Historic stone building with tiled roofs, surrounded by cypress and olive trees on a hillside
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Villa Campello and Its Little Theatre

At the foot of the medieval castle of Campello Alto, in a position overlooking the valley and facing Spoleto, stands Villa Campello, the ancient residence of the counts of the same name. The family chose this strategic place around 1347, establishing their home at the edge of the defensive walls, in an ideal spot to maintain contact both with the fortress above and with their town residence in Spoleto, where the counts were required to live by municipal decree.

The original structure was transformed during the 15th century into an elegant rectangular palace with ogival windows, as shown in a drawing by Placido Gabrielli, which records the building’s late medieval appearance. In the centuries that followed, the villa became the heart of the Campello family’s life, alternating with their urban residences and reflecting the tastes of its owners.

A first major renovation took place between 1800 and 1804, when Bernardino Campello (1766–1818), Knight of the Order of Saint Stephen and husband of the Florentine marchioness Beatrice Bourbon del Monte Santa Maria, commissioned architect Pietro Ferrari to expand the villa on the eastern side. The interiors were decorated by painter Vincenzo Floriani, who enriched the rooms with neoclassical motifs and landscape views, transforming the house into an elegant holiday residence.

In 1864, Count Paolo Campello, a cultured and cosmopolitan figure, commissioned further works: he built the evocative neo-Gothic crenellated tower, four storeys high and complete with a panoramic terrace, and completely redesigned the surrounding grounds, replacing olive groves and vineyards with holm oaks, cypresses, maritime pines, and cedars of Lebanon. He added to these a boxwood maze, a Swiss-style cottage, a circular henhouse, and a small private theatre: the celebrated Teatrino di Villa Campello.

Large historic ochre-colored villa with tower and gravel driveway, surrounded by trees and gardens

Villa Campello and its tree-lined driveway

Old rustic building on a slope, with terracotta roof tiles and partially red-painted walls.

Little Theatre of Villa Campello

Painting of a seated man with a white beard and dark suit, set against a background of bookshelves and dark tones

Portrait of Count Paolo Campello

The Little Theatre of Villa Campello

Built between 1865 and 1885, it is one of the last surviving examples of a private noble theatre in Umbria. Count Paolo, son of Princess Giacinta Ruspoli and husband of Maria Bonaparte, niece of Napoleon, tastefully transformed the rooms above the stables into an intimate and refined performance space where friends and family entertained themselves with private plays.

The walls of the little theatre were decorated in trompe-l’œil by Prince Placido Gabrielli, the count’s brother-in-law, under the guidance of the renowned French painter Auguste Ernest Hébert, director of the French Academy in Rome, who also painted in 1869 a portrait dedicated to the Countess of Campello, now housed at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. In the two tiers of painted boxes appear meticulously rendered portraits of family members and staff of Villa Campello, including the charming Eva Ruspoli, the head huntsman Bartoli, and the wardrobe mistress Gedra.

The small stage, now lost, was accompanied by dressing rooms where the actors—generally relatives and friends of the Campello family—prepared for performances, while spectators brought their own chairs and benches to watch the shows. Over time, the little theatre opened its doors to the local community as well, hosting school plays and popular performances, becoming a place of gathering and shared memory.

Today, Villa Campello, with its neo-Gothic tower and romantic park, remains one of the most fascinating historic residences in Umbria: a symbol of the culture and elegance of a family that succeeded in blending feudal tradition with 19th-century refinement.

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