Description

The villa took the name of Villa Malta when it became the residence of the Order of Malta in Rome. The nucleus of the central tower, visible from outside with its bluish windows, dates from the Middle Ages. The villa has changed hands and tenants many times. Throughout the 17th Century, it belonged to the Minimi monks of the Trinità dei Monti, but they let it out to artists and members of literary circles (like Canova and Thorwaldsen) and became popular with the German circle in Rome. In the first half of the 20th Century it was bought by the Vatican, which enlarged the building and turned it into a library with five underground floors. The large salon was transformed into a chapel.