THE VILLA AND THE DELIGHTF OF SAN NICANDRO: THE SMALL GARDEN OF A PRINCE

In the eighteenth century on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, a series of magnificent villas were built under the auspices of wealthy Neapolitan nobility. The construction of these villas was entrusted to the major architects and artists of the time. The villa in question is one of the most significant and well-preserved of that rich building legacy along the stretch called " the golden mile", that starts from Naples and runs through to Torre del Greco. The original building, described on the "Topographical Map of Neaples and the Surronding Areas" (1775), by Giovanni Carafa, Duke of Noja, as the " villa and delight of Sannicandro", has only one internal courtyard. Later, this was enlarged by the construction of a series of rooms around it, leading to a second courtyard. The same semicircle that today is to be found in front of the main facade of the villa, can be dated back to the end of the 18th century, since it is not present on the aforementioned map. The garden, on the contrary, is different to the villa in that it respects the original layout more. The area which surrounds the villa however, like the environmental context of most of the Vesuvian villas, is in a terrible state, swamped by recent urbanisation and by unplanned suburbanisation.