Villa Paolina Civic Museum in Viareggio

The 19th-century Villa Paolina Bonaparte in Viareggio is alsoknown as “the sanctuary of Venus”
According to legend, it was built in the place where the sea washed up the body of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Paulina, Napoleon’s sister, who loved Shelley’s poetry, commissioned the construction and settled here around the middle of the 19th century. 

The villa, which stands alone in the heart of Viareggio, Bonaparte’s final and most secluded dwelling, reflects Paulina’s refined tastes in the composition of the plants and the sober elegance of the furnishings. She spent the last years of her life here, before the painful departure to Florence. Far from Parisian splendour, but not without its charms, the villa represents a place of culture, but it was also a much-needed retreat for Paulina after the death of her beloved brother Napoleon. The rooms on the top floor are dedicated to the more reserved “apartments of the princess,” with a decorative taste in the Parisian style, which alternate romantic putti scenes taken from Orlando Furioso, garlands and fake curtains.