Villa Grazioli rises on top of a hill, in a nearly hidden environment,
the land sloping down to the Tyrrenian Sea, whose shiny surface can be seen in
the distance.
The identity of the founder seems very obscure. Early engravings mention a
Cardinal Acquaviva of Peretti Montalto and set the foundation of the building at
the end of the 16th Century. From a memorial stone, on which is engraved a
“brief” by Pope Gregorius XIII, we understand that Cardinal Carafa
commissioned the construction of the Villa and that it was completed by 1580.
At the death of Cardinal Carafa in 1582, the property of the Villa goes jointly,
perhaps by inheritance or purchases, to Cardinal Ottavio Acquaviva of Aragon, of
the House of Atri, and his brother.
When Cardinal Acquaviva dies in 1612, the Villa is purchased completely
furnished by Scipione Borghese, who sells it in 1613 to Cardinal Taverna. A year
later, Prince Michele Peretti purchases the Villa and sets up residence along
with his brother Cardinal Alessandro Damasconi Peretti Montalto, whose name
appears in the engravings by Greuter of Frascati’s landscape.
The Villa then passes through inheritance to the Savelli family and, in 1683
passes to Olivo or Livio Odescalchi, Duke of Bracciano and Ceri, the reason why
the Villa was then known as Villa Bracciano. In 1713 the successor to the title
and the property is Baldassare Erba, married to a Borghese.
In 1776, Baldassare Erba has the old 15th Century building thoroughly
restructured, in form and size. A Witness to this important renewing is a
traveller that was hosted by the Villa at that time, Alphonse Donatien Francois,
Marquis de Sade.
The Collegio Propaganda Fide purchases the Villa in 1833 and sells it 10 years
later to the Duke Pio Grazioli whose family keeps the property for more than a
century. During World War II, in between 1943 and 1944, bombs destroy the whole
area surrounding Frascati, consequently the Villa is occupied by squatters and
then left in a state of total desolation.
In 1987 the Company Villa Grazioli purchases the building and starts a thorough
restoration of the architecture, the decorations and the park surrounding the
Villa, which has been the subject of a National competition for the redesigning
of the garden.