Villa Mills

[1] In the sixteenth century, the area where Villa Mills was located was essentially made up of gardens and vineyards, part of the famous Orti Farnesiani on the Palatine Hill created by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese.

[10] Although evidence suggests the villa was built by Mills, as the thistles in the decoration indicate, a reference to its Scottish origin,[11] the building reveals much more of Smith's mixed style, with Gothic and Italian elements linked to other Indians in a central rotunda flanked by two octagonal towers with a loggia with arches at the bottom.

However, being built over the ruins of the ancient imperial palaces of the Palatine, the villa incorporated in its private property precious evidence of the early stages of the Roman Empire.

Although excavations had been carried out at the site in the mid-18th century,[3] at some point the research and preservation of knowledge of the earlier ages of the city became a priority through much deeper exploration than the simple summary inspections conducted until then.

The decision to demolish the villa therefore became inevitable, an operation carried out under the direction of the archaeologist Alfonso Bartoli, who was also responsible for the excavations of the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill and who claimed that the new discoveries would amply justify the destruction of the magnificent building.