Why go
The villa’s value lies in how its details express its owner’s self-image. Ionic columns and Art Nouveau decoration coexist, while the dedication to love and sorrow makes that emotional programme explicit. Its later appearance in Roger Peyrefitte’s fiction adds another layer, although the novel should be read as a fictionalised account.
The full story
Jacques d’Adelswärd-Fersen acquired the land in 1904 and built Villa Lysis in 1905. The identity of its designer is uncertain, so its architecture is better approached through the building itself than through a confident attribution. Art Nouveau elements combine with Neoclassical forms, including the Ionic columns of the portico. The Latin inscription above the entrance means “a shrine to love and sorrow”. The name Lysis refers to Plato’s dialogue on friendship, reinforcing the house’s literary associations. Inside, a marble stair with a wrought-iron balustrade, blue majolica and white ceramics distinguish the rooms. The villa later deteriorated and underwent restoration in the 1990s. Roger Peyrefitte’s 1959 novel L’Exilé de Capri recast Fersen’s life with Nino Cesarini as fiction, extending the house’s cultural identity beyond the architecture itself.