VILLAS AT FRASCATI 



PLATES I02, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, no, in, n2 



ALDOBRANDINI. VILLA BORGHESE. VILLA MUTL VILLA TORLONIA 

 VILLA MONDRAGONE. VILLA PALLAVICINI. VILLA FALCONIERI 



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ROM very ancient days the undulating country-side around Frascati has been 

 the most favourite resort of the citizens of Rome wishing to escape from the 

 heat and bustle of the great city. From its health-giving situation, upon a 

 spur of the Alban Mountains, and its picturesque position, commanding wide 

 panoramic views across the Campagna, northwards to Rome and the sea beyond, 

 the neighbourhood was always considered most suitable for the erection of 

 magnificent villas. At the decline of the Roman Republic and the rise of the 

 Empire, when men began to enjoy more leisure under an increasing sense of security, many great 

 families erected villas in the neighbourhood of Tusculum, principally at the suburb of Frascati. 

 The Villa Aldobrandini stands upon the site of the Villa of the Octavii. Pliny had a villa at 

 Centrone, and Cato one at Monte Porzio. The famous Villa of Lucullus occupied the site of the 

 Villa Torlonia, and the Villas of Galba and Domitian were also in the neighbourhood. 



Tusculum was sacked in 1191, and many families fled to Frascati, which was then under 

 the Pontifical protection. In the fourteenth century the Popes took a great liking to Frascati, 

 which once more becoming a fashionable resort, country seats arose upon the ruins of the ancient 

 villas, and the great families resorted hither for the cooling breezes during the hot summer 

 months. 



The Villa Aldobrandini stands grandly upon a succession of broad terraces falling gently 

 to a long slope, with three main avenues of approach from the principal entrance in the Piazza 

 del Municipio. It was commenced in 1598 for Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, nephew of 

 Clement VIII., from the designs of Giacomo della Porta and Giovanni Fontana, whilst Orazio 

 Olivieri was employed as an engineer of the waterworks. John Evelyn, who visited the villa fifty 

 years after its construction, says that it ' surpasses the most delicious place ... for its situation, 

 elegance, plentiful water, groves, ascents and prospects.' He also gives a picturesque description 

 of Fontana's water-theatre. 'Just behind the Palace . . . rises a high hill or mountain all 

 overclad with tall wood, and so formed by nature as if it had been cut out by art, from the 



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