The architect Valadier in the early 19th Century was commissioned to build the Villa Torlonia. Some of his most famous works can be seen in the Piazza del Popolo. Over the years more land was purchased to be able to extend the park that was landscaped by the garden architect Augusto Jappelli. When Benito Mussolini was Head of Government between 1925 and 1943, the villa was his private residence. However after WWII it was used by the Anglo-American command in Rome as its headquarters.
