VILLAS AT FRASCATI 
PLATES 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, IIO, III, 112 
VILLA ALDOBRANDINI. VILLA BORGHESE. VILLA MUTI. VILLA TORLONIA. 
VILLA MONDRAGONE. VILLA PALLAVICINI. VILLA FALCONIERI 
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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