Villa Granito di Belmonte is a historic villa in Ercolano from the first half of the eighteenth century, already marked on the Duke of Noja's map. It was built for the Granito di Belmonte princes at the junction of the royal road to Calabria, today corso Resina, and via Cecere, today via Roma, in the group of noble villas between the Royal Palace of Portici and the centre of old Resina.
What to see
Although it is separate from the villas of the Miglio d'Oro, the sources liken it to them for elegance and originality. The façade is irregular, with a projecting block on the left side; the piperno portal is decorated with stucco scrolls, which also appear on the pediments of the main-floor windows. The vaulted entrance hall, frescoed with the Granito arms, leads into the courtyard, closed towards the sea by the building's most distinctive feature: a staircase of two symmetrical flights, covered by depressed vaults, which meet behind a broad belvedere loggia. The style and decoration recall other works by Vaccaro.
In the nineteenth century, like almost all the eighteenth-century villas, it was raised by a second floor, and the wing on via Roma was extended until it covered one side of the monumental staircase. The rooms of the main floor keep traces of the original decoration. In 1911 Gioacchino di Belmonte sold the villa to Paolo Signorini, owner of the Cirio company, who also bought another villa nearby on via Roma: this is why it is also known as Villa Signorini II or «di Sopra».
Visiting
The villa is at the junction of corso Resina and via Roma. The sources consulted do not say whether or when it can be visited: check this.
Our editors' tip
A short distance away, on via Roma, is Signorini's other villa, which still bears his name: it is one of the few eighteenth-century Vesuvian villas without nineteenth-century additions, and its garden, which borders the park of the Royal Palace, has a piperno fountain with a statue of Leda.
