Villa Mapelli Mozzi

Villa Mapelli Mozzi, also known as Villa Mozzi or Villa Mapelli, is a large rural neoclassical-style palace in Locate Bergamasco, a frazione of Ponte San Pietro, which is located in the province of Bergamo, northern Italy.^[1] The roots of the building date back to 1460, when the property with the castle was acquired by the family. From 1770, when it was built in this form, until today, the villa has been the property of the Italian noble family of Mapelli-Mozzi. With the back façade reaching almost 40 meters, the avant-corps and the lateral parts, it embodies one of the grandest neoclassical villas in the province.^[2] Park of the Villa Mapelli Mozzi is accessible, while interiors of the villa are no longer open to visitors.^[3]

Villa Mapelli Mozzi
Villa Mapelli Mozzi in 2010
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General information
Location	Ponte San Pietro, Italy
Coordinates	45.7021°N 9.5780°E / 45.7021; 9.5780

History

Coat of Arms of the Counts Mapelli Mozzi (1913), consisted of combining Mapelli family arms (left) with Mozzi family arms (right)

The site originally held a castle, property of the Mozzi family, but the current villa was completed after 1770 by the count Enrico Mozzi.^[4]

The architect is not known definitively, but it could have been a local architect, Giovanni Moroni. He might have had suggestions from Giuseppe Piermarini, since the design is similar to that of the Royal Villa of Monza, and the peaked roof recalls his design for the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.^[5]

In 1820, Conte D. Luigi Mozzi owned the "villa Mozzi, later Mapelli".^[6] The Mozzi came from nearby Mozzo and were not related to the noble family of the same name from Florence.^[7] In 1809, the Mozzi family joined the Mapelli family when Angela Mozzi, last descendant of the house, married the noble Girolamo Mapelli. The coats of arms of the two families were combined. Their son Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi married Ippolita Giulino of the Counts of Vialba. Their son Paolo married Enrichetta Tarsis in 1889, a descendant of an ancient noble family. By royal decree of March 13, 1913, and with letters patent of July 17, 1913, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy elevated the Mapelli Mozzi family into the hereditary title of count.^[8]

The property remains in the possession of the Mapelli Mozzi family who also own the Villa Mapelli Mozzi located in Casatenovo, between Bergamo and Lake Como.^[9][10]

Legacy

Arms of alliance of Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and Princess Beatrice of York

The interior of the Ponte San Pietro building has a large staircase leading to a piano nobile frescoed by Vincenzo Angelo Orelli, Paolo Vincenzo Bonomini, and Agostino Comerio. The villa has long held the family's significant works of art, with Alex Mapelli Mozzi (b. 1951) – also of Ponte San Pietro^[11] – working internationally as an art dealer and curator.^[12][13] Alessandro was married to Nicola "Nikki" Diana Burrows, MBE (b. 1956) from Oxfordshire on 8 March 1978, paternal granddaughter of businessman and Liberal party politician Sir Robert Abraham Burrows and his wife, Lady Burrows (née Eleanor Doris Bainbridge), great-granddaughter of Bainbridge's founder Emerson Muschamp Bainbridge.^{[14][15][16][17][18]} Their only son, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi is married to Princess Beatrice of York, member of the British Royal Family, elder daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York and granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II.^[19] Their first daughter, Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi (b. 2021) is currently 10th in line of Succession to the British throne, while their second born, Athena Elizabeth Rose Mapelli Mozzi (b.2025) is the 11th in line of Succession to the British throne.^[20]