Villa Lysis: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
m →Construction and early years: grammar |
||
| (76 intermediate revisions by 32 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Short description|Building in Capri, Italy}} |
|||
{{Infobox building |
{{Infobox building |
||
| |
|name = ''Villa Lysis'' |
||
|former_names = ''La Gloriette'' |
|||
| native_building_name = |
|||
| |
|alternate_names = ''Villa Fersen'' |
||
| |
|image = Villa Lysis 2635.jpg |
||
| |
|alt = |
||
| |
|caption = |
||
| |
|map_type = |
||
| |
|map_alt = |
||
| |
|map_caption = |
||
| ⚫ | |||
| map_caption = location within Italy |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| |
|ren_cost = |
||
| |
|client = [[Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen]] |
||
| |
|landlord = |
||
| |
|location = [[Capri]] |
||
| |
|address = |
||
| |
|location_town = |
||
| |
|location_country = [[Italy]] |
||
|coordinates = {{coord|40|33|33|N|14|15|35|E|display=inline,title}} |
|||
| address = |
|||
| |
|start_date = |
||
|completion_date = 1905 |
|||
| location_country = [[Italy]] |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
| iso_region = |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
| coordinates_display = yes |
|||
| |
|height = |
||
| |
|floor_count = 3 |
||
| |
|floor_area = 450 m² |
||
| |
|main_contractor = |
||
| ⚫ | |||
| inauguration_date = 1905 |
|||
|owner = Municipality of Capri |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| destruction_date = |
|||
| height = |
|||
| diameter = |
|||
| other_dimensions = |
|||
| floor_count = 3 |
|||
| floor_area = 450 m² |
|||
| main_contractor = |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
| architecture_firm = |
|||
| structural_engineer = |
|||
| services_engineer = |
|||
| civil_engineer = |
|||
| other_designers = |
|||
| quantity_surveyor = |
|||
| awards = |
|||
| ren_architect = |
|||
| ren_firm = |
|||
| ren_str_engineer = |
|||
| ren_serv_engineer = |
|||
| ren_civ_engineer = |
|||
| ren_oth_designers = |
|||
| ren_qty_surveyor = |
|||
| ren_awards = |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
| references = |
|||
}} |
}} |
||
'''Villa Lysis''' (initially, '''La Gloriette'''; today, '''Villa Fersen''') is a villa on [[Capri]] built by industrialist and poet [[Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen]] in 1905. "Dedicated to the youth of love" (''dédiée à la jeunesse d'amour''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pbase.com/adalberto_tiburzi/image/85800942|title=Villa Lysis|access-date=1 November 2013}}</ref>), it was Fersen's self-chosen exile from [[France]] after a sex scandal involving Parisian schoolboys and nude (or nearly nude) ''[[tableaux vivants]]''. |
|||
==History== |
|||
| ⚫ | Architecturally, the house is mainly [[Art Nouveau]] with |
||
=== Construction and early years === |
|||
Fersen purchased the {{convert|12000|sqm}} plot in 1904 for 15,000 [[Italian lira|lire]] from the Salvia family.<ref name="book1"></ref> The villa's designer is unknown; for many years it was believed that French artist [[Edouard Chimot]] had designed the structure (due to his involvement in a trial following an accident at the construction site); however, a recent analysis of letters from [[Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen]] to Chimot shows that Chimot did not perform that design.<ref>Jean-Claude Féray & Raimondo Biffi – Ce que révèlent les lettres (1904–1908) de Jacques d’Adelswärd à Édouard Chimot. Inverses 2013. n° 13, pp. 88–103.</ref> The garden around the villa was designed by Mimi Ruggiero, who planted the laurel and myrtle in honor of [[Venus]]<ref name="book1"></ref> The house was described in detail by [[Roger Peyrefitte]] in his novel ''[[The Exile of Capri]]'' (1959), a fictionalized account of Adelswärd-Fersen's years on Capri together with his lover Nino Cesarini. |
