villa Eleonora

At Villa Eleonora, the eye is deliberately misled. What appears from the outside to be a pitched roof, tiled and solid, is in fact a clever deception. The high parapets of two flat terraces have been shaped and finished with roof tiles, creating the convincing illusion of a sloping attic storey. On the south façade, even the little attic windows remain in place, complete with their frames, completing the architectural sleight of hand.

Inside, the villa’s original layout is largely intact, especially on the ground floor. A central staircase, vaulted with a barrel ceiling, leads upward, while rooms of varying sizes are arranged symmetrically on either side, mirroring each other across the east-west axis. The spatial logic is clear and regular: a tripartite plan defined by load-bearing walls, with entrances placed either along the façades or within the porticos. The building’s three storeys all follow this disciplined grid, but it is the ground floor that most faithfully preserves the villa’s original organisation, a quiet, orderly scheme that rewards a patient walk-through.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.