The suburban complex of Villa Redenta is located north of Spoleto, in an area transformed by urban expansion after World War II, easily reachable from the city center and immersed in a splendid park, currently public. It was the Orsini family who had the residence built in the 17th century, on a Roman building, some remains of which are still preserved. The property then passed to the Locatelli of Cesena, to whom the current appearance of the villa is owed (probably under the direction of architect Pietro Ferrari) with adjustments between the 18th century and the early 19th century, when the Redenta became part of the Marignoli estate, who modified the grounds, giving the greenery its current look. Temporarily ceded to Pope Leo XII, upon returning to Marignoli ownership, it acquired the name “Redenta”. Currently, the villa is owned by the Province of Perugia, with the farm used as a hostel and the stables adapted as a multifunctional hall. The main structure consists of the rectangular block overlooking the road, extended on the sides by the boundary wall formed by the annexes. The centrality of the facade is highlighted by the entrance door, an arch topped by a balcony on stone corbels, of the main facade over two floors. On the opposite facade, facing the park and developed over three floors, greater importance is given by the presence of two square towers at the corners and a three-arch portico with rusticated masonry on the ground floor. At the top, the palace is adorned with an important projecting corbelled cornice, a decorative element also repeated on the two towers. Inside, notable are the atrium decorated with figures of Napoleonic soldiers and marble portraits of the Popes hosted in the villa, and the rooms with frescoed and decorated coffered ceilings. On the sides of the villa, the complex is completed both by the horseshoe-shaped 18th-century building housing the chapel and overlooking the secret garden, and, on the opposite side, by the late Rococo style “coffee house”, followed by the Doric temple, the farm, and the stables. Axiality and symmetry are the distinctive characteristics of the park. Along the villa’s axis are both the large basin with the central obelisk and, further back, the neoclassical temple. It is around the basin that the vast grassy parterre opens, framed by boxwood and laurel hedges. Next to the temple lies the holm oak park, where you can find the rocky fountain, the small lake, the sundial, the icehouse, an oval basin, and Roman terracotta paving.
Information on Villa Redenta
,
06049 Spoleto (Perugia)
0743 224936
info@villaredenta.com
Source: MIBACT