|||
[[File:Plüschow, Wilhelm von (1852-1930) - n. 5107 - Et in Arcadia ego, p. 18; A la jeunesse d'amour, p. 101.jpg|thumb|left|Garden sculpture at Villa Lysis]] |
|||
| ⚫ | Fersen became addicted to [[opium]] on a trip to Ceylon during construction of the house (Peyrefitte relates that a worker was killed during construction, and Fersen decided to travel until the local anger at him had subsided<ref>{{cite book|title=The Exile of Capri|first=Roger|last=Peyrefitte|author-link=Roger Peyrefitte|year=1965}}</ref>) and after [[World War I]] he started using [[cocaine]]. He eventually committed suicide in 1923 by ingesting an overdose of cocaine.<ref>{{cite book|first=Robert|last=Aldrich|author-link=Robert Aldrich (historian)|year=1993|title=The Seduction of the Mediterranean: Writing, Art and Homosexual Fantasy|url=https://archive.org/details/seductionofmedit0000aldr|url-access=registration|pages=[https://archive.org/details/seductionofmedit0000aldr/page/129 129–130]|isbn=978-0-415-09312-5}}</ref> After Fersen's death, the villa was left first to his sister Germaine, but with the [[usufruct]] left to Nino Cesarini. Cesarini sold the rights for 200,000 lire to Germaine and went to live in Rome. Germaine later gave the villa to her daughter, the Countess of Castelbianco. The Countess sold the villa to the millionaire Felix Mechoulan.<ref name="book1"></ref> |
||
=== Later years === |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
Maintenance and upkeep of the villa ceased after 1934, so the house was essentially in ruins by the 1980s. In 1989, the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage decreed the building a historical monument. The building was restored in the 1990s by the Lysis Funds Association (founded in 1986 by Neapolitan gallery owner Lucio Amelio) and the [[Capri (town)|Municipality of Capri]]. Tuscan architect [[Marcello Quiriconi]] and [[Jacques Fersen]] biographer [[Roger Peyrefitte]] supervised the work. All the stucco decorations were restored by Capri artist Antonio Senesi, grandson of the Senesi who decorated the villa during its original construction. In 1995, the Mechoulan family sold the villa to the lawyer Manfredonia, who resold it in 1998 to an American businessman of Italian descent Armando Campione, who never lived in the villa, dying in the hit-and-run accident in Tahiti in soon after purchase. The villa was finally purchased by the [[Capri (town)|Municipality of Capri]] in January 2001.<ref name="book1">{{Cite book |title=Villa Lysis and Jacques Fersen |last=Della Corte |first=Annachiara |publisher=Areablu Edizioni |year=2016 |isbn=978-88-98660-63-6 |location=Cava de'Tirreni |pages=35}}</ref> Since the restoration, Villa Lysis has been open to tourists. It may be rented for special occasions, and cultural events have taken place there, such as an exhibition of photographs by [[Wilhelm von Gloeden]] in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fondazionecapri.org/2009/05/25/festival-di-fotografia-a-villa-lysis/|title=Festival di fotografia a Villa Lysis|publisher=Fondazione Capri|language=it|access-date=1 April 2010}}</ref> In March 2010, the villa was put up for sale,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.property.livinginitaly.co.uk/index.php?action%3Dlistingview%26listingID%3D1699 |title=Property for Sale , , |access-date=March 31, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103024713/http://www.property.livinginitaly.co.uk/index.php?action=listingview&listingID=1699 |archive-date=November 3, 2013 }}</ref> listed as being {{convert|450|sqm}} with a {{convert|12000|sqm}} garden.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.luxuryitalianproperty.it/en/villa_pool_capri/luxury_italian_property_for_sale.php |title=√ Villa Fersen Lysis, Capri Luxury Villa with Pool for Sale in Capri, Naples |access-date=March 31, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923191652/http://www.luxuryitalianproperty.it/en/villa_pool_capri/luxury_italian_property_for_sale.php |archive-date=September 23, 2009 }}</ref> |
