EARLY HISTORY OF THE SITE

The Villa Wolkonsky grounds cover 11 acres on the Esquiline Hill in the south-east part of Rome, just within the Aurelian walls, and provide one of the few green spaces in a very built-up part of the city. The nearest landmark is the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano.

The dominant feature on the estate is an impressive Roman ruin: 36 bays of the Neronian spur off the aqueduct built by the Emperor Claudius in 52 AD which brought water from Subiaco, some 50 miles away to the east. Roman tombs have also been excavated on the site. The best preserved one was built by the freeborn son of an Imperial freedman called Tiberius Claudius and has a facade of fine 1st Century AD brickwork.

This part of Rome remained undeveloped for centuries although from the 8th to end of the 14th century the church and hospital of San Niccolò were probably located in this neighbourhood. In the 1400s a small lodge was built into one of the bays of the aqueduct, possibly as a farm building as the area was still open countryside. In 1551 the property was described as the vineyards belonging to Camillo Rustici and Lorenzo Corvini.

In the late 16th century Rome began to expand rapidly, and in 1586 Pope Sixtus V had the Via di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme built just to the east. But the Wolkonsky site itself remained undeveloped. A map of 1676 by G.B Falda and a picture by Nelli of 1748 both show the little lodge still standing but surrounded by open ground. City of Rome records of the late 18th century refer to the property as Vigna Falcone, and in the early 19th Century it was listed as a vegetable garden belonging to the heir of Gian Giacomo Aquaroni.

THE ORIGINAL VILLA WOLKONSKY

The property was still agricultural land when it was bought by Princess Zenaide Wolkonsky in 1830. The princess, born Zenaide Alexandrovna in Dresden in 1789, was the daughter of Prince Alexander Beloselsky-Belosersky. At the time of Zenaide's birth he was Russian ambassador to the Saxon Court. On his appointment as Ambassador to the Court of Victor Amadeus III of Savoy in 1792, the family moved to Turin where Zenaide spent much of her childhood. In 1811 she married Prince Nikita Wolkonsky, an aide-de camp to Tsar Alexander I; they lived apart for much of their married life.

Princess Zenaide first settled in Rome in 1820 and for the next three years threw herself into the musical and artistic life of the city. But she then left for Paris and eventually Moscow to comply with the Tsar’s wish that she return home. She left Russia again in 1829 after the death of Alexander and returned to Italy.

Once back in Rome Zenaide quickly set about developing her newly-acquired property, commissioning the Roman architect Giovanni Azzuri to build her a little villa within three bays of the aqueduct. She even persuaded the Papal Government to pay for repairs to the rest of the aqueduct. She transformed the land on either side of the aqueduct into a romantic garden, planting hundreds of roses, hedges, flowering shrubs and trees. She built paths and ponds and created two special walkways – the Allée des Morts and the Allée des Mémoires, bounded by shrubs and statuary. The exact site of these walks is uncertain but possibly the one devoted to memories ran along the side of the aqueduct and the other through the woods.

She placed more statuary and Roman fragments in small sections of the garden, fixed them to the aqueduct walls and incorporated them into the grottoes fashioned out of the buried, lower arches of the aqueduct; large amphorae and urns were dotted around the gardens. The Princess commissioned sculptures of her friends including a small bust of Tsar Alexander I, which is mounted on a dark red granite pillar taken from his commemorative column in St Petersburg. The bust is now near the temple at the bottom of the garden. Pieces of ancient marble and stone were used as plaques to faithful servants and even to her pets. But above all the garden was planted with roses. In the late1830s, Fanny Mendelssohn, sister of the composer, described the gardens as having millions of roses, ‘in bushes, in trees, arbours and hedges, all flourishing luxuriantly but never more lovely and poetic than when clinging to the dark cypress trees’.

In these early years the Villa was used by the Princess as a retreat from her apartments in central Rome. Her husband joined her in Rome in 1834 and for the next few years Zenaide led a whirl of artistic and musical gatherings, soirées, salons, recitals, balls and parties. Although the Wolkonskys continued to live in the middle of Rome, near the Trevi fountain, much of this artistic entertainment took place in the Villa and the gardens. Princess Zenaide knew Stendhal and entertained authors such as Sir Walter Scott, James Fennimore Cooper and Gogol (who planned ‘Dead Souls’ lying in a grotto in the garden). A talented musician herself, Zenaide knew Glinka and Donizetti, and she sat for the Russian painter Karl Bruilov who was a close friend.

