Institutum Romanum Finlandiae, also known as The Finnish Institute in Rome, is an academic institution that supports research in the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

, particularly in relation to

ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. The institute was inaugurated on 29 April 1954, and is based at

Villa Lante Villa Lante is a Mannerism, Mannerist garden of surprise in Bagnaia, Viterbo, Bagnaia, Viterbo, central Italy, attributed to Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola. Villa Lante did not become so known until it passed to Ippolito Lante Montefeltro della Rovere ...

, a Renaissance-era villa in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

History

The foundation that runs the Institutum Romanum Finlandiae was established in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

on 4 November 1938 by

Amos Anderson Amos Valentin Anderson (3 September 1878, Kimito, Finland – 2 April 1961, Kimito, Finland) was the owner of Finland's largest Swedish-language newspaper, Hufvudstadsbladet, and a patron of the arts. Amos Anderson grew up in the Southwestern Arch ...

, patron of the arts and culture and owner of the largest Swedish-language newspaper in Finland. Villa Lante was purchased for use by the foundation on 23 April 1950, funded by Anderson. The villa is situated on the

Janiculum The Janiculum (; it, Gianicolo ), occasionally the Janiculan Hill, is a hill in western Rome, Italy. Although it is the second-tallest hill (the tallest being Monte Mario) in the contemporary city of Rome, the Janiculum does not figure among th ...

Hill (Gianicolo) in Rome. It was designed by

Giulio Romano Giulio Romano (, ; – 1 November 1546), is the acquired name of Giulio Pippi, who was an Italian painter and architect. He was a pupil of Raphael, and his stylistic deviations from High Renaissance classicism help define the sixteenth-centu ...

, a student of

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...

, in 1520–1521 for Baldassare Turini. The villa provides spectacular views of the surrounding loggia. During the seventeenth century, ownership of the villa came into the hands of

Ippolito Lante Montefeltro della Rovere Ippolito Lante Montefeltro della Rovere (15 June 1618 – 29 June 1688) was an Italian nobleman and Duke of Bomarzo. Biography Lante was the son of Marcantonio Lante (1566–1643) and his wife Lucrezia della Rovere. He was nephew to his f ...

, Duke of Bomarzo. The Lante family was forced to sell the villa in the early nineteenth century because of financial penury. In the late nineteenth century, the villa was ownder by the German archaeologist

Wolfgang Helbig Wolfgang Helbig (2 February 1839 – 6 October 1915) was a German classical archaeologist born in Dresden. He is known for his studies involving the wall paintings of Campania (Pompeii). From 1856 to 1861 he studied philology and archaeology at t ...

. The architectural and cultural influence of Villa Lante is discernible in

Castle Goring Castle Goring is a Grade I listed country house in Worthing, in West Sussex, England about northwest of the town centre. One of Worthing's two Grade I listed buildings (deemed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to be of exc ...

, a mansion in

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, which partially modelled on the villa.

Activities

As well as academic research, the institute provides a supportive environment for experts in the visual arts, with an artist’s studio on the ground floor of Villa Lante.

Directors

* , 1953–1955 * , 1956–1959 * , 1959–1962 *

Jaakko Suolahti Jaakko Suolahti (18 January 1918 – 28 January 1987) was a Finnish classical scholar and historian Suolahti was one of the leading classicists during his time and reached international recognition within the areas of political- and social cultur ...

, 1962–1965 * , 1965–1968 * , 1970–1972 * , 1972–1976 * , 1976–1979 *

Eva Margareta Steinby Eva Margareta Steinby FSA (born 21 November 1938; Wilén until 1961) is a Finnish classical archaeologist. She was the director of the Finnish Institute in Rome from 1979–1982 and 1992–1994, and Professor of the Archaeology of the Roman Empir ...

, 1979–1982 * , 1982–1985 * , 1986–1989 * , 1989–1992 * Eva Margareta Steinby, 1992–1994 *

Päivi Setälä Päivi Setälä (20 January 1943 – 7 March 2014) was a Finnish historian and professor who influenced different areas of Finnish cultural life. She was one of the best advocates of Finnish women's research. In 1991, she became the first female p ...

, 1994–1997 * , 1997–2000 * , 2000–2003 * , 2003–2006 * , 2006–2009 * , 2009–2013 * , 2013–2017 * , 2017–2021 * Ria Berg, 2021–present

Bibliography

* ''Ianiculum. Gianicolo. Storia, topografia, monumenti, leggende dall'antichità fino al rinascimento'', ed. by Eva Margareta Steinby (1996) * ''La Villa Lante al Gianicolo'', ed. by Tancredi Carunchio and Simo Örma (2004)

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://irfrome.org/ Finland–Italy relations Ancient Roman studies Organisations based in Rome Villas in Rome Archaeological research institutes Research institutes established in 1954 Research institutes in Italy Science and technology in Finland