DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19775#0142
VILLA FALCON I ER I,
FRASCATI.
r I ^ HIS is the oldest of the villas of Frascati,
and was erected for Alessandro Rufini,
| Bishop of Melfi, in 1548. In the
seventeenth century it passed to the
Falconieri family, who confided its restoration
and redecoration to Francesco Borromini, the
most florid of all the baroque artists. The grounds
are small, but there are several very picturesque
gateways, and the loggia and interior are
frescoed by Ciro Ferri, the artist who, in company
with Pietro di Cortona, decorated the Pitti Palace
in Florence. The ceiling of the great hall
represents Aurora in her car, beyond is a room
with a fountain in the middle, and the farthest
room is painted like a grove, with little cupids
flying among the branches and holding garlands
of flowers ; round three sides of this room is an
open gallery, from which there is a beautiful view
over the campagna, " that palimpsest which all
the world comes to read." In some of the rooms
are caricatures painted by desire of Orazio Fal-
conieri, a former proprietor, representing prelates
and nobles of his acquaintance, with his own
portrait in the midst. The villa, which for a
long time was occupied by the German novelist
Count Voss, is now the property of the monks
of Tre Fontane, who migrate there in June to
escape the heat and malaria of the plain. Earlier
in the year their abbot is extremely kind and
courteous in granting permission to visit and
sketch the grounds.
The Trappist Fathers have made a new
entrance, but the old gateway, which is farther
down the hill, is very fine, and is the work of
Vignola. It is still surmounted by the Falcon
of the extinct Falconieri family. A large branch
of an immense old oak has grown thiough the
gate, forming a curious and picturesque arch.
The oldest gateway has fine pillars with the dogs
of the Rufini on either side, and an imposing
baroque structure is illustrated.
The most conspicuous feature of the grounds
is the Hall of Cypresses—" A stupendous sylvan
hall, walled in by cypresses standing as close as
they could grow in a long parallelogram overarched
by the sky. Behind the cypresses the forest shut
densely, but no bough or twig of lighter foliage
introduced itself into that solemn company, ranged
in solid files on all four sides. A broad walk of
dark gravel surrounded the hall, within which stood
a second parallelogram the same shape as the first.
In its centre was a low border of black rocks
encircling a pond or fountain basin of water equally
black. Above a heap of rocks in the centre of
the basin danced the tiniest imp of a jet.
At the head of this long hall a dark stone was
placed like a seat, and there were two others to
right and left of either side of the basin. Every-
thing was regular in design if irregular in finish.
The whole seemed to be a more intelligent growth
of rock and tree, as if self-arranged for some secret
design. It was a judgment hall, one would have
said, and those stern, swathed cypresses were the
judges, met to pronounce a doom from which
there could be no appeal."
Antiquarians are divided as to whether Cicero's
villa stood on the present site of Villa Falconieri
or of the adjoining Villa Ruffinella. This last
was at one time the residence of Lucien Bonaparte,
the only one of the Emperor's brothers who never
wore a crown. During his residence here, in
1818, it was the scene of one of the most
audacious acts of brigandage ever committed in
the Papal States. A party of robbers, who had
long haunted Tusculum, seized the old priest of
the family while out walking, and, having plundered
and stripped him, bound him hand and foot. When
the dinner-hour arrived, and the priest was missing,
the household came out to look for him, and the
robbers entered, and, attacking all the servants left,
forced them to silence by threats. One maid-servant,
however, contrived to evade notice, and carried
warning to the family, who were at dinner, and
who all had time to hide except the Prince's secre-
tary, the butler, and a facchino. In the meantime
the old priest had contrived to escape.
The next day the facchino was sent back to
treat with the Prince, and to say that unless he sent
a ransom of 4,000 crowns the prisoners would all
be put to death. He sent 2,000, and an order on
his banker for the remainder. This, however,
enraged the brigands, who regarded it as a trap,
and they returned the order, torn up, with a demand
for 4,000 crowns more ; and with this the Prince
was forced to comply in order to save the lives of
his attendants. The brigands were never caught.
