Villa Saffi cannot currently be visited due to renovation work. For information: Museum Department Phone: 0543 712627 E-mail: biglietteria.musei@comune.forli.fc.it Monday to Friday

Via Firenze, 164, località San Varano, Forlì (FC)

phone: 0543 712627 (Museum Department)

The Villa is located in San Varano and its park can be reached from Via M. Casadio 1, where free parking is available. It can also be reached by bus on routes 6 and 91, both of which stop at Via Firenze. Timetables can be consulted on the Start Romagna website, in the 'Services' and 'Timetables and routes' sections. Check the bus schedules on the Start Romagna website.

Aurelio Saffi (1819-1890) was a republican politician. Born in Forlì October 13, 1819 by Girolamo and Maria Romagnoli, he studied in Ferrara, earning a degree in 1841 in Law, and then moved to Rome where he approached the fervent ideals of independence. In 1848 he met Mazzini and the following year, with the birth of the temporary Roman Republic, he was elected triumvirate with Mazzini and Armellini. HE was exiled to Oxford in 1951 as a teacher of Italian literature, where he met Giorgina. Descended from an illustrious Scottish family of liberal traditions, she was the daughter of John Craufurd and Sophia Churchill, fervent Mazzinians and members of the Society of Friends of Italy. She married Aurelio in 1857, despite her father's opposition. Aurelio returned to Italy in 1860, settling in Naples where he directed the newspaper "Il Popolo d'Italia" and in 1861 he was elected to the parliament of the new Kingdom of Italy. He resigned in 1864, however, returning first to England, and then settle in 1867 permanently with his family in the country villa of San Varano. Here he dedicated himself to the organization of the republican movement and to the definition of its political address, committing himself in favor of the local autonomies and of the social problems: regarding these, he favored the worker and artisan associationism of Mazzinian inspiration. He also participated in the local administration, both provincial and municipal of Forlì. During the last years of his life he taught law at the University of Bologna until 1890, the year of his death, which occurred in his villa in San Varano. Giorgina, however, continued to live in the big house, interested in politics, social issues, culture and art of the newborn Italian nation. Proof of this are the unpublished Letters of Giuseppe Mazzini to Madame X, given to the press in 1907, or the translation from English into Italian of the book L'educazione morale della gioventù, considerata nei suoi rapporti col sesso (1882), or again The life and works of Correggio (1888). Her publishing activity was carried out thanks to the collaboration with Giuseppe Mazzatinti, who allowed her to publish some unseen writings of her husband. Her associationism and her commitment to the feminist cause is something that has always distinguished her; memorable are her writings Alle donne forlivesi and Alla società operaja femminile di mutuo soccorso in Forlì. She died on July 30, 1911, surrounded by the affection of her four sons: Giuseppe Attilio (1858-1923), Giovanni Emilio (1861-1930), Carlo Luigi (1863-1896) and Rinaldo Arturo (1868-1929).

The building had been a Jesuit convent and became the property of the Saffi family in 1740, purchased by Tommaso, Aurelio's great-grandfather, who made it his holiday residence. Aurelio Saffi settled there in 1867 with his wife Giorgina Craufurd after leaving the Italian Parliament. The Villa is part of the "Case Museo dei poeti e degli scrittori di Romagna" (Museum of Romagna's poets and writers) and preserves period furniture, the library and relics of extraordinary interest, including those of Mazzini, who was a guest there on several occasions.
The Villa is surrounded by a park of plane trees, cypresses, magnolias, oaks and laurels and with a majestic cedar of Lebanon, dear to Aurelio Saffi. The park occupies an area of almost 10,000 square meters. The designers of the time were inspired, most likely, by the type of "English garden", in fact, the park consists of grassy areas and wide views to isolated groups of trees; they assume the appearance of a "natural" grove, making the landscape even larger.
In the park there are many arboreal specimens in harmony with shrubby essences. Probably such an arrangement comes from choices of maintenance type that in those decades were very "in vogue", as they made it possible for the lords to save a lot of money. The English garden gave the possibility, in fact, of an easy maintenance and therefore little need of gardeners, in comparison to the Italian or French gardens. For the realization of the grove were wisely used both botanical species, characteristic of the Mediterranean maquis, and exotic species. Among the arboreal exemplars there is a cedar of Lebanon that stands out majestically on the south-east side of the villa. It is assumed that the age of the cedar of Lebanon (secular tree) dates back to the period of life of the patriot Aurelio. There are also: linden trees, Atlas cedars, hackberry trees, oaks, plane trees, horse chestnuts, cypresses, and evergreen sequoias. In a particularly cool and shady spot, a small underground "cave" was built as a "ice house" (to provide ice in summer).
The Villa, codenamed Vendita dell'Amaranto, was the seat of secret meetings of the Carbonari.
Inside the building, moreover, we can not forget the testimony left by a contemporary artist, Amerigo Bartoli Natinguerra (Terni, 1890-Roma, 1971), who in 1937 painted in trompe-l'oeil the so-called room of ping-pong. With a clever game of illusions he "breaks through" the wall and projects the viewer onto a balcony full of flowers and overlooking a pleasant coastal landscape. And while observing all this, one is flanked by an equally illusory fisherman, wearing a rough linen shirt, a straw hat on his head and leaning against the doorframe.
By 1988 the villa was purchased by the Municipality of Forlì, that made an accurate research and new discoveries: the meticulous collection of correspondence and documentary evidence were housed in the Aurelio Saffi Special Fund, at the Archiginnasio Library in Bologna. Among them, some sheets containing recipes, datable between the '70s and '80s of the last century, were discovered. Analyses have allowed us to attribute the writings to the housekeeper Anna Amadori Lotti, a maid who served the heirs of the Saffi family since 1970. This has allowed us to understand the history of the villa also from the culinary point of view of those who lived there.
Currently closed to the public for renovation works, the large house immersed in the green countryside just outside Forlì, still attracts for its venerable history, for its ancient beauty and for its unquestionable value and cultural interest.