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Villa Rosebery is a monumental complex and an example of neoclassical style in Naples. It is located in the area of Posillipo and it was built by the Austrian officer Joseph de Thurn, who bought from 1801 some plots of land on Posillipo in order to have a country residence built, which was surrounded by a garden, vine yards and orchards.
It was given to the Italian State in 1932 and so became the summer residence of the Royal Family. It has been since 1957 one of the three official residences of the President of the Italian Republic. The building has a surface of about 66.000 mq, and it develops on a decline which faces the sea with a gap of 40 meters. The buildings “Casina a mare” and “Piccola foresteria” are in the lower part of the park, while on the upper part there are “Grande foresteria” and the Bourbon Palace. This is the oldest building and it is composed of many staterooms.

THE PARK

The buildings of Villa Rosebery are surrounded by a park with alleys, secular pines, monumental cypresses and hedges with plants of the Mediterranean scrub and palms. There are many species of succulent plants such as American agaves, aloes and exotic specimens like Philodendron selloum and Strelitzia nicolai, which have particular white flowers. The park becomes an English style garden around the Bourbon Palace and because of this there are flowerbeds, scrubs of camelias and strawberry trees with secular holm oaks. A small neoclassical temple is on the background which gives a romantic taste to the park.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)