Villa Valmy

The park of Villa Valmy recalls the extraordinary ceiling in the villa's great saloon.
Outside there are ancient trees and a serene park, a setting for the romantic loves of Napoleonic generals with a Stendhalian allure. Inside there is the great saloon with the ceiling probably frescoed by Vincenzo Martinelli, where mythical figures, dragons and satyrs enjoy their immortality immersed in the benign natural setting.
The villa and park belonged to the Lambertini family, which included Benedict XIV, a great pope from Bologna, like Gregory XIII. After various vicissitudes it passed to the descendants of the French general François Christophe de Kellermann, whom Napoleon made Duke of Valmy.

The large park that extends to the east and west of the building contains numerous tall trees of ancient growth, including majestic oaks and magnolias, huge cedars and horse chestnuts, refined elms, various species of ash and camellias (both japonica and sasanqua), as well as a wonderful specimen of the Japanese pagoda tree (Sophora japonica). The elegant drives are flanked by green lily of the valley and as you advance along them you see refined recesses with ancient stone statues and a pond decorated with the statue of a slender swimmer. You can also observe and enjoy a rich and fragrant collection of arches covered with roses of different types and colours, and other species of flowers.
Villa Valmy and the adjoining park are a valuable example of an eighteenth-century residence in Bologna. Since 1998 it has been listed for its historical, artistic and architectural interest by the Superintendency for the Environmental and Architectural Heritage of Emilia.