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Carlo Marchionni decided on an essentially classical approach to construct a villa for Cardinal Albani which was to house his extraordinary collection of ancient statues, amassed with the help of his friend Winckelmann. The garden façade shows a structural framework of great intellectual clarity. Every feature seems to be reduced to its basic elements. It is without central emphasis or end pavilions, a single sequence of bays defined by an order of Corinthian pilasters standing on rusticated pilasters of an arcade with arch-head openings of "Palladian" form. The whole façade is surmounted by a running balustrade that emphasizes its linearity. The balustrades, herms and stone vases of the Gardens must be from designs of Marchionni.
Winckelmann had declared the Villa Albani "the most beautiful building of our time."
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