| Tel.
0573 803432 www.villarospigliosi.it Opening hours 9.00am - 12.30pm from Friday to Sunday other days on request Entrance Free Access for the disabled Managed by Azienda Villa Rospigliosi di Renzo Taddei |
According to tradition
the Rospigliosi family from Milan were already living in the hills of Montalbano
from the early 13th century. Elected as Pope under the name of Clement IX
in 1667, Giulio Rospigliosi decided to build a villa in the courtyard in front
of the old manor house at Spicchio. Traces of Roman artistic culture can be
seen in many of the architectural choices made for the building, even though
it still blends in perfectly with the style of the typical Tuscan villas.
The project was prepared in the studio of Gian Lorenzo Bernini who designed
the villa as a central block enclosed between two wings at the sides, thus
creating an indentation on the two opposite facades that is completed by a
gallery. The windows, pavements and corners of the building are decorated
with sandstone surrounds. The interior develops around an oval reception room,
which gives life to two suggestive spiral staircases that lead to the upper
floors. The painted decor on the ground floor includes a portrayal of Aurora
and Apollo on the Sun Cart on the ceiling, while the sprandels contain allegories
of signs of the zodiac as well as architectural and plant motifs. The resulting
space is dominated by the impression of an internal environment opening towards
a landscape outside.
The garden contains a Chapel consecrated to Sts. Simon and Judah, who are
portrayed in the painted decorations within, and again repeated in the decorative
motifs inside the nearby villa. The extensive grounds synthesise a perfect
balance between the intervention of man and nature.
