The complex of Villa Torlonia in Rome, dating back to the late nineteenth century, which consists of various buildings, a private theater, a small lake, and fake ruins, can be considered the last princely legacy of one of the very last Roman noble families. The Torlonia, who have recently been in the news for inheritance issues involving, by right, their vast private collection (the largest one in the world), were more or less directly involved even with Mussolini. Why? Because the Duce, between 1925 and 1943, chose Villa Torlonia, and in particular the Casino Nobile, as his residence. Certainly an exceptional and also very cumbersome guest, especially considering the war that bloodied the entire world. This is why at Villa Torlonia you can come into contact with something truly special…

Obviously, especially with the onset and beyond of the Second World War, Mussolini also needed to find shelter in cases of emergency. For this reason, under Villa Torlonia, the three bunkers commissioned by Mussolini have recently become visitable. Why three? Well, the first was created by repurposing a cellar near the lake in the park of Villa Torlonia. It had all the necessary comforts and equipment (gas filters, iron doors, sanitary facilities, and electric current), but a problem immediately arose. To reach this bunker, one would have to walk completely in the open, from the Casino Nobile to the lake. For this reason, for safety reasons, it was decided to create a second bunker, this time right below the Casino Nobile. Here too, there were armored doors and a reinforced concrete ceiling, but probably the Duce himself did not consider it too safe. And then here is the third bunker, the definitive and most complete one! This third solution became a true air-raid shelter, connected to the underground floors of the Casino Nobile through a gallery. Fundamentally, this bunker has a cross shape, with two intersecting galleries, with walls 4 meters thick and reinforced concrete everywhere. Ironically, Mussolini never saw this bunker completed, so much so that even today the armored doors are completely missing, never installed. The reason? Simply because in 1943 Mussolini was deposed by the same Grand Council of Fascism. 

A small final curiosity. Recently, during the preparatory excavations for the reopening of the bunkers themselves, a burial chamber dating back to around the 2nd century AD was discovered. Some columbaria were found with cinerary urns, and also burials directly on the ground, with bodies found "prone," practically face down. Often this practice was reserved for men and women who had committed serious offenses in life. A testimony of how the subsoil of a historic city like Rome never ceases to amaze, in a journey through time without borders that, from an air-raid bunker of the last century, reaches burials almost two thousand years ago. This is Rome.