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Built in the mid-16th century for Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici, Villa Medici stands on the Pincio Hill overlooking Rome.
Designed by Bartolomeo Ammannati, it combines Renaissance order with the atmosphere of a suburban palace, surrounded by gardens and fragments of antiquity collected by the Medici family.
Since the 1800s, the villa has housed the French Academy in Rome, founded under Napoleon as a place for artists and architects to live and work. This marked the beginning of its modern cultural role, linking historical architecture with a contemporary touch.
What makes it unique is how many hands have shaped it over time: painters, scenographers, designers, and figures from fashion. Each restoration left a layer of its own, turning the villa into a rare hybrid of history and ongoing experimentation.
Some rooms still preserve their 16th-century frescoes. The Chamber of the Birds, painted by Jacopo Zucchi, a Florentine artist of the late Renaissance, remains a quiet masterpiece that feels unexpectedly current beside contemporary tapestries and design pieces.
Designed by Bartolomeo Ammannati, it combines Renaissance order with the atmosphere of a suburban palace, surrounded by gardens and fragments of antiquity collected by the Medici family.
Since the 1800s, the villa has housed the French Academy in Rome, founded under Napoleon as a place for artists and architects to live and work. This marked the beginning of its modern cultural role, linking historical architecture with a contemporary touch.
What makes it unique is how many hands have shaped it over time: painters, scenographers, designers, and figures from fashion. Each restoration left a layer of its own, turning the villa into a rare hybrid of history and ongoing experimentation.
Some rooms still preserve their 16th-century frescoes. The Chamber of the Birds, painted by Jacopo Zucchi, a Florentine artist of the late Renaissance, remains a quiet masterpiece that feels unexpectedly current beside contemporary tapestries and design pieces.
▍FIELD LOG: VILLA MEDICI interiors
▍Directorship under Balthus (1961–1977)
▍Directorship under Richard Peduzzi (2003–2008)
As painter and director, Balthus treated the villa as his own atelier. Between 1961 and 1977 he undertook a large-scale restoration, personally overseeing every aspect of the interiors. He repaired frescoes, reworked color palettes, designed furniture and lighting, and reintroduced the use of traditional Roman pigments. Several rooms were repainted under his direction, including the Cardinal’s Apartment, where he applied thin layers of paint directly onto the walls to evoke the patina of time. His goal was not historical reconstruction but a poetic reinterpretation of the Renaissance spirit through his own aesthetic language.
Peduzzi’s period feels essential in the villa’s recent history.
A scenographer by training and long-time collaborator of Patrice Chéreau in theatre and opera, Richard Peduzzi brought an acute sense of spatial rhythm and light to the building.
As director of the French Academy in Rome from 2003 to 2008, he oversaw a careful restoration of the interiors and gardens, introducing new furniture and lighting designed in dialogue with the existing architecture.
His geometric compositions of light, suspended on thin lines through the vaulted rooms, became one of the villa’s quiet signatures.
A scenographer by training and long-time collaborator of Patrice Chéreau in theatre and opera, Richard Peduzzi brought an acute sense of spatial rhythm and light to the building.
As director of the French Academy in Rome from 2003 to 2008, he oversaw a careful restoration of the interiors and gardens, introducing new furniture and lighting designed in dialogue with the existing architecture.
His geometric compositions of light, suspended on thin lines through the vaulted rooms, became one of the villa’s quiet signatures.
Italy, Rome, 16th century.
Villa Medici, 16th-century
© Archive Maitu
The Chamber of the Birds with a frescoe by Jacopo Zucchi, 16th-century
© Archive Maitu
Villa Medici, 16th-century
© Archive Maitu
Light installation by Richard Peduzzi
© Archive Maitu
Grand Salon, light installation by Richard Peduzzi
© Archive Maitu
Staircase, light installation by Richard Peduzzi
© Archive Maitu
▍DIRECTORSHIP UNDER Sam Stourdzé (since 2020)
With respect for earlier interventions, Sam Stourdzé opened a new chapter through the program Re-enchanting Villa Medici.
In collaboration with Fendi and Silvia Venturini Fendi, he reframed the villa as a place where craftsmanship and fashion meet architectural heritage.
Fendi’s reinterpretation of the salons introduced a tactile modernity, with materials and tones that feel both Roman and current. The project expanded the villa’s language without erasing its past. Within the same program, India Mahdavi redesigned six rooms, including Chambre Galilée and Chambre Debussy. Her intervention brought a measured softness, using geometry, color, and texture to create intimacy within a monumental setting.
In collaboration with Fendi and Silvia Venturini Fendi, he reframed the villa as a place where craftsmanship and fashion meet architectural heritage.
Fendi’s reinterpretation of the salons introduced a tactile modernity, with materials and tones that feel both Roman and current. The project expanded the villa’s language without erasing its past. Within the same program, India Mahdavi redesigned six rooms, including Chambre Galilée and Chambre Debussy. Her intervention brought a measured softness, using geometry, color, and texture to create intimacy within a monumental setting.
Open to visitors through guided tours, the villa offers a rare chance to step inside a place where every room has been shaped, protected, and reinterpreted with unusual care — a level of curation you almost never encounter in a historic site.
The Salon Lili Boulanger by India Mahdavi
© Archive Maitu
Room of the Muses,
rug and stools by India Mahdavi
© Archive Maitu
Grand Salon, tapestry by Aurélie Nemours
© Archive Maitu
The Cardinal’s Apartment, walls painted by Balthus
© photo by Assaf Shoshan
license & source below.
Author - Ksenia Vauchskaia
Photo credits:
The Cardinal’s Apartment, walls painted by Balthus,
© Villa Medici / Académie de France à Rome, photo by Assaf Shoshan
All rights remain with the original publisher.
This article is intended for educational and informational purposes only.
All image credits are provided where applicable.
If you are the copyright holder and have concerns about the use of any material, please contact us.
Photo credits:
The Cardinal’s Apartment, walls painted by Balthus,
© Villa Medici / Académie de France à Rome, photo by Assaf Shoshan
All rights remain with the original publisher.
This article is intended for educational and informational purposes only.
All image credits are provided where applicable.
If you are the copyright holder and have concerns about the use of any material, please contact us.
