Register on the site and receive €5 immediately discount.
Starting from: 0 per person
2h
English, Espanol, Francais, Italiano
Unlimited
Historic home
Suitable for children
Suitable for couples
Pets allowed
Parking available
Barrier-free
Language supports
Ordinary ticket costs €8.00
The ticket costs €7.00 for groups of 15 people or more
The ticket costs € 6.00 for over 65 and children aged 5 to 12 years old
Tickets are purchased only on site
For safety reasons, children are allowed to enter the Tower Museum from the age of 5 years old
Small animals are allowed
The museum is located in Piazza Duomo 84010 Ravello (SA)
Villa Rufolo is the jewel of Ravello; it is the place that left Wagner spellbound, who made it his meditation retreat and in the park imagined the Klingsor fairy garden of his masterpiece, Parsifal.
The villa, built by the Rufolo family around the 13th century, is an immense architectural heritage that is one of the main reasons Italian and foreign tourists visit Ravello.
The Rufolo family, in the Middle Ages, was the symbol of Ravello's economic and political power for more than two centuries, so they built the mansion representative of their social status.
Boccaccio is said to have known the Rufolo family directly and stayed here, in fact it is very likely that "the palagio with beautiful and great courtyard in the middle and with loggias and halls and with wonderful gardens" is the garden of Villa Rufolo, moreover Boccaccio dedicated a novella of the Decameron to Landolfo Rufolo.
Medieval Ravello will unfortunately be subject to the decay of the Maritime Republic by Amalfi, and the Rufolo family had to dismember the property. The villa passed by succession to the Confalone, the Muscettola and then the D'Afflitto di Scala families in the 18th century, who made the palace habitable but at the same time destroyed many valuable elements, causing the ruin of the residence. By the mid-19th century, the mansion showed only part of its original appearance. A Scottish Lord, Sir Francis Nevile Reid, decided despite its uninhabitable condition to purchase and restore it, thus creating the masterpiece that made Wagner exclaim, "The magical garden of Klingsor is found." With Reid's death, unfortunately, once again the mansion was dismembered by the heirs and the furnishings sold. In 1974 it was purchased by the EPT (Ente Provinciale per il Turismo) of Salerno and managed until 2007, then the management was entrusted to the Ravello Foundation, which launched a series of initiatives to restore, enhance and protect the monument.
The noteworthy environments of Villa Rufolo are the Entrance tower, which had no defensive purposes, but only aesthetic ones, where we find statues representing the seasons, one of the most fascinating details, the beautiful cloister surrounded by twisted columns, in the Moorish style, and the Major Tower, the first part of the entire complex that with its height expresses the power of the Rufolo family. From here there is an excellent view.
Other important rooms include the well, where Wagner glimpsed his Magical Enchanted Garden of Klingsor, the first real representation of his visions and creative genius; the Belvedere, a garden that offers a beautiful view of the entire Amalfi Coast area; and the chapel, which hosts important art exhibitions throughout the year.
The garden of Villa Rufolo, connown as the "garden of the soul," it occupies two levels and is reached by walking down a tree-lined avenue.
This garden enchanted the German composer Wagner, who found in these places the materialization of his imagination. The gardens and parks of Villa Rufolo are open throughout the year and attract visitors from all over the world. Built along with the villa in the 13th century, unfortunately we possess little historical evidence of this enchanted place. According to what Boccaccio wrote in the first day of the Decameron, it is possible that the gardens extended as far as the Rufolo property, but it was when Villa Rufolo was purchased by Francis Nevile Reid that the gardens were reborn and the fame of this place began. Villa Rufolo became Reid's summer home, attracted by the mild climate and beauty of the place.
Over time the gardens have undergone various demolitions: during the war they were confiscated by British forces, in 1951 a particularly violent storm hit the mansion, and in 1955 the upper part of the garden was removed due to the construction of the provincial road.
A terrace that provides breathtaking views, both toward the mountains and the sea. One of the best belvederes that allows you to observe the Cilento Coast all the way to the Amalfi Coast. The terrace of Villa Rufolo, along with that of Villa Cimbrone, enchanted Wagner, in whose honor the International Music Festival is held each year, making Ravello the city of music on the Amalfi Coast.
Ravello has been the scene of one of Italy's most important music festivals for 65 years now. This unmissable event takes place in July, with a series of prestigious classical music concerts held in the venues of Villa Rufolo and in the Oscar Niemeyer Auditorium. The program in recent years has also begun to include more modern music, such as concerts by the world's best jazz musicians and foreign folk music.
In short, Villa Rufolo in Ravello is a must-see destination for visitors to the Amalfi Coast.
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