Villa Wolkonsky
Encyclopedia
Villa Wolkonsky is the official residence of the British
ambassador
Italy
in Rome
.
It was originally owned by a Russian princess, Zenaǐde Wolkonsky, who made her home there in the 1830s. Her salon was frequented by Karl Brullov, Alexander Ivanov
, Bertel Thorvaldsen
, Gaetano Donizetti
, Stendhal
, and Sir Walter Scott. Nikolai Gogol
wrote much of Dead Souls
at the villa. Subsequently it passed through various ownerships until it was sold to the German government in 1920, becoming the German
embassy and ambassador's residence.
After the Liberation of Rome in 1944, the Italian government sequestrated the property, and it was placed under the Allied Control Commission. For a short time it was occupied by the Swiss
legation
and then the Italian Red Cross. When the British embassy at Rome's Porta Pia
was blown up by members of the clandestine militant Zionist group Irgun
on 31 October 1946, the Italian government made the Villa available to the British government to use as a temporary embassy and residence. The United Kingdom purchased the Villa in 1951.
When the new UK Embassy was reopened at its original location in 1971, the offices moved back to Porta Pia and the Villa reverted to its role as Her Majesty's Ambassador's Residence. On the same grounds are outbuildings containing apartments for senior embassy officials.
The Villa itself is frequently used for seminars and workshops, and is also rented out to appropriate academic or commercial organisations for major events. The extensive grounds are also the venue for the annual Queen's Birthday
Party, the British national day
. They are the jewel of the Villa, still containing many features originally introduced by Princess Wolkonsky. A recent tree and plant census listed around 200 different species.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
It was originally owned by a Russian princess, Zenaǐde Wolkonsky, who made her home there in the 1830s. Her salon was frequented by Karl Brullov, Alexander Ivanov
Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov
Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov , 1806 – July 15 , 1858) was a Russian painter who adhered to the waning tradition of Neoclassicism but found little sympathy with his contemporaries....
, Bertel Thorvaldsen
Bertel Thorvaldsen
Bertel Thorvaldsen was a Danish-Icelandic sculptor of international fame, who spent most of his life in Italy . Thorvaldsen was born in Copenhagen into a Danish/Icelandic family of humble means, and was accepted to the Royal Academy of Arts when he was eleven years old...
, Gaetano Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
, Stendhal
Stendhal
Marie-Henri Beyle , better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century French writer. Known for his acute analysis of his characters' psychology, he is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism in his two novels Le Rouge et le Noir and La Chartreuse de Parme...
, and Sir Walter Scott. Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist.Considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in Gogol's work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of Surrealism...
wrote much of Dead Souls
Dead Souls
Dead Souls is a novel by Nikolai Gogol, first published in 1842, and widely regarded as an exemplar of 19th-century Russian literature. Gogol himself saw it as an "epic poem in prose", and within the book as a "novel in verse". Despite supposedly completing the trilogy's second part, Gogol...
at the villa. Subsequently it passed through various ownerships until it was sold to the German government in 1920, becoming the German
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
embassy and ambassador's residence.
After the Liberation of Rome in 1944, the Italian government sequestrated the property, and it was placed under the Allied Control Commission. For a short time it was occupied by the Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
legation
Legation
A legation was the term used in diplomacy to denote a diplomatic representative office lower than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an Ambassador, a legation was headed by a Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary....
and then the Italian Red Cross. When the British embassy at Rome's Porta Pia
Porta Pia
Porta Pia is a gate in the Aurelian Walls of Rome, Italy. One of Pope Pius IV's civic improvements to the city, it is named after him. Situated at the end of a new street, the Via Pia, it was designed by Michelangelo in replacement for the Porta Nomentana situated several hundred meters...
was blown up by members of the clandestine militant Zionist group Irgun
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
on 31 October 1946, the Italian government made the Villa available to the British government to use as a temporary embassy and residence. The United Kingdom purchased the Villa in 1951.
When the new UK Embassy was reopened at its original location in 1971, the offices moved back to Porta Pia and the Villa reverted to its role as Her Majesty's Ambassador's Residence. On the same grounds are outbuildings containing apartments for senior embassy officials.
The Villa itself is frequently used for seminars and workshops, and is also rented out to appropriate academic or commercial organisations for major events. The extensive grounds are also the venue for the annual Queen's Birthday
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
Party, the British national day
National Day
The National Day is a designated date on which celebrations mark the nationhood of a nation or non-sovereign country. This nationhood can be symbolized by the date of independence, of becoming republic or a significant date for a patron saint or a ruler . Often the day is not called "National Day"...
. They are the jewel of the Villa, still containing many features originally introduced by Princess Wolkonsky. A recent tree and plant census listed around 200 different species.
External links
- Detailed history of Villa Wolkonsky