The eighteenth-century Villa Signorini

On the starting stretch of the Golden Mile, a road opens on the right that slopes gently towards the sea, that led in the direction of the Port of Granatello, built in the first half of 1700 to defend the nearby Bourbon Royal Palace, as can be seen in the map of the Duke of Noja, of which today not even a few ruins remain. Today the road, which is called Via Roma, is on the border between the towns of Portici and Ercolano, near Naples.

Villa Signorini (Belmonte Granite) is located almost mid-road on the right side. The Villa is one of the few in good condition and the outside recalls the typical construction of Domenico Antonio Vaccaro, creator of the nearby Villa Maltese, also by the same architect. The façade set on two floors is decorated with eighteenth-century stucco that surrounds the ground floor windows and balcony doors on the main floor. The design of the portal is very elegant in piperno stone ashlar with ornamental scrolls and keystones, similar to corbels, supporting the balcony floor above.

A wall surrounds the view of the interior garden on both sides. The reverse side faces the garden which adjoins the lower Park of the Royal Palace of Portici, built by Charles III as the Royal Palace for the dynasty of the Bourbons of Naples prior to the construction of the more imposing Royal Palace of Caserta, and that of the Villa Maltese. The statue of Leda with the Swan at the center of the garden introduces the wing that houses the eighteenth century nativity scene. From the main floor it is possible to go down to the garden through a large terrace with two staircases, with the same design as the Villa of Elboeuf, Villa Lancellotti and the Royal Palace. Two wings, one of which is larger and more richly decorated, and now houses an elaborate, exquisite eighteenth-century nativity scene, characterize the lovely garden embellished and adorned with a fountain centered with the entrance of the Villa. The statue of Leda and the Swan which is at the center of the fountain is particularly stunning.