In the News: Of Italian Interest

Italians to See Mussolini's Secret Bunkers

(These are just some excerpts from the article by Ariel David, Associated Press Writer. For the full story, click the link above.)

ROME - The 19th-century villa of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini opens to the public for the first time Wednesday, allowing visitors to see his elegant frescoes and lavish chandeliers — and the hidden bunkers and anti-gas chamber he could hide out in.

Mussolini, who lived lavishly and entertained guests at the Rome residence, built the underground chambers to protect himself and his family from possible air raids and gas attacks.

A $6 million restoration was undertaken after decades of decay during which the villa's neoclassic treasures were shunned as a tainted reminder of the fascist period.

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Visits require advanced booking and take place in small guided groups.

Mussolini lived at Villa Torlonia in 1925-1943 with his wife and children, delighting in tennis games and horseback rides on the grounds that surround the house, built by one of Rome's aristocratic families.

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Two underground structures, built in great secrecy, cover more than 2,000 square feet and include an anti-gas chamber with air ducts and showers for decontamination, all protected by a double set of airtight doors.

Mussolini dug the bunker 23 feet deep, burying a 10-foot thick concrete box with bare cylindrical corridors and multiple escape routes.

While restoring the chamber, archeologists discovered it was built over a second-century Christian tomb, where they found three bodies. The area was a common burial ground in Roman times, housing mainly the sprawling underground corridors of one of six Jewish catacombs in the city.

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Above Villa Torlonia's World War II relics stand elegant stuccos and polished marbles, a ballroom with crystal chandeliers and private chambers with tromp l'oeil frescoes that give the illusion of being in an ancient Egyptian temple or a Gothic cathedral.

Architects and painters Giuseppe Valadier and Giovan Battista Caretti built the villa in the first half of the 19th century for the Torlonia family. It is part of an extravagant complex that includes a frescoed reproduction of an underground Etruscan tomb, an exotic garden, a theater and a Swiss chalet in Liberty Style.

More recent are the life-size drawings of exotic dancers left by U.S. soldiers who set up headquarters there in 1944-1947.

Future plans for Villa Torlonia's grounds include opening the ancient Jewish catacombs and building a museum dedicated to Holocaust victims right across from Mussolini's residence.