Villa des Vergers | |
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Former names | Villa Belmonte |
General information | |
Status | Completed |
Type | Villa |
Architectural style | Neoclassical |
Address | Via Monte L'Abate 32 |
Town or city | San Lorenzo in Correggiano, Rimini, Emilia-Romagna |
Country | Italy |
Coordinates | 44°0′45.88″N 12°34′54.17″E / 44.0127444°N 12.5817139°E |
Named for | Adolphe Noël des Vergers |
Year(s) built | 17th century |
Renovated | 1879 |
Technical details | |
Size | 4,000 square metres (43,000 sq ft) |
Grounds | 104,500 square metres (1,125,000 sq ft) |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | |
Website | |
villadesvergers |
The Villa des Vergers is a countryside villa in San Lorenzo in Correggiano, near Rimini, in the region of Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. [1] [2] Dating to the 17th century, [1] [3] the villa was purchased by Adolphe Noël des Vergers in 1843, [1] [4] and substantially redesigned in 1879 by Arthur-Stanislas Diet. [3] Between 1938 and 1946, it was owned by Mario Ruspoli, 2nd Prince of Poggio Suasa, [1] who employed Pietro Porcinai to design the villa's gardens. [1] [5] The villa was used as a military headquarters by German forces in the Second World War, [3] [6] and has since been owned by a series of local entrepreneurs. [3] [7]
Since 2021, the villa has hosted civil wedding ceremonies. [8] [9] It is also used for corporate events. [10]
17th-century records attest to a villa in San Lorenzo in Correggiano owned by the Riminese Diotallevi family. [1] [3] In later years, the villa was owned by the Belmonte family, [4] whose final owner, Giovan Maria Belmonti Stivivi, [3] hosted Napoleon Bonaparte at the villa. [1]
In 1843, the villa was purchased by Adolphe Noël des Vergers. [1] [4] The des Vergers family entertained notable guests at the villa. [3] With the death of Hèlene Noël des Vergers in 1934, the family left the villa. [3] In 1938, collections from the library were accommodated in the purpose-built Sala des Vergers in Rimini's Biblioteca Civica Gambalunga. [11]
Between 1938 and 1946, the villa was owned by Mario Ruspoli, 2nd Prince of Poggio Suasa. [1] During the Second World War, the building was used by the occupying Germans as a military headquarters. [3] [6] On two occasions, partisans attacked officers and couriers on their way to the villa. [6] Some structures in the villa also sheltered local residents. [3] The villa was a military target in the Battle of Coriano, and was captured by the Royal 22nd Regiment on the afternoon of 15 September 1944. [12]
In 1946, the villa was acquired by Attilio Castiglioni; following his death in 1988, it was bought by Luigi Annibali and Piero Reggini. [3] In 1994, [1] the villa was purchased by Andrea Angelo Facchi, [1] [7] a local entrepreneur. [7] In the early 2000s, the villa was the start of an annual nativity procession in San Lorenzo. [13] [14] In 2007, the villa's degradation, especially that of its chapel and garden, prompted an appeal for public intervention by Riccionese writer Rosita Copioli . In its response, Rimini's municipal government emphasised the difficulty of public intervention given the villa's private ownership. [15]
Following Facchi's death in 2012, the villa entered into the property of his heirs. [1] In 2016, the villa was advertised for sale at a reported price of €12 million. [1]
In September 2020, Antonio Pappalardo , an Italian anti-vaccination politician and former carabinieri general, announced a symposium at the villa to plan the arrest of Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy, and form a new national government. [16] [17]
In 2021, Rimini's municipal government approved the hosting of civil wedding ceremonies in the villa. [8] [9] The venue hire cost was initially fixed at €2,500. [18]
The villa measures almost 4,000 square metres (43,000 sq ft), [1] [19] with 48 rooms, including 20 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. [1] It was substantially redesigned in 1879 by Arthur-Stanislas Diet using Istrian stone, and also features the work of Georges Chedanne . [3] Designed in neoclassical style, [3] the villa is among the few local examples of Napoleon III's architecture. [20] It includes a chapel. [1] [15]
The property's total size is 104,500 square metres (1,125,000 sq ft), of which 74,600 square metres (803,000 sq ft) are gardens. [21] The park surrounding the villa was designed by Pietro Porcinai, [1] [5] during Ruspoli's ownership of the villa. [21] [15] Two-thirds of the park is wooded, particularly the perimeter. [3] The garden is oriented to the south, with a rectangular pool at its end and flanked by holm oaks. [21] It contains sculptures with mythological themes. [22]
The property also includes a 1,700-square-metre (18,000 sq ft) farm, [1] [19] as well as a citrus orchard, two guardhouses on either side of the entrance gate, [3] three greenhouses, and a belvedere. [19]
The first regulatory protections for the villa were adopted by Gaston des Vergers in 1913. [1] [15] In 1993, a local residents' association campaigned for the protections to be extended to the surrounding hill. [15] On 3 January 1996, the villa was designated a site of considerable landscape interest ( Italian: notevole interesse paesaggistico), subjecting it to particular regulations under the Superintendency of Ravenna and the Ministry of Cultural Heritage. [19]
The villa features in the music video for Lo specchio dell’anima, a 2023 song by Gianni Drudi . [23]