Villa Lysis
| Villa Lysis | |
|---|---|
| File:Villa Lysis (Tiburzi).jpg Villa Lysis in 2004 after the restoration | |
  location within Italy | |
| Former names | La Gloriette |
| Alternative names | Villa Fersen |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Art Nouveau, Neoclassical |
| Location | Capri |
| Country | Italy |
| Elevation | about 200 m (656 ft) |
| Completed | 1905 |
| Inaugurated | 1905 |
| Client | Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 3 |
| Floor area | 450 m² |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Édouard Chimot |
.jpg){kind=link}
Villa Lysis — initially called La Gloriette, today also known as 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.
Architecturally, the house is mainly Art Nouveau with many 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. "Lysis" is a reference to the Socratic dialogue Lysis discussing friendship, and by our modern notion, homosexual love.
Fersen purchased the 12,000 m² land in 1904 for 15,000 lire and his friend, the architect Édouard Chimot, designed the building.[2] 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.
In the basement there is a room for smoking opium, also known as the Chinese room. 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 therefore decided to travel until the anger of the locals at him had subsided[3]), and after World War I he started using cocaine. He eventually committed suicide in 1923 by ingesting an overdose of cocaine.[4]
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 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.[5] However, as of March 2010, Villa Lysis has been put up for sale for €7,000,000[6], 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.[7]
References
- ^ http://www.pbase.com/adalberto_tiburzi/image/85800942
- ^ VILLA LYSIS: LA VILLA DI UN PERSONAGGIO INFELICE in CAPRIFOGLIO, anno XI - numero 1 - settembre 1999, http://www.capricultura.org/pagine/lysis.htm
- ^ Peyrefitte, Roger (1965). The Exile of Capri.
- ^ Aldrich, Robert (1993). The Seduction of the Mediterranean: Writing, Art and Homosexual Fantasy. pp. 129–130.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter| isbn=ignored (help) - ^ "Festival di fotografia a Villa Lysis" (in Italian). Fondazione Capri. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
- ^ http://www.property.livinginitaly.co.uk/index.php?action=listingview&listingID=1699
- ^ http://www.luxuryitalianproperty.it/en/villa_pool_capri/luxury_italian_property_for_sale.php
- Jana Revedin, "Lysis", Wieser, Klagenfurt 2011, ISBN 978-3-85129-906-9
External links
