There are many hundreds of

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

s in the Italian city of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. The landscapes of the

Gulf of Naples The Gulf of Naples (), also called the Bay of Naples, is a roughly 15-kilometer-wide (9.3 mi) gulf located along the south-western coast of Italy (province of Naples, Campania region). It opens to the west into the Mediterranean Sea. It i ...

have always encouraged this type of structure. Among them are the

Villa Donn'Anna Palazzo Donn'Anna is a historic residence in Naples, Italy. It sits prominently at water's edge at the beginning of the Posillipo coast, just west of the Mergellina boat harbor. The building is on the site of the so-called "Rocks of the Siren" and, ...

, built in the early 15th century and rebuilt in the 1640s, and the Villa Rosebery, which is one of the official residences of the

President of Italy The president of Italy, officially denoted as president of the Italian Republic ( it, Presidente della Repubblica Italiana) is the head of state of Italy. In that role, the president represents national unity, and guarantees that Italian poli ...

and is named after the

5th Earl of Rosebery Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, 1st Earl of Midlothian, (7 May 1847 – 21 May 1929) was a British Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from March 1894 to June 1895. Between the death of ...

, the former

British Prime Minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As moder ...

who bought it in 1897.

Roman origins

The Gulf of Naples was a particular locus of the development of

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...

s from roughly 50 BCE to 200 CE, where they were built as retreats and status symbols by senators and the like. Of the many villas of this era discovered in

Boscoreale Boscoreale (; "Royal Grove") is an Italian '' comune ''and town in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, with a population of 27,457 in 2011. Located in the Vesuvius National Park, under the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, it is known for the fru ...

, Naples, buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that also buried Pompeii, one now visible is the Villa Regina. That was a ''villa rustica'' – a rustic villa, as distinguished from a ''villa urbana'', which would have been grander. The work of John D'Arms and particularly his book ''Romans on the Bay of Naples'' have been important in understanding the history and nature of the Roman Villa. In the Gulf of Naples, well-preserved examples include the

Villa of the Papyri The Villa of the Papyri ( it, Villa dei Papiri, also known as ''Villa dei Pisoni'' and in early excavation records as the ''Villa Suburbana'') was an ancient Roman villa in Herculaneum, in what is now Ercolano, southern Italy. It is named afte ...

Villa Poppaea The Villa Poppaea is an ancient luxurious Roman seaside villa (''villa maritima'') located in Torre Annunziata between Naples and Sorrento, in Southern Italy. It is also called the Villa Oplontis or Oplontis Villa A. as it was situated in the ...

, and, at Stabiae, Villa Arianna A and B and Villa San Marco.

Examples

Villa Carafa of Belvedere The Villa Carafa of Belvedere, formerly known as ''Palazzo Vandeneynden'', and also known as ''Villa Belvedere'', is a monumental villa in Naples, located in the hilly Vomero district. The villa was commissioned by the powerful magnate, nobleman a ...

* * (Villa Rae) *

(originally La Villa Sirena) * * *

Villa Floridiana The Villa Floridiana is a monumental house located amid a large park in the Vomero quarter in Naples, southern Italy. It overlooks the western Neapolitan suburbs of Chiaia and Mergellina. History Construction of a villa at the site was begun by ...

Villa Giulia The Villa Giulia is a villa in Rome, Italy. It was built by Pope Julius III in 1551–1553 on what was then the edge of the city. Today it is publicly owned, and houses the Museo Nazionale Etrusco, a collection of Etruscan art and artifacts. ...

* * * * * *

Villa Pignatelli The Villa Pignatelli is a museum in Naples in southern Italy. The villa is located along the Riviera di Chiaia, the road bounding the north side of the Villa Comunale on the sea front between Mergellina and Piazza Vittoria. History and Decoratio ...

Poggio Reale (villa) The Poggio Reale villa or Villa Poggio Reale was an Italian Renaissance villa commissioned in 1487 by Alfonso II of Naples as a royal summer residence. The Italian phrase "poggio reale" translates to "royal hill" in English. The villa was design ...

* Villa Regina, Boscoreale * * Villa Rocca Matilde * * Villa Rosebery *

Gallery

Villa Pierce.jpg, Villa Rocca Matilde Villa Elisa Napoli.jpg, Villa Elisa, 45 Posillipo street Cellamare Nápoles 01.JPG, Villa Cellammare Napoli - Villa Rosebery2.jpg, Villa Rosebery VillaVialeVirgiliano14.jpg, Villa, n.14 Virgilio street Villa Lucia.jpg, Villa Lucia AerialVannucchi.jpg, The gardens of Villa Vannucchi Villa Spera 100 1614.jpg, Villa Spera Palazzodonnanna.jpg, Villa Donn'Anna VillaCamp.jpg, Villa Campolieto Terrazza di Villa Belvedere100 1295.jpg,

Villa Carafa - Vandeneynde garden.jpg, View from Villa Carafa

Roman origins

Examples

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading