This is no ordinary building. The history and curiosities of Villa Hüffer, home to the Bank of Italy's Money Museum.
The villa that houses MUDEM takes its name from its first owner, Wilhelm Hüffer (1821-1895).
Wilhelm's family was rich, Catholic and of German origin. They dealt in trade and textile production in West Germany.
After studying commerce in Bremen, Wilhelm made a fortune in Paris, where he worked for Jean Pierre Pescatore's business, taking care of its interests in the USA and Italy as well. He made such an important contribution, especially in the tobacco trade, that he was made a partner in 1852.
He met Carlo Grabau in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. As well as being a businessman, a banker and a Hamburg diplomat in Livorno, Carlo was the father of Costanza, who became Hüffer's wife and followed him to Paris.
It was the Franco-Prussian conflict in 1870 that caused Wilhelm to retire from business and move from Paris to Rome with Costanza.
After staying at Palazzo Borghese for ten years, Hüffer had his villa built on via Nazionale on the slopes of the Quirinale hill between 1880 and 1883.
The building
Count Carlo Weber De Merode bought the land for 387,566.40 lire. The project was managed by Jules Antoine François Auguste Pellechet, a French architect, and Domenico Avenali, a well-known Roman architect and builder.
Large parties were held there, at which Gabriele D'Annunzio was also a guest, and the building was inherited two decades later by Costanza's nephews and nieces when she died. Marcello Grabau was the youngest of the four and he took over its management, initially renting out some parts and then commissioning new buildings overlooking via Milano.
Some of the park was also used for profitable business. The Sala Italia cinema was opened in 1920 in the old stables on via Nazionale, and dance shows and open air concerts were held in the garden.
A further extension in 1925 provided room for the Cinema Quirinale, which belonged to the Istituto di Credito Fondiario until 2001, when it became the property of the Bank of Italy. This building is now home to the Auditorium dedicated to Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.
The first new building commissioned appeared in via Milano, and the Bal Tic Tac was inaugurated there on 30 November 1921.
In the same period, the ground floor opening onto via Milano and via Nazionale housed the first shops, while the wall around the garden was knocked down.
Hüffer's poetic image of a city villa was becoming an increasingly distant memory.
The developments continued until the outbreak of the Second World War, followed by a period of deterioration and neglect between 1945 and 1949.
Here's a bit of film trivia: the gallery of the villa on via Nazionale was used for a famous scene from Mario Monicelli's film 'I Soliti Ignoti' (Big Deal on Madonna Street), starring Vittorio Gassman and Memmo Carotenuto.
