What began as a routine job for an electrician turned into an extraordinary discovery of hidden art treasures in a 16th-century Roman villa.
Electrician Davide Renzoni was performing maintenance work at the Villa Farnesina, a historic estate in Rome, when he stumbled upon a mysterious hatch in the ceiling of the villa's main hall.
Curious, Renzoni opened the door and found himself staring into another world.
Photo: Luigi Spina / Extraordinary Society on YouTube
Instead of dusty beams and peeling plaster, he was greeted by an extraordinary fresco of a cherub with golden wings, framed against a blue sky with luminous clouds.
Realizing the scale of his discovery, Renzoni immediately alerted the villa’s inspector.
Upon investigation, art experts confirmed that the room contained a series of 17th-century frescoes painted by Carlo Maratta, one of the most celebrated Baroque painters of his time, along with his students. This was reported by Euronews.
Forgotten Masterpieces
The villa, now owned by the Italian state, was originally purchased by the Farnese family in 1580. In the 1690s, the family commissioned Maratta to restore existing artworks.
However, as the frescoes revealed, Maratta and his team did far more than restore—they created entirely new works of art.
The frescoes remained visible until the 1860s when a vaulted ceiling was added to the large hall, concealing the masterpieces and leaving them forgotten for over 160 years.