In the late 1830s Zenaide became a zealous convert to Roman Catholicism. The new Tsar was unlikely to exempt her from the new property laws against Catholics, and Zenaide refused to return to Orthodoxy. After one short visit to Russia in 1839 to sort out the family affairs she came back to Rome for ever, in self-imposed exile. Prince Nikita died in 1844.

Zenaide moved from her grand apartments to a more modest house and devoted herself to educational and charitable works. She died in 1862, aged 73, and is buried next to her husband and sister in the church of St Vincenzo and St Anastasio near the Trevi fountain.

When her son Alexander inherited the Villa Wolkonsky he excavated some of the tombs in the grounds. On his death, the property was inherited by Nadia, the Marchesa Campanari who was a descendant of one of Alexander’s two adopted children.

THE VILLA CAMPANARI

In the 1883 edition of Augustus Hare’s ‘Walks in Rome’ the Villa was still described as having a most beautiful garden with wonderful views across the Roman Campagna to the Sabine and Alban Hills. The gardens could be visited with a ‘permesso from a banker for Wednesdays and Saturdays’. But then the Campanari family sold off a large part of the Wolkonsky grounds, taking advantage of the rapid urban development of the area. Fortunately in 1886 the Minister of Education, Ruggero Bonghi, acted to prevent any further break up of the property. But the gardens had lost some of their splendour and the stunning views were becoming obscured by new buildings.

By the early 1890s the Campanari family could afford to build a new house to the south of the original Villa Wolkonsky. This new villa was later rented out to a succession of tenants. According to the Baedeker Guide of 1904, the gardens could be visited on Tuesdays and Saturday mornings (tip the porter) and the roses were to be recommended. In 1922 the Campanari family sold the villa to the German Government and the house became the Residence of the German Ambassador on resumption of diplomatic relations after the First World War.

THE GERMAN RESIDENCE

Over the next 10 or so years the addition of two wings and a top floor almost doubled the size of the residence: huge kitchens, laundry and heating and ventilation systems were installed and the secluded swimming pool constructed in the lower part of the garden. Princess Wolkonsky’s little villa in the aqueduct was also enlarged and another house was built near the main entrance for the Minister of the Embassy. Unattractive huts were put up in the woods as embassy offices but the gardens themselves were restored to become ‘an oasis of peacocks, roses and chirping crickets’, according to Raleigh Trevelyan in his book ‘Rome 1944’. In 1942-3 the splendid marble in the hall, dining room and ballroom was installed.

But in 1943, with the German occupation of Italy, the Villa formally ceased to be an Embassy. After the Liberation of Rome in 1944 the Italian Government sequestrated the property on the grounds that it had been used for non-diplomatic purposes. After the end of the war the Villa formed part of the assets taken as reparations and was placed under the Allied Control Commission but with the Italian Government acting as custodian and liquidator. For a short time it was occupied by the Swiss Legation and then the Italian Red Cross.

THE BRITISH RESIDENCE

In 1946 the British Embassy at the Villa Torlonia at Porta Pia was blown up by Zionist terrorists. The Italian Government made the Villa Wolkonsky available to the British Government, and the Embassy transferred there in 1947. The British Government formally purchased the property in 1951. The Villa Wolkonsky became the British Ambassador’s Residence, and the Chancery was installed in Zenaide’s now much enlarged villa in the bays in the aqueduct, though some Embassy officials worked in the Minister’s house, the huts in the woods and other buildings in the grounds.

In 1956 the collapse of one of the bays near the Chancery highlighted the need for extensive repairs to the 366 metres of decaying aqueduct. The work was carried out by the British Ministry of Works from 1958 to 1960 under the supervision of Aubrey Bailey. The aqueduct was made safe but the discreet approach to the work ensured its appearance remained unchanged - a romantic ruin covered in creepers and roses.

