Casino del Bel Respiro: history
The Casino del Bel Respiro was commissioned by Pope Innocent X (born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj) in 1644, to be built in the grounds of Villa Pamphilj. It is also known as the ‘Casino dell'Algardi’ after the architect-sculptor from Bologna who was in charge of its construction.
The Casino del Bel Respiro, built along via Aurelia Antica next to Rome’s arched aqueduct, was designed to be a lavish country residence for the Pamphilj princes. Its gardens also date back to the 17th century and their appearance has remained unaltered since the 18th century, when they were redesigned with French-style curved borders. The Casino’s façades are richly decorated with reliefs, friezes and statues.
The building has a Palladian layout: the central, double-height drawing room is decorated with four 17th-century sculptures inside its alcoves and a number of paintings by Paolo Anesi over the doors. The vaults in the two rooms to the side feature simple stucco decorations, while the vaulted ceiling in the room overlooking the Secret Garden boasts an exquisite fresco framed by decorative moulding.
The lower floor is home to a vestibule and a round-shaped room with magnificent stuccos along its vaulted ceiling and classic sculptures around its walls. This room opens up into two elegant galleries : the ‘Room of Roman Customs’, whose vaulted ceiling features refined stucco decorations, and the ‘Hercules Room’.
The vestibule leads to the ‘Secret Garden’, where evergreen hedgerows recall the shape of the Pamphilj family heraldry : the dove and the fleur-de-lis. The ‘Venus’ fountain stands in the centre of this garden, and there are two fish ponds along its shortest sides – one of which is unusually home to a bald cypress tree.
In 1849, the villa bore witness to brutal clashes between French troops and Garibaldi’s men, as the latter defended the Roman Republic. Villa Pamphilj, which in the meantime had passed to the Doria family, was later purchased by the Municipality of Rome, with most of the grounds being transformed into the city’s largest public park (with the exception of the Casino del Bel Respiro building).
Today, the Casino del Bel Respiro (or, ‘Casino dell’Algardi’) is used by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, as representative seat of the Italian Government during visits by Heads of State and Government.