The Prince of Aragon Filippo Maria D’ Anjou, second cousin of King Charles III , to escape the plague that afflicted Naples for two years beginning in 1763, decided to go with his family near the brother in law Duke Angie of Ferrara who lived in the family palace in the village Scacciaventi in Cava de’ Tirreni.
The town of Cava in the Amalfi Coast boasted, ever since the great Roman Empire, a great interest for its mild climate and sheltered from the mistral wind. In his forced stay, the Prince walked often in the ancient village of Casaburi, now renamed Rotolo, to hear Mass in the little church of San Giovanni, built in 1300 by Pope Boniface X, and also to attend the spectacular play of the migratory pigeons widespread in the high aristocracy of Naples and Salerno.
In truth, the prince was fascinated by the silence that magically and permanently lived in this village. A solemn deep silence that, as often he liked to say, allowed himself to listen to slightly sweet love songs.
In one of these carriage rides with the family, as he reached the small church of San Giovanni to see the game of the pigeons, a carriage wheel was damaged hiting the edge of the road at that point very restricted. The Prince, forced to stop, had the time to admire the landscape at that place closer to the sea of Amalfi. This stretch of sea was from the west coast of San Liberatore Mount to the east of Mount Dragonea, losing on the horizon in the colours of the sky with a fantastic play of light and shadow.
The prince approaching the face of his wife said: “This narrow stretch of sea from the mountains to the sky is same, today, your daring neckline” and after a short pause he exclaimed vehemently: “Here I want to build our villa for holidays!”. The wife promptly answered: “And here is where you will build it, dear Philip”. The time spent nine years and than the Prince bought the land precisely in that place by the heirs of the baker in Cava, Matteo Marino, and the morning of 8 March 1773 began the construction of the villa for holidays, they lasted 4 years.
The prince had commissioned the design and construction management to his nephew, the architect Giovanni Paolo di Giacomo De Lombardi Baron of Ogliastro Cilento, an expert in fortifications and bridges and dams. The architect had already long been known throughout the Kingdom for his professional skills for the many works directly received by King Charles. He in preparing the draft of the villa which he carried out the construction of a large rainwater collection tank of cylindrical shape to be carried out together with the construction of foundations. This tank was built with a clever mix of narrow passageways inspection, channeling water into and out of pipes made of clay pieces shaped and narrow funnels arranged one behind the other and even with much experience building materials to be used as the fine powder of limestone found in the place during the excavations. Architect executed a true work of art, unique for its time, and is intended to give the house a service that upset the use of water in buildings of residence, he had led directly to the drinking water at home. In fact, from a vertical pulley pull water from the tank came into the kitchen, and yet, since the iron bucket that contained it came to the same level of firing kilns, that’s poured from the container in a pot, water was brought to boil and also served for domestic purposes. The building, once completed, was presented as a precious stone set in the rock. It seemed to have given elbow strikes to the rock and be able, with difficulty, to carve out a small place in the sun on the Amalfi Coast. The princess loved call the villa “The green stone on the Amalfi Coast”. The villa consistency was a ground floor at street level with three rooms, all with access from the public street with a behind cellar. One compartment was used as a stable for four horses ,another compartment for storage of the carriage and a more as an input to the floor above which included 7 rooms including a kitchen and bathroom, the ceiling was completely covered. A terrace at floor level, had separate the villa from an its dependence consisting in a small building , ground floor and first floor, where the servants lived. The prince was pleased with his vacation villa, and, as a tribute to his nephew. He wanted to call the villa with a name including the his own family and the nephew family. In the spring of 1777 “Villa of Aragon and De Lombardi” was born. It was intended to be the protagonist of the story.
In fact, during the French Revolution, May 7, 1799 the house was requisitioned by the general Watrin ,commander of the column French military of occupation. Watrin established in the Villa D’Aragona and De Lombardi, during the period of employment, the office of his command, believing the villa in an excellent location and safe from the guns of the King.
Villa D’Aragona and De Lombardi becomes protagonist of the History in 1848 with the revolution in Naples. The young student Gianluigi D’Aragona, the youngest of the family, accommodates , at the villa , the counterrevolutionary Captain Filippo De Julis and his lieutenants. Gianluigi is a faithful of the king and also a great friend of De Julis. The Piemontesi, made aware, in November of 1848, assaulting the house. Captain De Julis, to cries of Long live the King!, is shot dead on the grounds of the villa. Gianluigi along with the lieutenants was imprisoned in the dungeons of Castel Sant’ Elmo in Naples to be tried by a revolutionary court that sentenced him to death. Luckily, the victorious return of King Ferdinand in Naples saves. Freed, was appointed by the king himself “Marshal of the Kingdom” After studying, Gianluigi decides to have as a primary residence, “Villa D’Aragona and De Lombardi”. He loved to walk and used to go every morning at dawn, with his dog, walking on beaches, in order to hear the waves and read in the solitude his books of philosophy. Gianluigi was able to accommodate in the villa several celebrities. The most important was the great Giuseppe Verdi which spent a holiday on August of 1859 . Is still preserved today in the villa , the grand piano where the illustrious visitor played.
