 main index © Jeff Matthews 2002-2012 entry May 2009 This is page 1 of the series, Stalking the lost villas of Naples. to: page
2 Introduction A great number of named villas were built in Naples from the 1500s through the early 1900s. They were purposely built outside the crowded urban nucleus of the city and usually named after a single head of family, often a nobleman. Isolation and titles not being what they used to be, those exclusive villas have almost all been encroached upon by urbanization and subdivision. There are a few exceptions such as the Villa Roseberry on the Posillipo coast; it has resisted civilization only because the entire property was appropriated by the Italian state to be a presidential residence. (Other exceptions would be the Villa Pignatelli and the Villa Floridiana; the former is a museum, the latter a public park and museum. As well, such buildings as the villa Aselmeyer—technically called the Aselmeyer castle—so stand out because of the architecture that they have become monuments in their own right and are easy to spot.) Some of the villas have simply been demolished, but quite a few still exist; they are “lost” in the sense that they are now surrounded by the “background noise” of overurbanization. This series deals with a number of the "lost" ones. So far, there are ten items in this series; the first 5 are on this page: villa Belvedere (below), then villa Doria d’Angri, villa
Haas, villa Majo and villa Patrizi on
page 2: villa Ricciardi,
villa Leonetti,
villa Winspeare and
family, Pioggio
dei Mari; link to the
Villa Craven. The villa was built in the late 1600s by a Flemish merchant, cited in sources as “Ferdinando Vandeyeden” (Also cited as Vandeneynden. Both versions are probably mistakes or at least variations of the common Flemish name, van der Heyden.) The architect was a monk from Bologne, Brother Bonaventura Presti—architect, carpenter, engineer and all-round Baroque factotum in Naples in the service of archbishop, Ascanio Filomarino. Presti also helped design the main port facilities in Naples and contributed to the Spanish remake of the San Martino monastery. The villa Belvedere was built in the years 1671-1673. The original owner’s daughter
married into the Carafa
family and the property thus took the name
“Villa Carafa di Belvedere.” (Although “Belvedere”
generically means “panorama” or “scenic outlook” and
is so used quite often in Italian, in this case the
word is actually part of the family name and defines
the particular branch of the family. The Carafas were
one of the oldest noble families in Naples with
hundreds of feudal properties throughout southern
Italy in the middle ages. The name is attached to
other sites in the city, as well, including the Palazzo Carafa di
Belvedere on the Riviera di Chiaia.) —Villa Doria d’Angri (original entry Dec. 2007)
Once such structure is the Villa Doria d’Angri, built for prince Marcantonio Doria between 1831 and 1836. If you stand at the seaside a bit past the Mergellina harbor and look above the road as it starts its route up the coast, the villa should jump out at you, even though it is no longer the solitary structure it must have been when it was built. The architects were Bartolomeo Grasso, Antonio Francesconi and Guglielmo Bechi, who worked with a large team of artists and decorators to construct this grand neo-classical mansion replete with Pompeian atrium and fountains, all with a stunning view overlooking the bay. Some of the premises has fallen victim to the “death of a thousand cuts” over the years—large outdoor vases, statuary, and furnishings have disappeared, for example, as have the painted tapestries from the villa’s “Chinese room.” The villa is known for having been the residence of German composer, Richard Wagner, when he was in Naples in 1880 as a guest of the English family that had acquired the villa. The premises have been acquired by the former University Naval Institute of Naples--now "Parthenope" University--and serve as an academic and cultural venue. (The
villa
is
not to be confused with the Palazzo
Doria
d’Angri, site of the historic proclamation by
Garibaldi annexing the Kingdom of Naples to the
nation of Italy. Same name, same family, different
building.) —Villa Haas
The
original
property was 38,000 square meters—about nine and
one-half acres—on the southern slope of the Vomero,almost
in the shadow of the gigantic Sant' Elmo fortress just
uphill and to the east. It had a few other
lovely, distant villas for company (including
the villa
Belvedere—see
top
of this page), but in those days the Vomero was not
developed at all (see Urban
Expansion of Vomero) and there was plenty of
room for rich elbows. After more than a century of
urbanization, the villa is still prominent (because
of its height—the upper stories are not original)
but stands totally flanked and surrounded by
buildings almost as tall; it is on via Cimarosa
directly across the street from the Vomero station
of the main cable car (which opened in the 1920s).
The entrance to the villa (in the shadows at the
lower right-hand corner of the photo) leads through
to the back of the property and one sees how those
original 9 1/2 acres have been
developed. It has all been subdivided and built
on, although if you follow the path to the very
back, you can still look out and see the bay.
—Villa Patrizi The southern
façade overlooks a garden/terrace. Photo is
taken from what used to be part of the original property.
The north
side of Villa Patrizi fronting on via Manzoni. A
Sources say that
the original portal of the building (still intact)
is by the Neapoltian architect Ferdinado Sanfelice
(1675-1748), who is said to have contributed, as
well, to the small "villa theater" on the premises.
That theater was long a cultural venue in Naples,
indeed even well beyond WWII but, sadly, was
destroyed by fire in 1998. It was then sold, and
although there has been some hope of restoration,
that has not yet come to pass. The extent of
urbanization of the area is evident in the bottom
two photos; yet, in spite of that and all the
sell-offs and subdivisions over the years, the
building is still quite impressive; it has a courtyard and
three floors and still has a garden terrace on the
south and some trees on the west. |
One
such “lost” building is the Villa Belvedere, located
on what was once the bucolic southern slope of the
Vomero hill, overlooking the sea. You can find it if
you know where to look; some hint comes from the name
“Belvedere.” There is a 
The
entire length of the 
The
complete name of this villa
The
complete name is villa Genzano-Majo (also Maio), a
villa in back of and below the giant 
Few
villas in Naples are as buried by the "background
noise" of urbanization as this one. Villa Patrizi is
located at the eastern end of current-day via
Manzoni, the long road that runs along the top of
the Posillipo hill. The nucleus of the villa was
built around 1740 and was part of the early Bourbon
wave of villa construction at the time. The building
is now at a busy confluence of three major roads and
is surrounded on all sides except the south by
buildings put up since WW2. Nevertheless, it stands
out and sits high enough to have a good view of the
bay to the south.
The
property originally belonged to marquis Francesco
Palomba di Pescarola. The current owners tell me
that the propery originally (i.e., in the mid-1700s)
extended down the southern slope of the hill almost
to the sea at Mergellina, which means that it was,
indeed, vast. The property was acquired in the
latter half of the 1700s by Pietro Patrizi, who was
the