Address: Strada dei Cipressi 63, 61121, Pesaro (PU)
Isairon Cooperative for booking visits:
Contact: +39 338.2629372
info@isairon.it
The villa, surrounded by an almost intact agrarian and wooded hillside landscape, consists of two buildings. The first, quadrangular in shape and with a high tower, was commissioned by Alessandro Sforza, lord of Pesaro; completed in 1469, it owes its name to a visit by Emperor Frederick III. The second building, called the “Imperiale Nuova” and connected to the first by an aerial passageway, was built for the Della Rovere dukes in the 16th century by Urbino architect Girolamo Genga.
Its conformation, as a quadrangular enclosure emerging from the slope of the hill, contains three internal terraces: the two upper ones used as gardens, while the courtyard at the lower level was left free for performances and court rituals. Geometric flowerbeds designed by boxwood still evoke the richness of the 16th-century arrangement, while the “wild,” natural scrub, embraces the upper portion. A system of terraces with altanas, built into the valley-facing portion of the building, provides extensive views of the Foglia River valley, hills and the Apennines fading into the horizon.
The villa has been, over time, the property of various aristocratic families: the Medici, the Albani and, finally, the Castelbarco Albani who have restored it several times in the last century.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.gardenrouteitalia.it/gr_offers/villa-imperiale