In 1971 the new Chancery, designed by Sir Basil Spence, was completed, and the embassy offices returned to Porta Pia. The original villa, the Minister’s house and other buildings in the grounds have been refurbished and now accommodate Embassy staff.

THE VILLA WOLKONSKY TODAY

The interior layout of the Villa Wolkonsky has changed little since the 1930s and provides a wonderful setting for receiving the Residence’s many guests.

THE FORMAL ROOMS

Entering the marble hall, guests are greeted by the familiar portrait of HM The Queen by Annigoni. This is the first authorised copy of the original and was painted by Luciani Guarnieri, one of Annigoni’s pupils. Other notable paintings include two by Walter Richard Sickert, The Façade of St Mark’s, Venice and Abbey Yard, Bath, The Nest of the Siren by Paul Nash, Summer Flowerpiece by John Nash, Vanessa Bell’s portrait of her daughter entitled Angelica Garnett as Mistress Millament and two large pictures, Interior of Milan Cathedral by David Roberts and Portrait of a Lady by Paris Bordone. The hall contains some fine 19th century marble-topped tables.

The Grande Salotto, the principal reception room, is lit by an ormolu and cut-glass chandelier with 40 lights in three tiers. The modern carpet was specially woven for this room, the pattern being taken from the design of an Italian ceiling. The major painting is A Boar Hunt at Persano led by Ferdinand IV by Johann Heinrich Willhelm Tischbein, depicting the Court of the Kingdom of Naples in 1792-3; among the Court figures are the British Ambassador, Sir William Hamilton and his wife, Emma. A modern, red chalk portrait of the young Princess Wolkonsky by Assia Busiri Vici hangs on the opposite wall. French windows open on to a pretty, white marble terrace and staircase leading down to formal lawns and a fountain.

Two wonderful English 17th century tapestries, woven in the Mortlake factory, hang in the Grande Salotto. Based on cartoons by Raphael now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, they depict Christ’s Charge to Peter and Elymas the Sorcerer Struck with Blindness. The third in the series, The Death of Sapphira, is in the Dining Room, while a 17th century Flemish tapestry, The Assassination of Caesar, hangs in the small drawing room, the Salone Rosa. All four tapestries are on loan from the Duke of Buccleuch.

The main Dining Room has beige and grey marble wall panels and architraves. A pair of George II carved giltwood side tables with Sarrocolin marble tops and two pairs of George III side tables together with two Regency torchères add to the air of formality in this room. The pair of oil paintings, Allegorical Tombs of the Marquess of Wharton and Joseph Addison are by Donato Creti.

The mirrored Ballroom has Sienese marble architraves round the windows and doors and is lit by four gilt metal and cut-glass 24-light chandeliers. 14 Piranesi prints decorate the walls. During her State Visit to Italy in October 2000, HM The Queen held her banquet in honour of President Ciampi in this room. A curved staircase leads down to the tree-studded main lawn of the gardens.

In contrast to the Ballroom and Dining Room, the small Salone Rosa and Biblioteca provide a more informal atmosphere. The Salone Rosa contains a fine collection of English porcelain, an antique 20-light chandelier and a flattering portrait of James Francis Edward Stuart, the Old Pretender, by Alexis Simon Belle. James and both his sons, Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Young Pretender, and Cardinal Henry Duke of York died in Rome and are buried in St Peter’s . The five Venetian works of art hanging in the Biblioteca were left to the Residence by Lady D’Abernon in 1953. They include The Adoration of the Magi by Giovanni Battista Piazzetta and Madonna and Child with Saints by Andrea Schiavone. This room also contains a pair of 18th century inlaid commodes.

THE UPPER FLOORS

A fine metal banister decorates the main staircase leading past the mezzanine guest suite to the first floor. The villa’s private apartment is on the south side with large terraces at both ends. Three guest suites occupy the rest of this floor. The principal suite, the Lateran, opens on to one of the large terraces with a spectacular view of San Giovanni over the tops of the large magnolia trees. The other suites have terraces with garden views. Smaller guest suites are located on the second floor. From the uppermost roof the Alban and Sabine hills are clearly visible, along with a panorama over Rome towards St Peter’s and beyond.

