History
The villa was originally owned by a Russian princess, Zenaǐde Wolkonsky (born Zenaǐde Alexandrovna Belosselsky-Belozersky), who made her home there in the 1830s. Her salon was frequented by Karl Brullov, Alexander Ivanov, Bertel Thorvaldsen, Gaetano Donizetti, Stendhal, and Sir Walter Scott. Nikolai Gogol wrote much of Dead Souls at the villa. Subsequently, it passed through various owners until it was sold to the German government in 1920, becoming the German embassy and ambassador's residence.
After the Liberation of Rome in 1944, the Italian government sequestrated the property, and it was placed under the Allied Control Commission. For a short time, it was occupied by the Swiss legation and then the Italian Red Cross. 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. The United Kingdom purchased the villa in 1951.
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. On the same grounds are outbuildings containing apartments for senior embassy officials.
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. The extensive grounds are also the venue for the annual Queen's Birthday Party. They are the jewel of the villa, still containing many features originally introduced by Princess Wolkonsky. A recent tree and plant census listed around 200 different species.
The Quirinal Palace is a historic building in Rome, Italy, one of the three current official residences of the president of the Italian Republic, together with Villa Rosebery in Naples and the Tenuta di Castelporziano, an estate on the outskirts of Rome, some 25 km from the centre of the city. It is located on the Quirinal Hill, the highest of the seven hills of Rome in an area colloquially called Monte Cavallo. It has served as the residence for thirty popes, four kings of Italy and twelve presidents of the Italian Republic.
Villa Torlonia is a name of several country retreats of the princely family of Torlonia on the outskirts of Rome and in Frascati (Lazio) including:
Paula Maria Bonaparte Leclerc Borghese, better known as Pauline Bonaparte, was an imperial French princess, the first sovereign Duchess of Guastalla, and the princess consort of Sulmona and Rossano. She was the sixth child of Letizia Ramolino and Carlo Buonaparte, Corsica's representative to the court of King Louis XVI of France. Her elder brother, Napoleon, was the first emperor of the French. She married Charles Leclerc, a French general, a union ended by his death in 1802. Later, she married Camillo Borghese, 6th Prince of Sulmona. Her only child, Dermide Leclerc, born from her first marriage, died in childhood. She was the only Bonaparte sibling to visit Napoleon in exile on his principality, Elba.
Winfield House is an English townhouse in Regent's Park, central London and the official residence of the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. The grounds are 12 acres (4.9 ha), the second-largest private garden in London after that of Buckingham Palace.
Casino di Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi is a historical building in Rione Ludovisi, Rome, Italy. The building is located in the former domain Villa Ludovisi.
The Capture of Rome on 20 September 1870 was the final event of the unification of Italy (Risorgimento), marking both the final defeat of the Papal States under Pope Pius IX and the unification of the Italian Peninsula under the Kingdom of Italy.
The Chigi Palace is a palace and former noble residence in Rome which is the seat of the Council of Ministers and the official residence of the Prime Minister of Italy. Since 22 October 2022, the tenant of the Chigi Palace has been Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. It is located in the Piazza Colonna, next to Palazzo Montecitorio, seat of the Chamber of Deputies.
The Villa Rosebery is one of the three official residences of the President of Italy. The villa grounds cover 6.6 hectares.
Porta San Giovanni is a gate in the Aurelian Wall of Rome, Italy, named after the nearby Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran.
Holy See–United Kingdom relations are foreign relations between the Holy See and the United Kingdom.
Palazzo Margherita, formerly Palazzo Piombino, is a palazzo on Via Veneto in Rome. The usual name references Queen Margherita of Savoy, who lived there from 1900 to 1926.
The Porta Nomentana was one of the gates in the Aurelian Walls of Rome, Italy. It is located along viale del Policlinico, around 70 m east of Porta Pia. It is now blocked and merely a boundary wall for the British Embassy.
Princess Zinaida Aleksandrovna Volkonskaya, was a Russian writer, poet, singer, composer, salonist and lady in waiting. She was an important figure in 19th-century Russian cultural life. She performed in Paris and London as an amateur opera singer.
The Appian Way Regional Park is the second-largest urban park of Europe, after Losiny Ostrov National Park in Moscow. It is a protected area of around 4580 hectares, established by the Italian region of Latium. It falls primarily within the territory of Rome but parts also extend into the neighbouring towns of Ciampino and Marino.
The Embassy of the United Kingdom in Rome is the chief diplomatic mission of the United Kingdom in Italy, San Marino and the Holy See. It is located on Via XX Settembre in Municipio I. The current British Ambassador to Italy is Edward Llewellyn. The British Embassy to the Holy See is located in a separate building within the same compound.
Augusta Amélie Maximilienne Jacqueline Bonaparte was a French-Italian Napoleonic princess.
Salario is the 4th quarter of Rome (Italy), identified with the initials Q. IV.
The Embassy of the Philippines in Rome is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines to the Italian Republic. First opened in 1947, it is currently located along the Via Aurelia in the quarter (quartiere) of Aurelio, part of Municipio XIII in western Rome, just west of Vatican City.
The Embassy of the Philippines to the Holy See is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines to the Holy See, the central government of the Roman Catholic Church. Opened in 1957, it is located along Via Paolo VI in the rione of Borgo, part of Municipio I in central Rome along the border between Italy and Vatican City, and across from St. Peter's Square.