I '32 )
FRASCATI.
r I ^ HIS is the oldest of the villas of Frascati,
and was erected for Alessandro Rufini,
| Bishop of Melfi, in 1548. In the
seventeenth century it passed to the
Falconieri family, who confided its restoration
and redecoration to Francesco Borromini, the
most florid of all the baroque artists. The grounds
are small, but there are several very picturesque
gateways, and the loggia and interior are
frescoed by Ciro Ferri, the artist who, in company
with Pietro di Cortona, decorated the Pitti Palace
in Florence. The ceiling of the great hall
represents Aurora in her car, beyond is a room
with a fountain in the middle, and the farthest
room is painted like a grove, with little cupids
flying among the branches and holding garlands
of flowers ; round three sides of this room is an
open gallery, from which there is a beautiful view
over the campagna, " that palimpsest which all
the world comes to read." In some of the rooms
are caricatures painted by desire of Orazio Fal-
conieri, a former proprietor, representing prelates
and nobles of his acquaintance, with his own
portrait in the midst. The villa, which for a
long time was occupied by the German novelist
Count Voss, is now the property of the monks
of Tre Fontane, who migrate there in June to
escape the heat and malaria of the plain. Earlier
in the year their abbot is extremely kind and
courteous in granting permission to visit and
sketch the grounds.
The Trappist Fathers have made a new
entrance, but the old gateway, which is farther
down the hill, is very fine, and is the work of
Vignola. It is still surmounted by the Falcon
of the extinct Falconieri family. A large branch
of an immense old oak has grown thiough the
gate, forming a curious and picturesque arch.
The oldest gateway has fine pillars with the dogs
of the Rufini on either side, and an imposing
baroque structure is illustrated.
The most conspicuous feature of the grounds
is the Hall of Cypresses—" A stupendous sylvan
hall, walled in by cypresses standing as close as
they could grow in a long parallelogram overarched
by the sky. Behind the cypresses the forest shut
densely, but no bough or twig of lighter foliage
introduced itself into that solemn company, ranged
in solid files on all four sides. A broad walk of
dark gravel surrounded the hall, within which stood
a second parallelogram the same shape as the first.
In its centre was a low border of black rocks
encircling a pond or fountain basin of water equally
black. Above a heap of rocks in the centre of
the basin danced the tiniest imp of a jet.
At the head of this long hall a dark stone was
placed like a seat, and there were two others to
right and left of either side of the basin. Every-
thing was regular in design if irregular in finish.
The whole seemed to be a more intelligent growth
of rock and tree, as if self-arranged for some secret
design. It was a judgment hall, one would have
said, and those stern, swathed cypresses were the
judges, met to pronounce a doom from which
there could be no appeal."
Antiquarians are divided as to whether Cicero's
villa stood on the present site of Villa Falconieri
or of the adjoining Villa Ruffinella. This last
was at one time the residence of Lucien Bonaparte,
the only one of the Emperor's brothers who never
wore a crown. During his residence here, in
1818, it was the scene of one of the most
audacious acts of brigandage ever committed in
the Papal States. A party of robbers, who had
long haunted Tusculum, seized the old priest of
the family while out walking, and, having plundered
and stripped him, bound him hand and foot. When
the dinner-hour arrived, and the priest was missing,
the household came out to look for him, and the
robbers entered, and, attacking all the servants left,
forced them to silence by threats. One maid-servant,
however, contrived to evade notice, and carried
warning to the family, who were at dinner, and
who all had time to hide except the Prince's secre-
tary, the butler, and a facchino. In the meantime
the old priest had contrived to escape.
The next day the facchino was sent back to
treat with the Prince, and to say that unless he sent
a ransom of 4,000 crowns the prisoners would all
be put to death. He sent 2,000, and an order on
his banker for the remainder. This, however,
enraged the brigands, who regarded it as a trap,
and they returned the order, torn up, with a demand
for 4,000 crowns more ; and with this the Prince
was forced to comply in order to save the lives of
his attendants. The brigands were never caught.
I '32 )