|||
==Architecture and fittings== |
|||
Fersen purchased the 12,000 m² land in 1904 for 15,000 [[Italian lira|lire]] and his friend, the architect [[Édouard Chimot]], designed the building.<ref>''VILLA LYSIS: LA VILLA DI UN PERSONAGGIO INFELICE '' in ''CAPRIFOGLIO'', anno XI - numero 1 - settembre 1999, http://www.capricultura.org/pagine/lysis.htm</ref> The house was described in detail by [[Roger Peyrefitte]] in his novel ''[[L'Exilé de Capri]]'' (1959), a fictionalized account of Adelswärd-Fersen's years on Capri together with his lover Nino Cesarini. In the atrium a marble stairway, with wrought iron balustrade, leads to the first floor where there are bedrooms with panoramic terraces, and a dining room. Fersen's large room was on the upper floor, facing East, with three windows overlooking the [[Gulf of Naples]] and three towards Mount Tiberio. (The ruins of ''[[Villa Jovis]]'', one of Tiberius' twelve villas on Capri, are a few hundred meters to the ESE of ''Villa Lysis''.) Nino also had a room on the upper floor. On the ground floor there is a lounge decorated with blue majolica and white ceramic, facing out over the Gulf of Naples. The large garden is connected to the villa by a flight of steps which leads to a portico with ionic columns. |
|||
| ⚫ | Architecturally, the house is mainly [[Art Nouveau]] with [[Neoclassical architecture|Neoclassical]] elements; the style might be called "Neoclassical decadent." The well-known [[Latin]] inscription above the front steps (''AMORI ET DOLORI SACRVM'', "a shrine to love and sorrow") highlights Fersen's [[Romanticism|Romantic]] view of himself. The inscription was placed on the northeastern corner of the wall by [[Nino Cesarini]]. <ref name="book1"></ref> "Lysis" is a reference to the [[Socratic dialogue]] ''[[Lysis (Plato)|Lysis]]'' discussing friendship, and by our modern notion, homosexual love. |
||
In the atrium, a marble stairway, with wrought iron balustrade, leads to the first floor where there are bedrooms with panoramic terraces, and a dining room. Fersen's large room was on the upper floor, facing East, with three windows overlooking the [[Gulf of Naples]] and three towards Mount Tiberio. Nino also had a room on the upper floor. On the ground floor there is a lounge decorated with blue majolica and white ceramic, facing out over the Gulf of Naples. In the basement, there is a room for smoking [[opium]], also known as the Chinese room. |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
==Grounds== |
|||
After Fersen's death, the villa was given first to Nino Cesarini, who sold it to Fersen's sister, Germaine, who gave it to her daughter, the Countess of Castelbianco. |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
The large garden is connected to the villa by a flight of steps which leads to a portico with ionic columns. The ruins of [[Villa Jovis]], one of [[Tiberius]]' twelve villas on Capri, are a few hundred metres to the east-southeast of Villa Lysis. |
|||
The house had the last maintenance work done in 1934, and therefore was essentially in ruins by the 1980s. In 1985, ''Villa Lysis'' passed into possession of the Italian state, but it was only in the 1990s that the building was restored by Lysis Funds Association (founded in 1986) and the Municipality of Capri. The Tuscan architect Marcello Quiriconi supervised the work. |
|||
