Less than 15 minutes from central Rome, a restored villa—once owned by Italian cinema icon Sophia Loren and producer Carlo Ponti—has come to market with Building Heritage. (Update: This property is currently under offer.)

Set within approximately 14,000 m² (3.5 acres) of landscaped grounds, the estate comprises two principal structures totaling roughly 1,200 m² (12,900 ft²): a circa-1900 main villa and a former stable converted into a secondary residence and reception space.

The property sits along the historic Via Appia Antica, an ancient Roman road dating to 312 BCE, and one of Rome’s most protected and discreet residential corridors, located within a designated archaeological park and subject to strict development controls. Long favored by diplomats, old Roman families, and cultural figures, it is prized for privacy, scale, and continuity rather than urban visibility or commercial life.

The villa was owned by producer Carlo Ponti in the mid-20th century, a period when Rome functioned as a gravitational center for international cinema. Ponti—one of Italy’s most influential film producers—was behind major productions including Doctor Zhivago. Sophia Loren, whom he married in 1966, was an Academy Award–winning actress whose career spanned more than a hundred films and helped define postwar Italian cinema. Rather than a public-facing showpiece, the villa functioned as a private residence, hosting discreet gatherings of actors and filmmakers working in and around Rome’s Cinecittà orbit.

At the height of the Dolce Vita era—when visibility and scrutiny were inescapable—locations along the Via Appia Antica offered something increasingly rare: the ability to withdraw from public life entirely, beyond the reach of paparazzi and social ritual.

Visitors over the years included Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Kirk and Michael Douglas, Rex Harrison, and Tony Curtis—names that reflect Rome’s mid-century role as both a working film capital and a social crossroads. The emphasis, however, was privacy rather than performance: a residence designed for seclusion, long stays, and informal entertaining rather than spectacle.

Designed around 1900 by Roman architect Busiri Vici, the main villa spans approximately 800 m² (8,600 ft²) across two levels, connected by elevator and crowned by a panoramic rooftop terrace. The interiors are organized around a 330 m² (3,550 ft²) principal living and reception area, divided into three interconnected salons. Large garden-facing windows, original fireplaces, and carefully preserved architectural details give the space volume and presence without excess.

Five en-suite bedrooms, along with a library, winter garden, guest facilities, and dedicated staff quarters, complete the primary residence, balancing formal entertaining spaces with clearly defined private quarters.

Architectural Digest has previously noted a room beneath a tufa vault— a cellar-like stone substructure built from Rome’s volcanic rock—featuring a mosaic traditionally identified as Medusa, a piece of archaeological lore that Italian press has long linked to the villa’s cinematic afterlife, including claims that it appeared in the opening of Un tassinaro a New York (1987), directed by and starring Alberto Sordi.

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The villa’s setting is as consequential as its architecture. Built atop a substantial layer of solidified volcanic lava originating from the Castel Gandolfo area, the site was historically quarried by the ancient Romans for basalt used in constructing the Appian Way. That excavation created a natural amphitheater, elevating the villa approximately 15 meters above the surrounding landscape and providing an unusually dominant yet discreet position within Rome’s protected green belt.

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Throughout the house and gardens, ancient Roman marble fragments, statues, and archaeological elements—some more than 2,000 years old—are integrated into the fabric of the estate. Rather than functioning as a display collection, these elements are embedded architecturally, lending the property a quiet archaeological depth without compromising its use as a private residence.

Set within approximately 14,000 m² (3.5 acres) of landscaped grounds, the estate also includes a second structure: a former stable converted into a 700 m² (7,500 ft²) Provencal-style residence. At its center is a 300 m² (3,230 ft²) open loft with high ceilings, expansive windows, and a professional kitchen, suited to private receptions, family gatherings, or events on a non-commercial scale.

The gardens, designed and maintained over several decades by a landscape-architect owner, combine mature trees, stone pathways, private outdoor rooms, a swimming pool, ancillary service buildings, and staff facilities. The scale is notable not only for Rome, but for any European capital—offering a level of privacy and spatial autonomy rarely available so close to the historic center.