Buildings

The American Academy in Rome occupies ten buildings and eleven acres of gardens atop the Janiculum, the highest hill within the walls of Rome. Among the buildings are the McKim, Mead & White building, known as the Academy building, the Villa Aurelia and the Casa Rustica. The boundaries of the property are marked by several notable monuments. To the west is Porta San Pancrazio, once the Porta Aurelia of the city wall built in 1642-44 by Pope Urban VIII, and to the east is the majestic fountain of the Acqua Paola, built in 1612 by Pope Paul V. The Villa Aurelia itself was built on top of the walls erected in 280 by the Roman emperor Aurelian. The Academy building was constructed above an aqueduct of Trajan, which can still be accessed through the building's basement. The northern part of the Academy property originally was owned by the Farnese family, while the southern end was the property of the Barberini and Colonna di Sciarra families.

The Academy building is one of the only structures outside North America designed by McKim, Mead & White. Charles Follen McKim was among the founders of the Academy and was President of the Academy when the building was first conceived. The building, which was constructed in two years, was inspired by Renaissance architecture and has a five-bay facade, a piano nobile or noble floor and an interior courtyard with a Paul Manship fountain in its center. Opened in 1914, it contains most of the living and working quarters for the Rome Prize Fellows, the Library, gallery and administrative offices. In addition, there are public rooms for many of the Academy's events.

The Villa Aurelia, originally built for Cardinal Girolamo Farnese around 1650, is the setting for conferences, public receptions, concerts and other programs. It also includes several apartments for the Academy's Residents and Visiting Artists and Scholars and is surrounded by a beautiful 3.8 acre garden. Following the death of Cardinal Farnese in 1668, the property was bought by Count Alessandro Savorelli, who undertook an extensive program of restoration and new construction. Much of the decorative work visible today dates from this time. In 1849 Giuseppe Garibaldi selected the Villa Aurelia as his headquarters for the defense of the Roman Republic against the French Army, and after only one month, the French artillery had caused extensive damage. Count Savorelli was able to restore the Villa before his death, and it was then sold to the Monte di Pietà, from which it was bought in 1881 by Mrs. Clara Jessup Heyland, an American heiress from Philadelphia. In 1909 Mrs. Heyland died, bequeathing the Villa and its grounds to the American Academy in Rome.

Casa Rustica, situated in the Academy's Mercedes and Sid R. Bass Garden, was built on the site of a small villa, or casino, constructed at the end of the sixteenth century by Cardinal Innocenzo Malvasia. On April 14, 1611, the Accademia dei Lincei held a banquet at the Casino Malvasia in honor of Galileo Galilei and his recently-developed strumento, the telescope. Like the Villa Aurelia, the Casino Malvasia was destroyed by the French Army in 1849. Rebuilt as a much more rustic structure, it was a tavern until 1920, when the Academy purchased it. Today, Casa Rustica houses several studios and studies used by members of the Academy community.

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