It’s relevant that in this period, the aqueduct of Cava reaches the Rotolo hamlet with a simple connexion in iron pipes. The drinking water is in the villa! It is sufficient to power a fountain. The De Lombardi Architect great idea was now obsolete!
Throughout the period of World War I , the villa is the primary residence of the D’Aragona family, a much safer place than the city of Naples. But the house will remain only for few years of ownership of the D’Aragona family. His fate is now sealed.
In April 1919 the captain of the Royal Cavalry , Gianfranco Andrea D’Aragona, gold medal for valor, while is playing French cards in the circle of officers in the gardens of the Real Teatro di San Carlo in Naples , clashes in yet another round of cards, with Carlo Pagliara, a wealthy dealer of food and supplies with interest at the command of the Royal Navy. The game is short, the captain loses everything at this point extracted from the pockets of the regimentals a sheet of letter already written by one side and a gold fountain pen. He draws a line on what was written on the paper and writes on the back, in the silence of all: I sold to Mr Carlo Pagliara for “one lira†a building called Villa de Lombardi e D’Aragona , located in Rotolo di Cava de’Tirreni, from the ground up to heaven, with all its contents and with the ground service and the house of the servant , all entire property without any easements and mortgages. Date and signature. The villa is no longer of the D’Aragona family. On 25 April 1919 the villa, by an act of the notary Arturo Della Monica in Cava , goes to Mrs. Carlotta Pagliara , sister of Carlo. In this occasion the villa is registered at the Land Registry of Salerno to the sheet 25 of the Town of Cava de Tirreni with particles 336 and 337, taking the name of Villa Pagliara.
From that day the house undergoes a period of obscurantism. Many times bought and sold , the villa changes many time its name to get almost to anonymity. On May 5, 1924, by an act of Notary Arturo Della Monica in Cava, Mrs. Carlotta Pagliara of Andrea sold the house at Mr.Vincent De Julis. On August 18, 1926, by Act of Notaries Arturo Della Monica Cava, Mr. De Julis sold at Mrs. Gamboni Erminia of Pasquale. On February 16, 1927, by right public testament, notary Enrico Maria Salerno, in Salerno, registered on May 2 after, the house passes property to the husband of Mrs. Gamboni Commander Luigi Martin ,son of Alberto, who was quaestor in Salerno. The villa is called “Villa Martin”. The Commander married a second time with Mrs. Anna De Luca Saggese of Antonio and he leaves to her the Villa Martin, with holograph will of 17 February 1940 published a report of the Notary Arturo Della Monica in Cava, of April 13, 1945 at No. 392. On January 9, 1959, upon the death of Mrs. De Luca, “Villa Martin” became property, by the holographic will just published of 17 April 1945 of Notary Giovanni Della Monica in Pollica on February 4, 1949 , of the sisters Anna and Erminia Sergio. The following year, on January 18, 1960, the Sergio sisters sold again the villa- an act of the notary Antonio D’Ursi in Cava de Tirreni, recorded in Cava de Tirreni January 22, 1960 at No. 462 – at the Senator of the Republic, naval architect ,Gaetano Fiorentino. The villa is called “Villa Ghengo†With the succession of the late Senator Fiorentino – opened in Naples February 17, 1973 at No. 727- the villa became common and undivided property of the heirs , the sisters Licia e Bruna Montalbetti, respectively the wife and sister in law of the Senator and his son John. On March 11, 1982 the heirs Fiorentino sold the villa to Antonio Lambiase, professor in Cava de Tirreni.
Immediately after purchasing the Villa for 4 consecutive years prof. Lambiase agrees with substantial capital, as a designer, manager and building contractor, the restructuring and expansion of the villa. At the end of the work he give at villa the name of his wife, Amalia. The date hereof, the villa has returned to its former glory. With infinite love, the professor Lambiase was able to return to the “Villa Amalia” that same desire to live happy, that same elegance in opening up to those who ask to enter, the same solemn silence in which the Prince of Aragon Filippo Maria D’Anjou listened, in his small town, the sweet love songs.