The fifteenth century Villa Taverna, commissioned by Cardinal Consalvi. Beginning in 1933, the U.S. Embassy rented the Villa from Taverna’s daughter. During World War II the property managed to avoid destruction by serving as a convalescent home for the Italian military. Returned to the U.S. Government in 1944, the Villa and gardens were purchased in 1948 from Princess Ida Borromeo-Taverna. Throughout the 1800s Roman nobility escaped the summer city heat here. In 1824 Pope Leo XII opened the Papal Seminary College, and for the next one hundred years, many illustrious scholars frequented the well-known center of learning. Palazzo Taverna is a palace in Rome, located on the Via di Monte Giordano and first built under orders of Cardinal Giordano Orsini, who wished to turn his ancient castle on the Monte Giordano into a residence. The Palazzo passed to the Gabrielli family in 1688 and they used it to host members of the Bonaparte family such as Eugénie de Montijo. In 1888 it passed to the Taverna family.