The Villa
In 1826 Ferdinando Acton commissioned the Neapolitan architect Pietro Valente to design the villa while the furnishings and the garden were entrusted to Guglielmo Bechi. When Acton died in 1841, the house was sold to the banker Carl Mayer von Rothschild whose monogram CR can still be seen on the first floor.
The villa was used as an oratory by the Jewish community until 1867 when it was sold to Prince Diego Aragona Pignatelli Cortes who had picturesque historicist buildings constructed in the park such as the Swiss chalet and the neo-gothic tower. The roof of the portico, the alterations to the interior and the furniture were commissioned by his nephew Diego who moved to the villa with his wife in 1897.
The magnificent furniture was made especially for the rooms of the apartment and reinterpreted styles that had been fashionable in the last three decades of the nineteenth century. In 1952 Princess Rosina left the villa to the state so that “no object could be removed to become part of other collections”.
The Historical Apartment
Neoclassical verandah
The large parterre overlooking the garden and looking out towards the sea was once an area that joined the rooms of the ground floor to the surrounding park.
The iron and glass roof, added in the late nineteenth century, and the French windows betwe...
Library
Used as a “billiard room” by the Acton family, it was the only room where smoking was allowed – it was also known as a fumoir – during the period when the house belonged to the Pignatelli family.
It is linked to the small ell...
Pompeian room
Designed by Gugliemo Bechi, the small semicircular bathroom was used by noble guests at parties and balls to reorder their hair.
The architecture and stylistic features are taken from the ornamental scheme of the Fourth Pompeian style (reign of Nero...
Ballroom
Situated in the left wing of the ground floor, the large rectangular ballroom looks out onto six balconies.
The room is adorned with mirrors set in carved wooden frames with plant motifs. The mirrors were made in Naples in the nineteenth century. Th...
Blue room
(Louis XV room) The elegant reception room and drawing room – where the princess used to welcome her guests– still preserves the original furnishings of the Pignatelli family.
The walls covered in damask fabric have photographs of Rosina...
Dining room
Used only for gala dinners, the dining room is functional and has a restrained, sober elegance.
Panels of boiserie run along the walls with cabinets displaying vases of various origin while there are large Chinese vases dating to the late nineteenth...
Red room
(Louis XIV room) This is the only room that still preserves the original decoration by the Neapolitan architect Gaetano Genovese who was commissioned by Carl Mayer von Rothschild in the 1850s. The stucco and grisailles are similar to the decoration c...
Green room
The room links the dining room to the Library. It looks like a residence from between the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century.
The decoration of the ceiling is similar to that of the ballroom and the Blue Room and the earthenware tile fl...
Vestibule
The vestibule is the anteroom leading into the main apartment. The entrance is via a splendid door made of white Carrara marble from a glass-sided hall preceded by a marble staircase. It has a circular plan for which Valente was inspired by the Roton...
Imperial drawing room
To the left of the vestibule there is a smaller room furnished with four large mirrors and wallpaper with a velvety appearance and gold decoration, probably made in Naples. Four glass display cases along the walls contain Limoges dishes, miniatures a...
The first floor
The first floor was reserved for the private apartment of Princess Pignatelli. Due to the work carried out in the early 1960s to convert the building into a museum, few traces remain of the original decoration of Guglielmo Bechi, except for the boudo...
The Garden
Designed by Guglielmo Bechi, the garden provides a spectacular introduction to the residence and is considered a gem of nineteenth century Neapolitan architecture.
The initial design of the avenues was extremely similar to the current layout, creating an oval around the villa with a fountain and a path that dissects the lawn diagonally. The layout is inspired by a version of the “English garden” with a wide variety of plants arranged to create a ‘small wood’; the small buildings scattered around the park create a more picturesque atmosphere in accordance with romantic taste.
As a result of the numerous changes over the years, not all of them legitimate, the garden now has a mixture of plants and species that is not entirely harmonious, although some of the original plants and trees still exist.
