In June 2025, the American Academy in Rome unveiled the restoration of Villa Chiaraviglio and the expansion of the Rare Book Room Library. This long-awaited project allowed library collections that had exceeded the institution's storage and display capacity to be securely and prominently featured in a new home.
A year later, we delve into the origins and impressive results of the project.
The renovation was executed by Cinzia Abbate and Carlo Vigevano of AeV Architetti, an architectural studio based in Rome, and completed within one year. Working with the Academy for nearly three decades, the duo has designed the renovation of the Academy's Photographic Archive, the Arthur & Janet C. Ross Library's extension into the cryptoporticus, and the library's main offices.
An elegant expansion
The Academy's existing libraries were running out of space to accommodate new publications, as the Arthur & Janet C. Ross Library acquires more than 2,000 volumes each year, while the Barbara Goldsmith Rare Book Room was also at capacity.
The Chiaraviglio Library project presented a solution that would house new volumes, as well as some of the Academy's rarest holdings—such as Description de l'Égypte by C.L.F. Panckoucke (1820–30) and I monumenti dell'Egitto e della Nubia by Ippolito Rosellini (1832–44)—which are now protected in custom-built shelves.
The project was directed by senior Academy leadership and the Board of Trustees' Plant, Planning, and Preservation Committee, and made possible through the generosity of Andrew P. Solomon; Elizabeth Bartman (1983 Fellow, 2009 Resident, Trustee Emerita); an anonymous donor; and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
"Over the past fourteen years, we have transformed the Library in ways that have strengthened both our services and our mission," said Sebastian Hierl, the Drue Heinz Librarian and Head of Collections at the Academy.
"The library's expansion into the Chiaraviglio Library is the culmination of these efforts and an investment in the future. It gives us the space and infrastructure we need to serve today's community while ensuring that the Library remains an essential resource for generations of Fellows to come."
Restoring the historic villa
The historic building of Villa Chiaraviglio, the upper levels of which house the Academy's Residents and guests, was built on land purchased in 1902 by Mario Chiaraviglio, an engineer, member of Parliament, and son-in-law of five-time Italian Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti. The villa and its garden were acquired on behalf of the Academy by J.P. Morgan on January 2, 1912.
The lower level of the Villa, where the future site of the Rare Book Room Library was identified, previously was used as an AAR storeroom.
During the renovation, the building's façade was restored, the entrance to the lower level of the villa was widened and expanded, new doors were installed, and the interior was fully renovated with humidity and climate control. The space now includes 170 square meters, including a reading room, and 670 linear meters of shelf space for approximately 23,000 books.
The floor was designed based on Carlo Scarpa's iconic Olivetti store in Venice, and four archaeological objects from the Academy's Norton-Van Buren Archaeological Study Collection have been mounted on Sicilian Jasper marble from the quarries of Custonaci and are now on permanent display at Chiaraviglio. They include a fragment of a sarcophagus front dating from the early second century AD and a limestone funerary stele from Palmyra, Syria, dating from the mid-first to second century AD.
A selection of the Academy's rare maps have also been put on display.
"None of this would have been possible without the commitment of our supporters, senior leadership, architects, and staff," said Librarian Sebastian Hierl.
"I am especially grateful to Aliza Wong, Marco Barone, and Valentina Follo; the architects, Cinzia Abbate and Carlo Vigevano; and to our Library team, whose dedication was essential to bringing this project to life."