ABSTRACT
The public entrance to Villa Albani, located a short distance outside the walls of Rome, is on Via Salaria at number 92. The wall surrounding the Villa is covered in graffiti and topped by rusting iron railings. At the corner entrance the railings stop short, and the wall curves graciously inwards as if in welcome. Two large urns stand on either side of the travertine gateposts decorated with elegant herm-like figures and surmounted by opposing sphinxes. They are the guardians of the Villa and of its secrets. Inside the tall, iron gates are three paths. The path to the left follows a row of low buildings, some with carved horses' heads above empty windows. Old and dilapidated, the plaster is flaking and falling, revealing the brickwork underneath. At the end of this axis stands a tall obelisk, white, nearly translucent, tapering and rounded. The path to the right is quickly absorbed and disappears into the shrubbery. The central axis lined by tall ilexes commands the scene. Straight ahead in an opening, a circle is edged with statues in varying degrees of repair, some with limbs barely held together by rusting wire, others having already crumbled or fallen. In the centre is a single column standing on a pediment, its plinth and capital collaged from somewhere else. At its top is the Albani symbol: three Chigi hills and a starburst. The path ends at one of three large, shallow fountains with reluctant sprays of water. Beyond the sunken parterre on a far lawn can be seen the Temple of Jupiter.
