The Tusculan villas: a guide to the villas of the Castelli Romani

On the hills between Frascati and Monte Porzio there is a group of villas that shaped the history of the Castelli Romani: the Tusculan villas. Monte Porzio Catone has three of them, and one is Villa Mondragone.

What are the Tusculan villas?

They are the Renaissance residences built on the hills around ancient Tusculum, between Frascati, Monte Porzio Catone and Grottaferrata, by the nobility close to the popes. They were summer homes and places of display, with terraced gardens, nymphaeums and water features. The name recalls Tusculum, the Latin city on the hill.

How many are there?

It depends how you count. The Regional Institute for the Tusculan Villas (IRVIT), which promotes them, lists ten:

• Frascati: Villa Aldobrandini, Villa Falconieri, Villa Lancellotti, Villa Sora, Villa Torlonia and Villa Tuscolana.
• Grottaferrata: Villa Grazioli and Villa Muti.
• Monte Porzio Catone: Villa Mondragone and Villa Parisi.

Wikipedia counts twelve, because it adds Villa Sciarra in Frascati and Villa Vecchia in Monte Porzio. The sources do not explain why those two are left out of the list of ten.

The three villas of Monte Porzio Catone

• Villa Mondragone. The largest: built from 1573 to host Gregory XIII, now owned by Tor Vergata University and, together with Rome, the official seat of IRVIT. The story of the popes who used it is in Villa Mondragone and the popes.
• Villa Vecchia. The town’s first Tusculan villa; Wikipedia notes that its main buildings were destroyed in the Second World War and that today’s are reconstructions.
• Villa Parisi. Begun in 1604-1605 by Monsignor Ferdinando Taverna, it passed to Cardinal Scipione Borghese in 1615 (1614 according to another source) and was the summer residence of Pauline Bonaparte, wife of Camillo Borghese. In 1896 it was sold to Saverio Parisi. Privately owned, it appears on the IRVIT list. During the Second World War it sheltered people who had fled their homes, and they stayed until 1951.

What happened in the Second World War?

According to Wikipedia, the war destroyed the main buildings of Villa Sciarra, Villa Torlonia and Villa Vecchia. At Torlonia the park kept its original layout and is now a public garden. The same source does not say how much of the buildings was rebuilt, or how faithfully.

The villas and UNESCO

On 1 June 2006 the villas were put forward for UNESCO’s World Heritage Tentative List under the title “Villas of the Papal Nobility” (reference 351). The ten villas in the bid are those of Frascati, Monte Porzio Catone and Grottaferrata, without Sciarra and Vecchia. Note that the tentative list is only the first step: it is not UNESCO recognition, and the sources report no outcome.

Can you visit them?

It depends on the villa. In short, and always checking the official sources:

• the park of Villa Torlonia in Frascati is a public garden;
• Villa Mondragone opens for events and special openings: information on the Tor Vergata website;
• several villas are private or have other uses (a school or a hotel, for example) and cannot be visited freely.

The programme of openings is on the IRVIT website, irvit.it. The information we found dates from 2021 and may have changed: always check before you go.

In short

• What they are: Renaissance villas of the Castelli Romani, between Frascati, Monte Porzio Catone and Grottaferrata.
• How many: ten according to IRVIT, twelve according to Wikipedia.
• In Monte Porzio Catone: Villa Mondragone, Villa Parisi and, among the twelve, Villa Vecchia.
• UNESCO: on the tentative list since 1 June 2006, not inscribed.
• To understand the place: the history of Monte Porzio Catone and Monte Porzio and Rome.