Cultural heritage, the Fountain of the Dragons at Villa Mondragone has been restored

2023-07-07 14:07:40

Next Monday, July 10, the skilful restoration of the Fountain of the Dragons of Villa Mondragone, in Monte Porzio Catone, will be inaugurated. The fountain of the largest of the Tusculan villas is a seventeenth-century marvel, built at the behest of Cardinal Scipione Borghese between 1618 and 1620 as the visual and symbolic fulcrum of the Terrazzone, a vast belvedere that overlooked and still overlooks Rome today. At 5 pm, the new course of the Fontana dei Draghi will be inaugurated by the Rector of the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Nathan Levialdi Ghiron, in the presence of the ministers of University and Research, Anna Maria Bernini, and of Health, Orazio Schillaci, former rector of ‘Tor Vergata’.

The restoration work on the Fontana dei Draghi was coordinated by the University of ‘Tor Vergata’ and carried out under the constant supervision of the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of the Metropolitan Area of ​​Rome and the Province of Rieti, concluded in December 2022. Made entirely of tuffaceous stone, called ‘spur of Tusculum’, typical of the Tuscolana area, by the stonemason Girolamo Feliciani, based on a design idea by Giovanni Fontana, subsequently taken up by Giovanni Vasanzio, the fountain, in its final , also saw the contribution of other artists of the period.

In this way, the possibility of enjoying one of the 17th century art masterpieces in a highly suggestive landscape context, rich in archaeological, artistic and architectural beauties, is given back to the community, “the restoration of the Fontana dei Draghi represents a further step in forward within a continuous process of recovery and enhancement of the Villa Mondragone Congress Center and Representation” explains Professor Marcella Pisani, president of the Centre. The works, directed by the architect Gisella Cestari of the technical office of the University, were carried out under the high supervision of the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the metropolitan area of ​​Rome and for the Province of Rieti, Angela Catalano and Francesca Dalmale. The works were completed in December 2022.