Her salon was frequented by Karl Brullov, Alexander Ivanov, Bertel Thorvaldsen, Gaetano Donizetti, Stendhal, and Sir Walter Scott.

After the Liberation of Rome in 1944, the Italian government sequestrated the property, and it was placed under the Allied Control Commission.

When the British Embassy at Rome's Porta Pia was blown up by members of the clandestine militant Zionist group Irgun on 31 October 1946, the Italian government made the Villa Wolkonsky available to the British government to use as a temporary embassy and residence.

When the new British Embassy was reopened at its original location in 1971, the offices moved back to Porta Pia, and the villa reverted to its role as Her Majesty's Ambassador's Residence.

The villa itself is frequently used for seminars and workshops, and it is also rented out to appropriate academic or commercial organisations for major events.