Villino Ruggeri: front façade

The Villino Ruggeri, in Pesaro, is considered one of the best examples of Stile Liberty (Art Nouveau) in Italy.

Built between 1902 and 1907 by Urbino-born architect Giuseppe Brega for Oreste Ruggeri, a pharmaceutical industrialist, the Villino was designed to be a global work of art. The four fa�ades were designed to be different from one another and were harmonized through dense, stylistically aggregating decorations and, most importantly, a varied naturalistic colour palette (not visible today because it was replaced in 1952 with the monochromatic light grey-green). The house is three storeys high. The front fa�ade with the balcony has very ornate floral Art Nouveau stucco decorations with the owner’s monogram.

The mansions by Giuseppe Brega have a floral charm, for example, the Villino Ruggeri in Pesaro shows. On closer inspection, it is not difficult to make out Italian tradition and Italian heritage under the amorphous ornamental overlay of its fa�ade. Brega endowed the eastern wall of the house with two eye-like windows, a flowery element made of reinforced concrete that resembles a nose, and an entrance doorway shaped like a mouth - all of which reminds one of the vegetable portraits of Giuseppe Arcimboldo.