The history of the complex

The Grotta, the Serra and the Torre Moresca at Villa Torlonia, built between 1839 and 1840 to a design by Giuseppe Jappelli, must be considered as a set of buildings conceived and constructed in relation to each other, with a unitary project which looks in particular to the picturesque designs of English gardens.

In fact, before being called to Rome by Alessandro Torlonia, Giuseppe Jappelli had worked on Villa Saonara and Villa Treves near Padua, incorporating most of the elements considered constitutive of the English garden: the grotto, the Gothic ruin, the Roman mausoleum, the temple, the hermitage and the Turkish pavilion.