Villa San Martino

Portoferraio

The Villa San Martino, also known as Villa Bonaparte, is one of the two residences that Napoleon Bonaparte inhabited on the Island of Elba between May 1814 and February 1815.

Located in San Martino, in the Municipality of Portoferraio, although it is often referred to as a country house, it was in fact the one intended for the private life of the emperor in exile who, for his public activity, instead essentially used the other house, that is the Palazzina dei Mulini, located in the upper part of Portoferraio.

Despite its small size, Napoleon wanted it to comply to Parisian standards in terms of comfort and refinement. The structure has a simple square plan, with the first floor intended for social life and the ground floor with services, such as the neoclassical bathroom called “di Paolina”, with a frescoed depiction of the Truth.

On the first floor of the structure, the Emperor had a library built, where it is said he spent a lot of time. The two most important rooms are the “Love Knot Room” dedicated to her union with Maria Luisa of Habsburg-Lorraine, and the “Egyptian Room”, decorated with hieroglyphs and pyramids, a large zodiac on the ceiling and other scenes that represent the salient moments of Napoleon’s exploits. In addition, in the center of this last room, there is still an octagonal tub of great visual impact.

Source: visitelba.info