Villa Grazioli

Villa Grazioli is a villa in Frascati, Italy, now in Grottaferrata communal territory. It is an Italian National monument.

According to a memorial stone within the building, on which is inscribed a "brief" by Pope Gregory XIII, Villa Grazioli was completed in 1580 by Cardinal Carafa to designs by architect Domenico Fontana. After Cardinal Carafa's death in 1582, the Villa became owned by Cardinal Ottavio Acquaviva of Aragon and his brother. After Cardinal Acquaviva's death in 1612, the Villa and its furnishings were purchased by Scipione Borghese, who sold it in 1613 to Cardinal Taverna. One year later, Prince Michele Peretti purchased the Villa, who lived in it with his brother Cardinal Alessandro Damasconi Peretti Montalto, whose name appears in the engravings by Matteo Greuter of Frascati's landscape. The Villa then passed by inheritance to the Savelli family and in 1683 passed to Olivo or Livio Odescalchi, Duke of Bracciano and Ceri . In 1713 Baldassare Erba inherited the title and the property; between 1723 and 1743, or possibly in 1776, he had the building thoroughly restructured in both form and size. Although it has been claimed that Alphonse Donatien Francois, the Marquis de Sade, was witness to this renewal, this could not have happened between 1723 and 1743, as de Sade was born in 1740; the date of 1766 does, however, align with de Sade's time in Italy.

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