Villa Bella Vista / Spider Web, Italy

Villa Bella Vista; a crumbling Italian house with the most beautiful entrance hall frescos that you will ever see. Certainly, I can’t think of any that come close off the top of my head. This house was once the family home of an Italian writer. His work from the late 19th/early 20th Century reference the house and surrounding countryside frequently.

Built in the early 19th Century, the residence has a relatively unassuming exterior. It is a large house, and the facade is quite simple. A stone staircase with wrought iron balustrades and bannisters leads up from the ground level. I walk up, the aged front door is open and beckoning me inside.

I step into the entrance hall and it takes a while for my eyes to adjust. After a morning squinting against the summer Italian sun outside, the dim coolness is pleasant. The entrance hall is small, but exquisitely frescoed. Only the floor is undecorated. The walls feature rolling countryside vistas with vineyards and homesteads as well as some type of Roman church or temple.

Vines are painted on the walls, that extended up vertically and across the ceiling to meet in the middle of the roof. There are also decorative birds on perches. The rest of the accessible villa is quite plain. A small side room features nice light and a sewing machine on a table. The rooms to the rear of the property have collapsed, allowing vegetation to creep inside. The green of the plants look beautiful against the orange-yellow walls, contrasting with the glimpse of blue sky where the roof once stood.

Exploring Villa Bella Vista

I explored Villa Bella Vista in the summer of 2021, during the Italy Summer 2021 – Industry & Morgue Tour zigzagging across the northern half of Italy. I had actually paid a quick visit in 2017, during the Summer Tour, but decided not to venture inside (something felt…off, on that day).

Fast forward, four years and once again I am stood infront of the building. This time, I ring a “doorbell” attached to a wooden post. An upper window opens and I am warmly greeted by an Italian man, calling down to me and smiling. You see, this house is actually inhibited…albeit partially. The residence on the upper floor is accessed through a side door, the internal stairs to the decaying and collapsing part blocked off. I am told to please make my way inside, and to enjoy my time here and to make some nice photos. The shutters close and he goes back to his lunch, and I slip around the fence and enter Villa Bella Vista.