The Palazzina dei Mulini, also called Villa dei Mulini, was one of the two residences of Napoleon Bonaparte in Portoferraio during his exile on the island of Elba (4 May 1814 - 26 February 1815). It was a residence intended primarily for public life and representation of the emperor in exile, while his private life took place in the nearby Villa of San Martino. In 1724 the Grand Duke of Tuscany Gian Gastone de 'Medici had a small house with a cistern built in the top area of the promontory of Portoferraio - where there were some windmills - destined to become the home of the Governor's gardener who then lived in the Fort Star. Prisons and a house for the judge were built nearby. In the immediate vicinity there was also an area intended for the theater to serve garrisons. The judge's house was also enlarged in 1787 and divided into two areas: one for the artillery commander and the other for the genius commander. With the arrival of Napoleon in 1814 the building was modified under his directives and soon became the official residence of the emperor on the island, therefore also used for receptions and parties. Following the departure of Napoleon, after 1815 the building was abandoned until the arrival of the Lorraines and since then had a purely military destination. Finally, during the interwar period, the Colombaia building was built on the bastion as a station for racing pigeons. The centenary of Napoleon's death in 1921 was perhaps the first occasion on which the Elbans found themselves meditating on the fate of the emperor's residence: the residence that had been the emperor's, since 1880 owned by the state, was closed at the time and abandoned. In 1927, with one of the gardens, the theater and its adjacent land was handed over to the Ministry of Education; the buildings of the stables and the west and south space of the theater, used by the military administration, were excluded. Finally, to protect the cliff below the Palazzina and prevent the Municipality from giving the entire area under concession for horticultural use, on 7 August 1941 the Superintendency notified the Podestà of Portoferraio the particular interest of this cliff declaring it subject to the provisions of law 778 of the 1922 on the protection of natural beauty and properties of particular historical interest. With regard to the use of the Palazzina, in November 1934 the Superintendency proposed to the Ministry to use it for the collection of Napoleonic objects and memorabilia, including the library that Napoleon had left to the city and which was to be the centerpiece of a Napoleonic museum; objects and furniture purchased by the Municipality and others taken from state collections and from palaces and royal villas would have been added to the library. During the war, the work and activities of the Superintendency continued. After the devastating bombings suffered by Portoferraio in 1944, the Municipality decided to house some displaced families at the Palazzina: this was the first of a series of initiatives taken between 1944 and 1945 by local authorities who, to resolve the serious situation of The emergency, they assigned the building to different uses, provoking in vain the protests of the Superintendencies of Florence and Pisa. The villa became, as well as accommodation for internally displaced persons, the headquarters of Civil Engineering offices and civil and political associations; the theater was requisitioned and used for a certain period as a garage for the vehicles of the minefield reclamation service. Meanwhile, the mayor informed the Praetor that the location of the prison in the Dovecote would not be appreciated by citizens because the prisoners could be vehicles for lung and infectious diseases. The Praetor remained however of his opinion to allocate the areas provided for detention accommodation, also taking into account the precarious conditions of the premises, partly used for storing tools and hay, for the caretaker's accommodation, carpenter shop, etc. However, in the absence of the approval of the Pisa Superintendency for the Pretore's project, the latter would therefore have had to move towards other buildings in Portoferraio (for example the De Laugier barracks or that of the firemen) that best met the needs of a prison. In April 1948 the Superintendent of Florence officially asked the Ministry of Finance to assign the three gardens, the stables, the bastion with the Dovecote and the cliff between Forte Falcone and the Bastione delle Viste to completely rebuild the complex of buildings and related land. to the Napoleonic palace. Various restoration works were carried out between 1946 and 1955, particularly in the severely damaged area of the theater. The delivery of the works was finally formalized in 1964. From that date the Villa dei Mulini is in all respects a Napoleonic museum open to the public.
1 окт 2024
