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Villa Larocca is a historic villa in the centre of Bari, now owned by the University of Bari. It was built in 1878 and then called “Villa Maria”, featuring the Central Europe architectural style quite popular in those times and very different from that of the typical Apulian country abodes.
Featuring two floors, this villa has a neoclassical facade, with an entrance loggia and a lookout tower.

The Villa Larocca overlooks a park of some 2.4 acres, full of tall trees and decorated with a large fountain, a XIX century hemicycle colonnade, several Aleppo pines, holm oaks, palm trees, Peruvian pepper, climbing roses, wisteria and mock privets, while the rest of the original shrubs have been lost.

Located on the very university campus, the noble abode houses the library of the Apulian Academy of Sciences and the offices of the South-East section of the “Georgofili” Academy.

Recently, after a long period of neglect, the park and its artefacts have been eventually restored. In the meantime, starting in 2008, a rose garden has been created on the back of the villa, where the vegetable garden used to be: the new green facility was based on the idea of Vittorio Marzi, a retired professor of Agriculture, the president of the south-east section of the “Georgofili” Academy, the supervisor of Villa Larocca, and curator of the park.
A great contribution came from the generous donation of Maria Dessì, a supporting member of the Apulian Academy of Sciences.

Today, there are some 350 varieties of roses in this garden. It has been open to the public since 2012 and during the greatest flowering period (May-June), guided tours, seminars and educational events are usually organized.

Photos taken from the Internet

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)