The Villa Sacchetti at Castelfusano is near Ostia, the port of ancient Rome. It was built between 1624-8 for the Sacchetti family, close associates of Pope Urban VIII, and was the first architectural work of Pietro da Cortona who became the foremost painter of his day and a leading architect in the evolution of Baroque architecture in Rome.[1] The villa is now known as Villa Chigi since its acquisition by the Chigi family in the eighteenth century.
The villa has a generally fortified appearance; it is block-like with corner bastions and has a belvedere terrace at the top; there were occasional attacks by pirates along the coast.[2] The plan layout, recorded in drawings by Pier Leone Ghezzi (circa 1735),[3] is simple and straightforward and lacks the formal inventiveness of Cortona's later architectural work, including the Villa Pigneto del Marchese Sacchetti.
The ground level has a central hall with staircase and was otherwise given over to service rooms. On the third level, there is a gallery spanning the length of the building with frescoes by Cortona and other artists of the time including Andrea Sacchi.[4] There is also a chapel decorated by Cortona.[5]