Pediment of the aedicula with symbols of Fortune
The pediment from the Mausoleum of Claudia Semne on Via Appia, dating from the Trajan era, entered the Torlonia collection with two others decorated with the attributes of Spes and Venus, and with a head of Claudia Semne herself that is now in the Villa Albani.
They were moved from Palazzo Torlonia in Piazza Venezia to the Villa during rebuilding work (1830–40) and embedded in the walls of a building that was demolished in 1908–09 due to widening of Via Nomentana.
They all disappeared from view at an unknown date and it was only recently that the Fortune was refound in the rooms beneath the Theatre.
The attributes of the goddess have been sculpted: two crossed cornucopias bound by a ribbon, with a globe at the centre crossed by a band that symbolises the celestial and terrestrial sphere.
On the left we see a helm and a "patera", on the right a wheel and an urceus (a single-handed jug).
Masterpieces of the hall
The hall
On the left of the entrance there is a simple room lined with "marble" in imitation of "coral breccia", with coffered ceilings decorated entirely with splendid, partially gilded stuccoes of putti, volutes and rosettes.
The room contains several sculptures from the Torlonia Collection that fortunately have remained in the Villa.