BASEMENT

The vast basement houses the kitchens, laundry and boiler rooms. Much of the equipment dates from the time of the German Residence, including some of the heating system and a wonderful pull-out heated drying rack for the linen in the laundry.

THE GARDENS

The grounds are the jewel of the Villa Wolkonsky. Although now much smaller than when first laid out by Princess Wolkonsky, they still contain many original features. The range of plants and the mixtures of style add to the attraction - ancient Rome from the aqueduct, tombs and fragments of statuary; Englishness from the rose gardens and the combination of formal and informal planting; Russian romanticism in the woodlands; a Mediterranean feel from the acanthus and mimosa and the olive trees; and even a hint of the tropics from the cycads and the banana trees. A recent tree and plant census has identified almost 200 different species.

The aqueduct and the enormous trees create a wonderful frame for the many shrubs and flowers. Roses once again dominate the garden. Recent plantings have concentrated on varieties of old roses which Princess Zenaide would have known. Early flowering but short-lived white and yellow Banksiae roses scramble up the aqueduct, other climbing roses grow up Roman columns and trunks of trees or are trained over pergolas and frames. Swathes of colour come from massed planting of the dark red rose ‘Ingrid Bergman’ and the special bed of yellow ‘Golden Jubilee’ roses planted to celebrate the 50th anniversary HM the Queen’s accession to the throne. Miniature pink roses edge the main pond and other roses line both sides of the main yew-hedged path: the winner of the annual Premio Roma rose competition is planted here.

The garden year starts with hellebores, camellias, miniature irises, jonquils, crocuses, cyclamen and shrubs such as wintersweet, jasmine, edgeworthia , winter honeysuckle and flowering quince providing the first colour. They are soon followed by mimosa and flowering almond and cherry trees, and scented orange and lemon blossom. A profusion of colour continues throughout the year from a wide variety of plants – Japanese anemone, aquilegia, sweet pea, bird of paradise, lantana, lily, peony, fuchsia, canna, salvia, nerine and, everywhere, the creamy-white flower of the acanthus. Flashes of purple come from lilac, polygala and ceanothus shrubs, the carpets of violet, the cascading wisteria, and the beds of agapanthus, heliotrope and ageratum. Plumbago, lavender and geraniums tumble out of large terracotta pots, and fremontia, bougainvillaea, caper and hydrangea climb up the aqueduct. Cistus, teucrium, datura and callistemon survive the heat of the summer and papyrus flourishes by one of the damp grottoes. The gardens round the swimming pool, totally hidden from the house and the rest of the garden, are a continuous blaze of colour from late spring to the end of autumn.

Water features add more interest to the garden . Opposite the Grande Salotto steps, an oval-shaped shaped fountain has a centrepiece of four marble dolphins. The swimming pool garden has a more formal fountain, made of white marble while the sound of trickling water in two grottoes echoes along the aqueduct wall. The delightful, irregular-shaped pond on the small rise to the right of the main gravel path is shaded by yew and Japanese maple trees and edged with miniature roses, ferns, hosta and dwarf irises. A small putto under a marble pediment rises out of the water on the far side. Goldfish dart amongst the water lilies growing in the gently flowing water. The frogs seem particularly fond of this pond.

The far end of the garden is dominated by the temple with five columns and a conical roof. ( It is not clear where the columns came from.) A white marble copy of a classical Venus torso, donated by Sir Ashley Clark, British Ambassador to Italy from 1953 to 1962, stands in the middle of the temple.

Evergreen hedges of yew, box, bay and pittisporum divide the different sections of the garden including the ‘orto’ or kitchen garden which produces flowers, herbs and vegetables for the residence. The Villa Wolkonsky also produces its own honey from the three hives at the bottom of the garden. Huge, spectacular trees add another dimension to the gardens. Cedar, olive, fig, oak, lime, chestnut, ginko, paulownia, cypress, umbrella pines and even a sequoia flourish alongside white-flowering acacia, enormous magnolia grandiflora and palms laden with dates. In autumn the pomegranate and persimmon trees provide wonderful fruit. The orange, and lemon trees come into their own in winter when their brightly-coloured fruits stand out against the dark green foliage, signalling that it is time once again to make the Villa Wolkonsky marmalade.