Il Duce lived here for 18 years, but now the public can visit. Designed in 1802 by Giuseppe Valadier, the villa was taken over by Benito Mussolini in 1925. The dictator paid a nominal rent of one lira a year to the descendants of Prince Giovanni Torlonia who owned the villa. Allied soldiers occupied it for 3 years, beginning in 1944. After that, it fell into disrepair.
The villa today contains an art museum dedicated to the Roman school of 20th-century art. The Allied soldiers left two large murals -- one of a banjo player, the other of a dancing girl, both of which have been preserved as part of the villa's heritage. Among the curiosities preserved are Mussolini's bed and a "Thinking Room" upstairs. In addition, there's an impressive collection of 18th-century neoclassical sculpture by Antonio Canova and Bartolomeo Cavaceppi.
The villa houses a museum of the Holocaust, dedicated to the 2,000 Jews who were deported from Rome during the German occupation (1943-44). Fearing an allied attack, Mussolini had a bomb shelter constructed beneath the building with two-inch-thick steel doors and filtered air intakes. This, too, is open to visitors.
Via Nomentana -- This legendary boulevard of elegant villas, embassies, and parkland begins at Porta Pia, built to the designs of Michelangelo. It's being visited by more foreigners with the opening of Mussolini's villa.
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