Villa Di Negro Rosazza "dello Scoglietto" or "lo Scoglietto" is a villa located in the quarter of San Teodoro in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, Northwestern

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 ...

. It was built in 1565 for the Doge Ambrogio Di Negro o for his son Orazio, in a coastal area that used to be outside of the city walls. The villa passed to the Durazzo family, who commissioned a renovation in the neoclassical style at the end of the 18th century. In the 19th century, the construction of the railway Turin-Genoa led to the destruction of the garden at the sea side, while the hill side remained largely untouched. The villa and the park are now owned by the Municipality of Genoa and destined to public use. The villa is located near the Dinegro station of the Metro of Genoa.

History

The villa was commissioned in the 16th century by Doge Ambrogio Di Negro or his son Orazio in an area known as "Fassolo" - at the time outside of the city walls - where the Di Negro family owned a villa already since the beginning of the 15th century. Passed first to the Maniero family, then to the Durazzo family, the villa was completely remodeled in 1787 by the genoese architect Emanuele Andrea Tagliafichi for Gian Luca Durazzo, when it received the current neoclassical appearance. In the 19th century the villa hosted famous guests, including

Caroline of Brunswick Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (Caroline Amelia Elizabeth; 17 May 1768 – 7 August 1821) was Queen of the United Kingdom and Hanover from 29 January 1820 until her death in 1821, being the estranged wife of King George IV. She was Pr ...

, wife of

George IV of the United Kingdom George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

(1815),

Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a m ...

(1836),

Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly , ; born Honoré Balzac;Jean-Louis Dega, La vie prodigieuse de Bernard-François Balssa, père d'Honoré de Balzac : Aux sources historiques de La Comédie humaine, Rodez, Subervie, 1998, 665 p. 20 May 179 ...

and

Lorenzo Pareto Lorenzo Nicolò Pareto (Genoa, 6 December 1800 – Genoa, 19 June 1865) was an Italian geologist and statesman. As a man of science, he is considered one of the fathers of modern geology. A member of the Italian National Academy of Sciences, h ...

. Passed to the Rolla Rosazza family, it was later acquired by the Municipality of Genoa. The original setting has radically changed as a result of the urbanization of the area and, in particular, of the construction of the Turin-Genoa railway in the 19th century, which led to the loss of the garden at the sea side. The garden at the hill side was renovated in 2015 and is now a public park.

Description

Architecture

The original appearance of the 16th-century villa, testified by an 18th-century engraving, featured a facade with loggias, architectural structures and large statues attributed to

Giovanni Andrea Ansaldo Giovanni Andrea Ansaldo (1584 – August 18, 1638) was an Italian painter active mainly in Genoa. Life Ansaldo was born in Voltri, now part of the ''comune'' of Genoa, the son of a merchant. He trained under Orazio Cambiasi and possibly collabo ...

.{{cite book, author=Federico Alizeri, title=Guida artistica per la città di Genova, year=1846, page=1233 After the 18th century remodeling, the facade presents neoclassical structures with sculptures by Nicolò Stefano Traverso. Internally, the irregular layout shows an atypical distribution of the spaces.

Decoration

The internal decoration preserves original 16th century elements, such as the portals, the frescoes in the piano nobile showing the achievements of Doge Ambrogio Di Negro against the

Corsicans The Corsicans ( Corsican, Italian and Ligurian: ''Corsi''; French: ''Corses'') are a Romance ethnic group. They are native to Corsica, a Mediterranean island and a territorial collectivity of France. Origin The island was populated since ...

, and the

grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

paintings in the other rooms. Some 18th century elements are also visible, such as stucco decorations.

Garden

The park of the villa, designed by the architect Tagliafichi in the 18th century, extended from the sea to the hill. While the front part is now lost, a monumental

nymphaeum A ''nymphaeum'' or ''nymphaion'' ( grc, νυμφαῖον), in ancient Greece and Rome, was a monument consecrated to the nymphs, especially those of springs. These monuments were originally natural grottoes, which tradition assigned as habit ...

remains at the level of the main building, as well as the part at the back of the villa. The original distribution is documented by

Martin-Pierre Gauthier Martin-Pierre Gauthier (1790–1855) was a French architect. 1790 births 1855 deaths People from Troyes 19th-century French architects Recipients of the Legion of Honour Members of the Académie des beaux-arts Prix de Rome for architec ...

References

Bibliography

* Lauro Magnani (1978). Villa Rosazza (lo Scoglietto), Guide di Genova n. 69. Genova: Sagep Editrice. * ''Catalogo delle Ville Genovesi'', Italia Nostra, Genova 1967, p. 64-71. * ''Guida d'Italia Liguria'', Touring Club Italiano, 2009, p. 173. * ''Le Ville del Genovesato'', SAGEP, 2008. * Federico Alizeri, ''Guida artistica per la città di Genova'', Genova 1846. * Martin-Pierre Gauthier, ''Les plus beaux edifices de la ville de Genes'', Paris, 1832,

Gallery

File:Dinegro-inaugurazione ferrovia 1854.jpg, La Ferrovia Torino-Genova e Villa Di Negro Rosazza (a sin.) File:Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Genova, 1964) - BEIC 6362199.jpg, Villa Di Negro Rosazza. Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Genova, 1964) File:Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Genova, 1963) - BEIC 6366002.jpg, Villa Di Negro Rosazza. Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Genova, 1964) File:Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Genova, 1963) - BEIC 6339359.jpg, Villa Di Negro Rosazza. Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Genova, 1964) File:Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Genova, 1963) - BEIC 6339360.jpg, Villa Di Negro Rosazza. Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Genova, 1964) File:Villa Rosazza old 2.png, Villa Di Negro Rosazza File:Villa Rosazza old 3.png, Villa Di Negro Rosazza File:Villa Rosazza old 4.png, Villa Di Negro Rosazza File:Villa Rosazza old 1.png, Villa Di Negro Rosazza

External links

* http://www.comune.genova.it/content/villa-rosazza Buildings and structures in Genoa Villas in Liguria Residential buildings completed in the 16th century