Museo Boncompagni Ludovisi
Rome. In addition to the departments of painting, sculpture, and graphic art, this museum has a section dedicated to the decorative arts, architectural ornamentation, fashion, dress and design, for the historical period corresponding to that covered by existing departments, i.e., from the late 18th to the end of the 20th century. The opening of this section, and the related documentation centre, was the outcome of the testamentary wishes of Princess Blanceflor Boncompagni Ludovisi de Bilt, who left her estate to the Italian State. The villa housing the museum is an unusual example of eclectic architecture, devised in 1901 by the architect Giovan Battista Giovenale (1849-1934).
MUSEO IS LOCATED IN THE RESIDENTIAL AREA
It is located in the residential area built close to Rome’s Aurelian city walls, between Porta Pinciana and Porta Salaria, following the division into lots of the park of the Villa Ludovisi. Restored by the Environmental and Architectural Office of Lazio, and then by the City of Rome’s equivalent office, the museum houses a permanent display of the furnishings left by the Princess, and rotating displays of her collection of decorative art, dating from 1900-1980. This includes objects by Basile, Cadorin, Chini, Cambellotto, Casorati, and Leoncillo, and is a testimony to the variety in the applied arts in Italy from the Liberation to proto-rationalism. The fashion collection — managed by Bonizza Gordani Aragno — is a selection of clothes by the Fontana sisters, Gattinono, Sarli, Valentino, and Molineaux since the beginning of the 20th century, and other donations from the tailoring house Paradisi di Roma, and from the collections of Palma Bucarelli and Maria Vittoria Alfonsi. Fashions from 1900 to the modern day are presented, enhanced by videos and storyboards.
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