, bounded by the city walls.

5

Strigillated Sarcophagus

Facing the first clearing of the path surrounded by citrus trees, there is a fountain created at an unknown time by combining two different archaeological artifacts.
A large sarcophagus has been repurposed as the basin, belonging to the type known as strigillated sarcophagi, a term derived from the type of fluted decoration arranged symmetrically on the front, whose wavy pattern recalls the “strigil,” the curved instrument ancient athletes used to cleanse themselves. The front of the sarcophagus is enclosed within an elegant frame (kymation) with ovules and astragals, topped with a pattern of wide trilobed leaves and bordered laterally and below by a braided motif. These decorative elements suggest the sarcophagus dates between the late 3rd and early 4th century AD.

The colossal head used as a water spout above the sarcophagus was adapted for this function through the loss of its nose and part of its lips.

The sculpture, documented in the context of the Chigi-Farnese properties since the 17th century, depicts a marine Triton, as revealed by the seaweed crossing the surface of the face. The wavy hair, which descends to cover the neck with short curls, is worked to give the hair a wet effect.

6

Secret Garden

On the south side of Villa Farnesina was one of the two “secret gardens” that once surrounded the building.

Enclosed by walls, this rectangular space extended to the nearby Casino Farnese, now the Villa’s ticket office and guest house of the Accademia dei Lincei. The garden was divided into geometric flowerbeds, adorned with flower pergolas and fruits, with a central fountain, whose remains are still visible today.

The current appearance of this space is due to a renovation and conservation intervention promoted by the National Academy of Lincei in the early 2000s, aimed at restoring the sixteenth-century spatiality of the secret garden through the placement of yew hedges, which were present in the sixteenth-century garden. The secret garden of Agostino Chigi also contained other species of trees and plants, as well as a rose garden with many varieties of roses.

7

Cesare Pascarella’s Laurel

The laurel (Laurus nobilis) is an ancient and famous plant that in the classical world symbolized knowledge and glory. It was sacred to Apollo, the solar god and protector of arts, music, and poetry, who always wore a laurel crown after Daphne transformed into this plant. In Apollo’s temple at Delphi, a priestess, intoxicated by laurel potions, would issue oracles that dispelled – not always explicitly – doubts and uncertainties.

This laurel tree was planted by Cesare Pascarella, a dialect poet, writer, and painter, during the decade (1930-1940) when he was a member of the Royal Academy of Italy.

8

Sarcophagus with Winged Victories

The section of the Aurelian Walls present in Villa Farnesina’s park is one of the oldest remaining in Rome. Built in 271 AD by order of Emperor Aurelian with the aim of stopping the advance of Northern European populations towards the Roman Empire, the Aurelian Walls extended for 19 km and were up to 6.5 meters high.

This wall circuit connects directly with Porta Settimiana, which since medieval times opened onto the via sancta, later renamed Via Settimiana by Pope Julius II della Rovere, which connected Trastevere with the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica.

The state of preservation allows recognition of various construction phases, evidenced by different building techniques. The base belongs to a possibly eighteenth-century reinforcement intervention and consists of massive masonry of irregular tufa blocks alternating with few bricks and is bordered by a brick cornice. In the upper part, the curtain wall built under Emperor Honorius (by whose order around 403 AD the height of the walls was almost doubled) can be seen, above which some modern masonry repairs can be distinguished that might date back to the pontificate of Pius IX. The left tower, which is preserved in its full height, shows the remains of the protiro that connected the upper maneuvering chamber with the uncovered walkway. The right tower, in worse condition, was inhabited in the nineteenth century by one of Rome’s public washerwomen, who carried out her activity inside.

What can be observed today in Villa Farnesina’s gardens is a surviving section of the glorious walls that from 1876 were sectioned and removed to make way for the construction of Lungotevere della Farnesina, considered the first engineering intervention of national scope in the newly formed Kingdom of Italy.

9

Aurelian Walls

At the end of the path that branches off to the left of the avenue running along the boundary wall between the garden and the area of the current John Cabot University, there is a rectangular sarcophagus without its lid, on whose front are carved two winged Victories, with linear and synthetic features. Facing each other in mirror image toward the center, they support a “tabula ansata“, that is, a plaque with handles, dating to the 2nd century AD, which bears a Greek inscription with the name of the Greek freedman Marcus Aurelius Giocondo who was buried there.

The Victories are dressed in a tunic that covers the entire body, whose folds follow the movement and flow of air. The feathering of the wings is also rendered with remarkable realism. The faces, in profile, show a simple hairstyle formed by a “tenia”, a braided band that follows the forehead and is gathered in a chignon at the nape. The sarcophagus was probably part of Agostino Chigi’s collection of antiquities, as reported by some contemporary testimonies.

10

Guglielmo Marconi’s Sequoia Stump

A stump of California sequoia (Sequoia sempervirens) is what remains after the felling – in the 1980s, due to wood rot – of the specimen planted by Guglielmo Marconi during the seven-year period 1930-1937 (the year of his death) when he was President of the Royal Academy of Italy, which was then housed in Villa Farnesina. Marconi took great care of the Villa’s garden and its plants.

11

Nymphaeum Fountain

Continuing along the avenue that runs along the boundary wall between the garden and the area where John Cabot University is now located, there is positioned a sculpture representing a female figure, covered by drapery that falls only in the lower part of the body, captured in the gesture of supporting a half-open shell. Despite heavy restoration in the upper part, this is a work from the Roman period inspired by a well-known Hellenistic sculptural model: the so-called Aphrodite of Syracuse.

Compared to the original model, however, some significant variations have been introduced, such as the movement of the drapery and the shell basin that transform the goddess of love into a more prosaic sea nymph. The goddess is placed within a niche that imitates a natural grotto, framed by a stone mosaic.

The sculpture could be what remains of a more complex composition, with putti supporting vases as water spouts. In the mid-16th century this ensemble is described as part of the original decoration of the Farnese garden, before the acquisition of the Chigi property, in the famous description of Roman statues compiled in 1556 by the Bolognese naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi.

Image Gallery

PreviousNext
  • villafarnesina@lincei.it
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Villa Farnesina is open to the public every weekday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Last admission is at 1:00 p.m.

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The Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei is pleased to host special public or private events on its premises in order to promote its archaeological and monumental heritage, in compliance with conservation requirements.

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  • villafarnesina@lincei.it
  • +39 06 68 02 72 68
  • Via della Lungara, 230 - 00165 Roma

The Villa

Storia
Raffaello a Villa Farnesina
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Visit

Biglietti: info e acquisto
Orari e Informazioni
Visite guidate / Gruppi / Scuole

Exhibitions and Activities

Mostre in corso
Progetti
Iniziative
Pubblicazioni
Villa in Digitale

Restoration Works

Galleria delle Grottesca
Ottocento in Villa Farnesina
Sala delle Nozze: parete est
Loggia di Galatea: i paesaggi di Dughet
Loggia di Galatea: i portali parete nord
Sarcofago – Fontana

Opening hours

Villa Farnesina is open to the public every weekday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Last admission is at 1:00 p.m.

Clock Clock Opening hours

Subscribe to the newsletter
of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.

Right-open-mini Right-open-mini Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei

Request a special opening

The Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei is pleased to host special public or private events on its premises in order to promote its archaeological and monumental heritage, in compliance with conservation requirements.

Mail Mail Request a special opening

Follow us on social media.

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Villa Farnesina © 2025 – 2030 Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei | Villa Farnesina. All rights reserved.

 Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy | Dichiarazione di accessibilità