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Villino Volterra in Ariccia: the mathematician’s secret garden in the Castelli Romani
Villino Volterra, located in the municipality of Ariccia, is one of the best-preserved summer residences of the Roman upper-middle class of the early 20th century. It was commissioned between 1904 and 1907 by mathematician Vito Volterra, one of the founders and the first president of Italy’s National Research Council (CNR). The project was entrusted to Giulio Magni, an architect working in Rome and the Castelli Romani. The original drawings and correspondence between the client, the architect, and the building firm still exist today. The property has remained in the family’s possession to this day.
The building: three floors, high ceilings, quality materials
The main building is a massive three-story structure with large windows, spacious rooms and high ceilings. Designed according to modern criteria for the time, it has remained substantially unchanged from the original plan. A comparison with the original drawings from 1904 shows that neither the villa nor its gardens have undergone significant alterations.
The park: larger than it looks
The Italian-style gardens surrounding the villa are a rare surviving example from the early 20th century, containing centuries-old trees and archaeological remains scattered along the paths. Its main characteristic is the optical effect: it appears much larger than it actually is, thanks to the perspective of the trees, the masking of boundaries, and a system of paths that divides the space into many distinct areas.
