Villa Torlonia was the residence of Benito Mussolini throughout World War II. He never owned the property but paid a friend and party sympathiser a token one Lire a year rental. Over the course of the war, three separate air-raid shelters were built to shelter Mussolini and his family.
Initially the wine cellar - situated apart from the main Villa - was converted into a shelter, complete with gas-tight blast doors. A pedal operated generator and ventilation pump were also installed. The cellars however lacked any concrete protection above and would have been vulnerable to aerial attack. In fact Churchill had ruled out a precision bombing attack on Villa Torlonia due to the potential collateral damage but Mussolini wasn’t to know this.
Secondly, a new shelter was built beneath the main Villa, incorporating more reinforcement, Part of the underground kitchens were converted and new ventialtion equipment installed. This second phase shelter had the additional benefits that it was larger plus could be accessed directly from the Villa, without crossing open ground.
As the war progressed, Mussolini built a third much stronger brand new bunker; work started in November 1942. Passages of circular cross-section (for strength) were arranged in a cruciform layout. Situated 6.5 metres underground, the whole was protected by a claimed 4 metre thick concrete cap. The issue of exposure whilst accessing the bunker was solved by building an underground access tunnel from the Villa itself.
The bunker was never fully completed before Mussolini’s arrest in July 1943 but both the Villa and its bunker were used by Allied High Command until 1947. Whilst constructing the bunker a number of Roman burials were discovered in the grounds. During restoration work in 2004 a replica Etruscan Toimb was unexpectedly unearthed.
Subterranea Britannica was lucky to visit all three air-raid shelters - and the Etruscan Tomb - during a visit in 2016. Today the second and third shelters are open to the public for pre-booked tours, including some in English.