Villa Paolina Bonaparte

This villa is today known as Villa Paolina Borghese and it is the seat of the Embassy of France to the Holy See.

It was built on a plot of land where before cardinal Valenti Gonzaga built this house there stood a villa of the Cicciaporci family, of Florentine origins.

Inside the villa the cardinal had various impressive collections, which included everything from scientific instruments to paintings, jewellery, and silver.

In 1809, Paolina Bonaparte, Napoleon Bonaparte's sister, bought the house, and this is why today it bears her name. She commissioned new interior decorations and furnished the villa according to the tastes of that era.