The Colonna Family and the Performing Arts in Villeggiatura at Marino

This essay, based on accounting documents of the Colonna family, explores the places, contexts, and practices of the family’s villeggiatura at the end of the seventeenth century, through a focus on the performing arts. Using documents relevant to music and performance, the essay traces a topography of villeggiatura, with particular attention to the guests entertained and the performances sponsored by Filippo II Colonna (1663-1714) during his 1690 stays in the fief of Marino, near Rome. The essay also seeks to offer some food for thought regarding the status of villeggiatura in relation to the concept of aristocratic magnificence.