Villa Massimo

Villa Massimo, short for Deutsche Akademie Rom Villa Massimo (Italian: Accademia Tedesca Roma Villa Massimo), is a German cultural institution in Rome, established in 1910 and located in the Villa Massimo.

The fellowship of the German Academy in Rome, often referred to as the German Rome Prize, is one of the most important awards granted to distinguished artists for study abroad. The award offers residencies of one year at Villa Massimo in Rome as well as three months at Casa Baldi in Olevano Romano to artists who have excelled in Germany and abroad, including architects, composers, writers and artists.^[1]

The institution's founder was the patron and entrepreneur Eduard Arnhold, who in 1910 acquired the beautiful property of 36,000 m², previously the suburban villa of the aristocratic Massimo family. Arnhold commissioned the main building, a large villa appropriate for official events, and ten modern studios with adjacent private residential spaces. He later donated the villa and its luxurious furnishings to the Prussian state. Today, Villa Massimo is managed by the German Federal Ministry of Cultural Affairs and Media. From 2002 to June 2019 Joachim Blüher was the director of the Academy. He was succeeded by Julia Draganović.^[2][3]