Tour of Mussolini's Villa Torlonia (Home and Bomb Shelter in Rome)?

We were there in March 2017, and Villa Torlonia was overgrown, dilapidated and deserted, and we could walk around the grounds unencumbered, looking in the windows at the exhibits. It was so cool, almost imagined Il Duce standing on one of the porticoes, arms crossed.

I do not remember any steep steps, except there might be staircases inside.

We will be in Roma next April and I cannot wait to visit!

Thanks, Jay -- the villa and bunker were closed for several years and this past April they were reopened. We were in Italy in May but not on the right day to enjoy this particular site. We were told that English tours were only available on Saturdays. We are thinking of revisiting Rome as part of our 2025 trip but remain unsure as to the steepness of the steps that are emphasized on the website. Maybe you can report back in April as to your experience!

Just messaged with a dear friend that has dual citizenship and is in Rome right now. She said the spiffing-up of Torlonia is all part of the Jubilee 2025 prep. If you go there, nearby on via Nomentana is St. Agnesa and also St. Constanza, which we visited in 2017, which is 3rd century with some of the most beautiful mosaic I've ever seen.

My friend calls it her 'off the beaten path' tour. Just a bus ride north of Termini. I could do that stuff for a month and still not hit all the great places in Roma!

Thanks for the follow-up, Jay. Yes, I tend to go for the off the beaten path sites and am also interested in anything related to WWII.

Our last visit (May 2024) we visited the Resistance Museum (https://www.museoliberazione.it/en/), not the best organized museum but I felt it was still worth the stop. Unrelated to WWII but definitely in the off the beaten path category we visited the Centrale Montemartini -- a museum described as "Gods clash with machines in a power plant regenerated as a museum". Very cool and we had the whole place practically to ourselves!

I wonder why Mussolini’s bunkers were not completely demolished as Hitler’s Berlin bunkers were at the end of WW2.

Mussolini’s birth house is still there (in Predappio) Also a museum.
His crypt is still there at the monumental cemetery in the same town, and it is guarded by devout followers.
The place where he was shot dead, at Giulino di Mezzagra, across the lake from Bellagio, is still there with a plaque and plenty of fresh flower arrangements and religious memorabilia.
I guess Italians appreciated trains running on time, especially during this period of constant transit strikes.

It was the best of times for those who choose to see it that way,
And it was the worst of times for everyone else.

WWII tourism in general is not my bag at all, especially the sites associated with fascism. I had never really considered it until I started reading on this forum. It's interesting to hear about people wanting to visit some of the sites that come up in some of the country forums.

Apologies to the OP for sharing my irrelevant opinion.

I mentioned Bella Ciao in a post I deleted. If anyone doesn't know it, I'll link to a good version on Youtube to sing along to.

https://youtu.be/cUAP-fE81zs?si=58y3yksuPT-r2X7K

Gerry, I would say Italy has a lot of great sights to offer before someone coming all the way from across the ocean even considers visiting the architectural monuments to fascism, which I consider rather ugly, starting with the Santa Maria Novella station or the Artemio Franchi Stadium of Florence where Fiorentina plays (shaped like a “D” as in Duce), which was initially named after a fascist hero. For some reason the Superintendent of Fine Arts refuses to give permission to tear it down and replace it with a more modern one, maybe he is another lover of timely trains.

I am someone else who would put visiting maybe lesser known war sites as a priority.

Gerry, I would say Italy has a lot of great sights to offer before
someone coming all the way from across the ocean even considers
visiting the architectural monuments to fascism, which I consider
rather ugly, starting with the Santa Maria Novella station or the
Artemio Franchi Stadium of Florence where Fiorentina plays (shaped
like a “D” as in Duce), which was initially named after a fascist
hero.

Roberto--

Really don't want to take this off-topic or into a controversial discussion. But...and this is just my personal perspective...to look at Torlonia purely as a historical landmark to visit--which I have seen and enjoyed--I think is the way to appreciate it rather than discount & discard it because of Mussolini's Fascist tendencies. To take that selective perspective would be to miss out on a big part of it. Are we to not visit the Baths of Caracalla in Rome simply because it was built by slaves?

Nope, when I'm visiting the homeland I want to see it all, based on its own intrinsic value rather than to prioritize it because of socioeconomic context during the time of construction or habitation. I believe it is possible to separate the two. However, it is true that the fascination with Mussolini in parts of Italy is somewhat bizarre--heck, I saw lava busts of Il Duce at a curio shop in Sicily. Definitely didn't buy one!

But, Roberto, with all due respect...I do understand your take on it if your ancestors were personally affected by the Nazi regime in WWII. Mine were under hardships as well, in the Salerno area and Sant' Arsenio during the 1930's/1940's, but I don't have firsthand knowledge of this. All I knew was that my grandmother would send care packages from Boston to the village as often as she could.

Jay. I am not criticizing anybody who wishes to visit historical landmarks associated with Fascism. Yes, two of my uncles (one a POW the other a partisan) were interned by Nazis in concentration camps in Germany and didn’t have a good time there, but that did not prevent me from visiting Mussolini’s birth house in Predappio, or his crypt in the monumental cemetery in the same town. I also visited the Villa were he was shot on lake Como, it’s only 5 min from Menaggio if someone is interested. So I hold no grudges against those who wish to visit places associated with Fascism. If I did it, I don’t see why others shouldn’t. I’m just saying that the overwhelming majority of people coming from North America are likely to focus on the more famous sights present in Italy, before trying to see those sights from that pre-war period, and it has nothing to do with my dislike of Fascist or other dictatorial regimes. But of course some people may have a personal interest in seeing historical landmarks associated with WW2, like the beaches of Normandy. My personal opinion on the architectural ugliness of buildings and monuments of that era still persist, but I understand that is only my personal opinion. I also don’t like modern art, but to each his own.

Gotcha, my friend. When visiting Italy, there are so many ways seeing the sights can be done. Architecturally. Archeologically. I spent a day in Rome wandering around, trying to find the oldest artifact I could see with my own two eyes. Found it at the Roman Museum across from Termini, where some sculptures date to the end of the Bronze Age around 1200 BC, and I realize I've barely scratched the surface. FYI the Baths of Diocletian are right next to the Roman Museum and are fabulous as well.

I visited this in May because I was looking for something to do and I go to Rome frequently. You start in the house and end up below in the constructed bunker.

Grazie, Linda. Can you tell me if you found the stairs to get down to the bunker very steep or fairly manageable?

Rose