The 17th-century manor of Cardinal Giulio Rospigliosi

Villa Rospigliosi, a summer sanctuary, once belonged to Cardinal Giulio Rospigliosi, who would later ascend to the papal throne. Originally hailing from Lombardy, the Rospigliosi family fled persecution by Barbarossa and settled in Pistoia. In the 17th century, they constructed Villa Rospigliosi, a manor, as their summer retreat. The design of this villa was traditionally attributed to the greatest architect of the era, Gianlorenzo Bernini, though the construction task was taken by his faithful student Mattia de' Rossi.

Cardinal Giulio Rospigliosi never lived in the villa because he died in the same year that the construction work began. The work was supervised by his brother Camillo. The villa served as a summer residence for the Rospigliosi family until the early 20th century. Following its sale to the Schweiger family, the property suffered long years of neglect, giving it a melancholy and decadent appearance witnessed in the writings of Harold Acton.

Sold in the 1990s, the property underwent a full restoration. Today, the villa is used for conferences and ceremonies. The structure features a central square body and two side wings that protrude like truncated towers. Its facade is animated by stripes of pietra serena, and the grounds include a vast park of about 29 hectares, largely cultivated with olive trees and enclosed by a wall.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons