Bologna Villa delle Rose 1
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Villa delle Rose 1 Photos
About Villa delle Rose 1
At the bottom of this staircase are antique statues of two lions closely guarding the entrance to the rustic Villa delle Rose sitting atop Monte Franco.
The staircase, which from via Saragozza hikes up to the small porch preceding the villa, was the origin of the name of Villa la Scala.
This villa, an old summer residence mentioned in 18th-century land registers as Casino Cella, from the name of its first owners, was built in the second half of the 1800s in the place of a previous countryside residence belonging to the Spannocchi family who were originally from Siena.
1800 the property went to the Pepoli family and subsequently to many other families. In 1907 the Armandi Avogli family assigned the architect Dante Trebbi the restoration of the villa and its garden.
In 1916, the last owner, Nerina Armandi de’ Piccoli – to whom the stone tablet is dedicated to – bequeathed the villa to the Municipality of Bologna for the purposes that it would become a Modern Art Gallery in the late 1920′s.
At the front of the villa are superb examples of Beech trees while at the back here are evergreen trees: Spanish Fir, Yew, Cyprus, Magnolia, Pine, Cedar and a row of beautiful Horse-chestnut trees.
During WWII the villa was used as a hospital, while the museum continued to be operative until 1961, and in 1975 it was transferred to the Fiera District.
After a long closure followed by restoration the main building was renovated and turned into a temporary facility for the Modern Art Gallery as a location for exhibitions of contemporary art. Due to its flower garden the villa took the name of Villa delle Rose.
Several sculptures from the early 20th century by Romagnoli, Baruzzi, Montaguti, Legnani, Drei and Boni still exist.
This building next to it was probably used as a servant’s residence or may be just more elaborate entertaining rooms. From its state of disrepair this was obviously excluded from restoration work and it’s not known when or if it will ever be repaired. You can still see marble lined staircases inside.
This pile of marble blocks is not anything artistic. In fact, they seem to be either memorial or headstones because there are names inscribed on them, for example one here reads Massimiliano Angelelli 1775-1853.
Due to various rock stumps around the gardens it’s quite possible the blocks were mounted on them at one time as some sort of homage since there does not appear to be a cemetery in the park.