Since the restoration, ''Villa Lysis'' has been open to tourists. It is also available to rent for parties and dinners and cultural events have taken place there, e.g. an exhibition of photographs by [[Wilhelm von Gloeden]] in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fondazionecapri.org/2009/05/25/festival-di-fotografia-a-villa-lysis/|title=Festival di fotografia a Villa Lysis|publisher= Fondazione Capri|language=Italian|accessdate=2010-04-01}}</ref> However, as of March 2010, ''Villa Lysis'' has been put up for sale for €7,000,000<ref>http://www.property.livinginitaly.co.uk/index.php?action=listingview&listingID=1699</ref>, so it might become private property again if a buyer can be found. The house is listed as having a size of 450 m² with a 12,000 m² garden.<ref>http://www.luxuryitalianproperty.it/en/villa_pool_capri/luxury_italian_property_for_sale.php</ref> |
|||
==References== |
==References== |
||
{{Reflist}} |
|||
{{reflist}} |
|||
* Jana Revedin, "Lysis", Wieser, Klagenfurt 2011, ISBN 978-3-85129-906-9 |
|||
==External links== |
==External links== |
||
{{Commons |
{{Commons category|Villa Lysis (Capri)}} |
||
*[http://www.capritourism.com/en/article?article1_id=3519 Capri Tourism: Villa Lysis] |
*[http://www.capritourism.com/en/article?article1_id=3519 Capri Tourism: Villa Lysis] |
||
*[http://www.pbase.com/adalberto_tiburzi/capri_villa_lysis_ Pictures of Villa Lysis today] |
*[http://www.pbase.com/adalberto_tiburzi/capri_villa_lysis_ Pictures of Villa Lysis today] |
||
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130928024808/http://sit.provincia.napoli.it/MDScheda.asp?key=5167 MuseoDiffuso: Villa Lysis] {{in lang|it}} |
|||
{{Capri topics}} |
{{Capri topics}} |
||
[[Category:Capri]] |
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Capri, Campania]] |
||
[[Category:Villas in |
[[Category:Villas in Campania|Lysis]] |
||
[[Category: |
[[Category:Houses completed in 1905]] |
||
[[Category:Art Nouveau |
[[Category:Art Nouveau architecture in Italy]] |
||
[[Category:Neoclassical architecture in |
[[Category:Neoclassical architecture in Campania]] |
||
[[Category:Art Nouveau houses]] |
|||
[[Category:1905 establishments in Italy]] |
|||
[[it:Villa Lysis]] |
|||
Latest revision as of 19:47, 30 October 2023
| Villa Lysis | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Former names | La Gloriette |
| Alternative names | Villa Fersen |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Art Nouveau, Neoclassical |
| Location | Capri |
| Country | Italy |
| Coordinates | 40°33′33″N 14°15′35″E / 40.55917°N 14.25972°E |
| Elevation | about 200 m (656 ft) |
| Completed | 1905 |
| Renovated | 1990s |
| Client | Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen |
| Owner | Municipality of Capri |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 3 |
| Floor area | 450 m² |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Marcello Quiriconi (renovation) |
Villa Lysis (initially, La Gloriette; today, Villa Fersen) is a villa on Capri built by industrialist and poet Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen in 1905. "Dedicated to the youth of love" (dédiée à la jeunesse d'amour[1]), it was Fersen's self-chosen exile from France after a sex scandal involving Parisian schoolboys and nude (or nearly nude) tableaux vivants.
History
[edit]Construction and early years
[edit]Fersen purchased the 12,000 square metres (130,000 sq ft) plot in 1904 for 15,000 lire from the Salvia family.[2] The villa's designer is unknown; for many years it was believed that French artist Edouard Chimot had designed the structure (due to his involvement in a trial following an accident at the construction site); however, a recent analysis of letters from Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen to Chimot shows that Chimot did not perform that design.[3] The garden around the villa was designed by Mimi Ruggiero, who planted the laurel and myrtle in honor of Venus[2] The house was described in detail by Roger Peyrefitte in his novel The Exile of Capri (1959), a fictionalized account of Adelswärd-Fersen's years on Capri together with his lover Nino Cesarini.
