Description
Villa Colle Bellombra extended over an area of more than 180 hectares when the Gambelli family acquired the property in 1908. An area which included seven farms, the equivalent of the land stretching from today's Villa Serena Clinic to the Acquasanta area, from one side to the other.
The Gambelli family had already been known in Jesi since 1800, not only for its landownership. They also owned the grocery in Corso Vittorio Emanuele, now Corso Matteotti, where the iconic Caffè Saccaria is located, and the historic residence in the building adjacent to today's Art Gallery, an edifice extending as far as Via Mazzini.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the time of the rising affluent bourgeoisie, the entire estate represented social redemption for the family: in fact, they continued to carry on the business and manage the land by maintaining the now established management system of sharecropping.
Honorato Honorati decided to build Villa Colle Bellombra in 1790 in the style of Venetian villas, according to the typical Palladian model. The villa was designed as a two-storey building with a rectangular central body surmounted by a large tympanum, and a façade tripartite by pilasters.
After a modification in 1920, when the main body was connected to the wheat storehouses by creating an Art Nouveau hall, Colle Bellombra acquired the typical layout of Le Marche villas: an 18th-century chapel, which is still consecrated; the stables, which are now used as rooms by the Gambelli family; the lemon house and the caretaker's quarters, a large courtyard, the garden with a fountain, and a vast park embracing the villa.
In 1908, Marquis Luciano Honorati sold Villa Colle Bellombra for 312,000 lire, giving the Gambelli family a property covering over 180 hectares of land, the equivalent of the area stretching from the Villa Serena Clinic to the Acquasanta area, from one side to the other.
Villa Colle Bellombra also survived the Second World War, not without consequences. It was occupied by both the German and Allied armies. Consequently, many trees were felled in the garden. At the end of the war, the entrance gate was moved upwards and two hectares of woodland were lost, from the initial five hectares to the current three.
Consisting mostly of tall trees, with three hectares of centuries-old oaks and holm oaks that have witnessed the building of Villa Colle Bellombra and its history, the park has been elevated to a monument of historical value and listed by the Superintendency of Fine Arts after the many historical events it has gone through.
A main avenue of olive trees leads into the woods via a second avenue of linden trees, while the garden can be reached directly via a second access without an avenue.
The Italian-style garden at the front of the building is purely 19th-century and symmetrical. Over time, it was enriched with some of the trees in vogue in the late 19th and early 20th century, including cedars of Lebanon and palm trees.
Villa Colle Bellombra is home to a fauna which includes many species of nocturnal birds of prey such as owls, barn owls and scops owls, as well as mammals such as badgers, weasels, hedgehogs, porcupines, foxes, wild boars and roe deer, which have found a cosy, safe place in the villa’s wood.
The garden at the front of the building has a fountain in the centre but this has been in disuse for many years. In the woods, on the other hand, there is a pond populated by carp.
Location
Villa Collebellombra, Jesi
Information
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