garden of Villa Aldobrandini (left) -

At the time of the dissolution of the Roman Empire (5th Century A.D.) and the adoption of Christianity as the official religion, the papacy, supported by the dominant Roman families, came to power. During the Middle ages Rome’s fate was influenced by military events (invasion of the Visigoths and Vandals) and political vicissitudes (the byzantine influence, domination by the Lombards, the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire, conflicts between the papacy and the Holy Roman Emperors). This was a dramatic period in the history of Rome leading to the depopulation of the city. The inhabitants dwelt mainly in the Campus Martius, i.e. the low-lying part of the city near the Tiber River. Small, humble dwellings had replaced the monumental buildings of Imperial Rome which were by then in ruins. In particular, large areas on the hilltops had been abandoned or were being cultivated as vegetable gardens and vinyards.

Nevertheless, life in the eternal city was certainly not dying out. From the time of the birth of Christianity to the first Jubilee Year in 1300, proclaimed by Pope Boniface VIII, crowds of pilgrims "romei" made pilgrimages to Rome to pray on the tombs of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, obtain indulgences, view the image of Christ (the "Veronica") and admire the marvels of the Holy City.

The recovery of the City at the end of the Middle Ages began in the 16th Century with the Renaissance, the artistic, cultural movement which originated in Florence in the mid-15th Century. The role played by the florentine patrons of the arts was taken over in Rome by the local ruling families which vied with one another also in building luxurious urban residences and suburban villas with important picture galleries and collections of antique sculptures excavated from the inexhaustible archeological sites or expressly commissioned. A brief but dramatic event was the sack of Rome by the lansquenets of Charles V in 1527. The temporal power of the papacy increased however as a result: Rome became the capital of the Papal State and of the entire Catholic world.

The area indicated as Balnea Paulli on Bufalini's map, site of the future Villa Aldobrandini, was at this time the property of the Vitelli family. The building was not a palace but rather an agglomeration of buildings in the Medieval style which housed the Vitelli’s art collection, the family residing in a palace in the Campus Martius. The Vitelli estate on the Quirinal must have been quite a valuable and important one if they felt the need to provide the property with the pretentious entrance built by the architect Carlo Lambardi around 1580. Lambardi’s pavillion-tower can still be seen today at the corner of Largo Magnanapoli and Via Panisperna.

Renaissance rationality and equilibrium gave way in the 17th Century to the ornate dramatic style typical of the Baroque period which sought to make a strong visual impression by a display of grandeur and extravagance according to a programme for the glorification of the Church. Not only the many architects, painters and sculptors, but also a host of talented artisans, further embellished the city, creating that unique cityscape dominated by the contrast between its dark colour of its buildings and the blond travertine of the church facades, the imposing grandeur of the ancient classical ruins against the background of a luminous sky in a unique image that was to fascinate artists and educated travellers from all over the world over the centuries.

Stemma della Famiglia Each Pope sought to outdo his predecessor in the building and lavishly embellishment of churches and palaces which served as a splendid reflection of his religious and temporal powers. The Aldobrandini family, having reached the height of its powers when Ippolito Aldobrandini became Pope Clement VIII (1592-1605). In 1600 Clement VIII acquired the Orti Vitelli on the Quirinal hill and in 1601 donated the property to his nephew Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini. The old buildings of the Vitelli Family were demolished and construction began on the new villa and adjacent garden.

The new building indicated on the map of Rome (1630) by the engraver G. van Schayck consists of two main parts - one facing the garden, the other flanking Via Panisperna - and two smaller parts enclosing a courtyard. Also visible is a tower which had existed since the Vitelli's time. The two storey villa (a third story was added subsequently) is crowned by a cornice decorated with statues on the sides facing the garden and Via Panisperna. The villa was never the family seat as the Aldobrandini family owned even more splendid residences elsewhere in Rome. The villa on the Quirinal hill served basically for ceremonial functions.

At the end of the 18th Century the Italian peninsula, notwithstanding its economic, cultural and artistic potential, was dominated by a foreign power as the numerous States in which it was divided had failed to unify. France annexed Rome in 1798, created the Cisalpine Republic and deported Pope Pius VII. F.A. Sextius Miollis, a general in the army of Napoleon I and Governor of the Roman States, acquired Villa Aldobrandini in 1811 from Francesco Borghese-Aldobrandini and trasformed it into a pleasure palace in an attempt to promote the contemporary French "empire" style. Miollis had the Villa renovated and used it to house his vast collection of over 400 paintings, in his way renewing the former collecting efforts of the Aldobrandini family. He also had the garden adorned with 456 statues and several fountains while the upper story of the pavillion-tower designed by Lambardi which had served as an entrance to the garden was transformed into a coffee-house. Miollis’ sojourn in Rome lasted only five years, after which his collection of art works was dispersed and the general stripping of the villa and garden began. Francesco Borghese-Aldobrandini bought back the villa and garden from General Miollis’ heirs in 1830. In 1846 his son Camillo undertook a new restoration/modification project which included the construction along Via Panisperna at a right angle to the 17th Century villa of a large edifice, designed by architect G.B. Benedetti. This building, in a rather spartan neo-renaissance style, matches the one on the other side of Via Panisperna. The same architect apparently designed the nymphaeum with the statue of Venus Ninfeo which still stands today opposite the entrance to the Villa from Via Panisperna. Much of the interior decoration of the Villa - grotesques, landscapes in pastels - was carried out in this period. Venere By mid 19th Century the unification of Italy was under way thanks to the politico-military initiative of the House of Savoy. Rome became the capital of Italy in 1871 and the Papal State was confined to the Vatican City.