_-_n._5107_-_Et_in_Arcadia_ego,_p._18;_A_la_jeunesse_d%27amour,_p._101.jpg)
Fersen became addicted to opium on a trip to Ceylon during construction of the house (Peyrefitte relates that a worker was killed during construction, and Fersen decided to travel until the local anger at him had subsided[4]) and after World War I he started using cocaine. He eventually committed suicide in 1923 by ingesting an overdose of cocaine.[5] After Fersen's death, the villa was left first to his sister Germaine, but with the usufruct left to Nino Cesarini. Cesarini sold the rights for 200,000 lire to Germaine and went to live in Rome. Germaine later gave the villa to her daughter, the Countess of Castelbianco. The Countess sold the villa to the millionaire Felix Mechoulan.[2]
Later years
[edit]Maintenance and upkeep of the villa ceased after 1934, so the house was essentially in ruins by the 1980s. In 1989, the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage decreed the building a historical monument. The building was restored in the 1990s by the Lysis Funds Association (founded in 1986 by Neapolitan gallery owner Lucio Amelio) and the Municipality of Capri. Tuscan architect Marcello Quiriconi and Jacques Fersen biographer Roger Peyrefitte supervised the work. All the stucco decorations were restored by Capri artist Antonio Senesi, grandson of the Senesi who decorated the villa during its original construction. In 1995, the Mechoulan family sold the villa to the lawyer Manfredonia, who resold it in 1998 to an American businessman of Italian descent Armando Campione, who never lived in the villa, dying in the hit-and-run accident in Tahiti in soon after purchase. The villa was finally purchased by the Municipality of Capri in January 2001.[2] Since the restoration, Villa Lysis has been open to tourists. It may be rented for special occasions, and cultural events have taken place there, such as an exhibition of photographs by Wilhelm von Gloeden in 2009.[6] In March 2010, the villa was put up for sale,[7] listed as being 450 square metres (4,800 sq ft) with a 12,000 square metres (130,000 sq ft) garden.[8]
Architecture and fittings
[edit]Architecturally, the house is mainly Art Nouveau with Neoclassical elements; the style might be called "Neoclassical decadent." The well-known Latin inscription above the front steps (AMORI ET DOLORI SACRVM, "a shrine to love and sorrow") highlights Fersen's Romantic view of himself. The inscription was placed on the northeastern corner of the wall by Nino Cesarini. [2] "Lysis" is a reference to the Socratic dialogue Lysis discussing friendship, and by our modern notion, homosexual love.
In the atrium, a marble stairway, with wrought iron balustrade, leads to the first floor where there are bedrooms with panoramic terraces, and a dining room. Fersen's large room was on the upper floor, facing East, with three windows overlooking the Gulf of Naples and three towards Mount Tiberio. Nino also had a room on the upper floor. On the ground floor there is a lounge decorated with blue majolica and white ceramic, facing out over the Gulf of Naples. In the basement, there is a room for smoking opium, also known as the Chinese room.
Grounds
[edit]
The large garden is connected to the villa by a flight of steps which leads to a portico with ionic columns. The ruins of Villa Jovis, one of Tiberius' twelve villas on Capri, are a few hundred metres to the east-southeast of Villa Lysis.
References
[edit]- ^ "Villa Lysis". Retrieved 1 November 2013.
- ^ a b c d e Della Corte, Annachiara (2016). Villa Lysis and Jacques Fersen. Cava de'Tirreni: Areablu Edizioni. p. 35. ISBN 978-88-98660-63-6.
- ^ Jean-Claude Féray & Raimondo Biffi – Ce que révèlent les lettres (1904–1908) de Jacques d’Adelswärd à Édouard Chimot. Inverses 2013. n° 13, pp. 88–103.
- ^ Peyrefitte, Roger (1965). The Exile of Capri.
- ^ Aldrich, Robert (1993). The Seduction of the Mediterranean: Writing, Art and Homosexual Fantasy. pp. 129–130. ISBN 978-0-415-09312-5.
- ^ "Festival di fotografia a Villa Lysis" (in Italian). Fondazione Capri. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
- ^ "Property for Sale , ,". Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2010.
- ^ "√ Villa Fersen Lysis, Capri Luxury Villa with Pool for Sale in Capri, Naples". Archived from the original on September 23, 2009. Retrieved March 31, 2010.
External links
[edit]