Four Months in Rome, Part Sixteen

Friday, November 12, 2010:

Cheri and I have Friday afternoons “off” and we actually got out of the studio about an hour after class ended. We thought we’d do something fun. We’ve had a week or two of rainy days, but today was a beautiful day. One of our students thought we should check out the Villa Torlonia, where the House of Owls is located. The name comes from the recurrent use of “owls” as inspiration on the decorative scheme of the building. 

House of Owls

This museum contains all sorts of stained glass pieces and the drawings made before the stained glass pieces were created. The “House” was built in 1839 as a Swiss cabin, then modified and added on to as the resident of Prince Torlonia in the early 20^th century. The stained glass windows are mostly from 1910 to 1925. It was really fun seeing such “modern” works of art when we normally go to places that are centuries old.

front of Casino Nobile

back of Casino Nobile

Another museum on the grounds of the Villa is the Casino Nobile, built in 1802 (virtually “new” by Roman standards)! This home was built for the banker, Giovanni Torlonia. It was rented to Benito Mussolini from 1925-1943 to be used as his state residence. Three or four shelters (anti-gas and anti air-raid) were built on the property during his time living here. The bunkers were built in a large underground Jewish catacomb that was discovered in 1919 in the NW area of the grounds. The house was occupied by the Allied High Command, from 1944 to 1947. The Villa was purchased by the Municipality of Rome in 1977 and opened to the public one year later. Restoration began in the 1990s and is almost complete. There are several other buildings on the grounds.

Ballroom; also used as a dining room

Alessandro's Room; used as a dining room

Bedroom used by Alessandro and by Mussolini

Bedroom ceiling

Villa pond

The park-like grounds were fun to walk around on. One of the air-raid bunkers was built directly under the pond on the property, but it was never used because they decided the pond would be used as a target. From what we could tell, it was free to enter the Villa grounds and enjoy the “park”. We had to show our ticket every time we entered a building.

Saturday, November 13, 2010:

Cheri, Brenda and I were up early this morning to take the train to Spoleto, Italy for the day. We walked around the town, checked out the Archeological Museum, walked through the picturesque historical part of town, went to the “Duomo”, La Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta (Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary), and viewed the Albornoz Fortress (residence of Pope Innocent VI in the 1360s, became a maximum security prison around 1860, and has been a museum since 1992). 

Archeological Museum

Archeological Museum

Theatre at museum, they still hold concerts here 

view of Spoleto from the below the Albornoz Fortress 

“Duomo”, La Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta

Albornoz Fortress

We didn't have time to walk  up to the Albornoz Fortress. It was noon and time to call Primo and Deanie Angeli, who live in the area. They picked us up and we went to a restaurant for lunch, then drove to their home for dessert. They have a beautiful home up in the foothills outside of Spoleto. While sitting on their deck, four hand-gliders floated by on their way to land in a neighboring field. 

Angeli's home

Primo and Deanie on their deck

We had a great time together, and before we knew it, we had already missed one train to head back to Rome. We had open tickets, so it wasn’t a problem, but we had to get moving to make it to the train station for the next train. Primo couldn’t let us go home empty handed. He signed one of his Olympic posters for each of us with a personal message. Right before we left, he grabbed three of his “Boudin Sourdough Bread” posters for us saying they make great kitchen posters. Now, we have the task of getting these posters home in mint condition!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010:

It was faculty fun night tonight! We try to do something together once a month. We went to the Van Gogh exhibit at the Vittorio Complex. It was a very nice exhibit, showing many of his earlier works, plus many paintings by Millet, Pissarro, Cézanne, Gauguin and Seurat.

I can hardly believe it, but my kids arrive on Saturday! Amanda and Brandon, Rachel and my niece, Sarah, will stay a week before returning home. Valerie and Ian are not able to come because Valerie is entering her last trimester and was advised by her doctor not to travel this far. It will be great to see everyone and have a “Roman” Thanksgiving. It also means my stay here in Rome will soon come to an end. I feel like I have so much to do before I can go home, but I’m ready to head back to the States. As you can tell, my posts have gotten farther apart as the pace here has picked up to get all the projects done and graded. I’m sure I will post at least one more time before I head home. The kids and I are spending two days in Venice.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!