The element of water, central to all display in the garden of the Villa Aldobrandini, also enlivened spaces inside garden pavilions, such as this magnificent room, the Sala d'Apollo or Stanza dei Venti (Room of the Winds). Recalling the feature of the ancient grotto-nymphaeum, this richly adorned stanza featured a large Mount Parnassus, the mythical home of Apollo and the Muses. Famous among seventeenth- and eighteenth-century travelers for its pneumatic and hydraulic marvels, the Stanza dei Venti included surprising water tricks and artificial sounds of thunder, wind, and rain.

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