Villa Torlonia (Frascati)

The gardens have long been famous, and after bombing in World War II are now all that survive, mostly as a public park.

In 1571 Beatrice Cenci bought the villa, which passed in 1596 to Cardinal Tolomeo Galli, Secretary of State under pope Gregory XIII, who commissioned the first enlargement.

The waterworks used to feed the fountains of the Villa and the spectacular Water Theatre with a water flight of steps, date to 1607-25,[1] designed and directed by Girolamo Fontana, Carlo Maderno and Flaminio Ponzio and completed at the base with a large retaining wall with niches and fountains.

During the Napoleonic Age, the Torlonias profited by the Holy See's troubles and amassed a fortune by speculative transactions.

The villa's grand Baroque terraced gardens and fountains provided subjects for the American painter John Singer Sargent and others.