Mussolini’s Villa on Rhodes

You may remember a an article I wrote for Military Reenactors Magazine about Profitis Ilias on Rhodes a couple of years back? Well this time we travelled that way once more to visit a villa built as a retirement home for Mussolini. Blimey, the amount of steep climbing we had to do to get there, I couldn’t imagine him nipping to the shop for more Tzatziki.

General Cesare Maria De Vecchi stayed there between 1936 and 1940, whilst he was the Italian Governor of Rhodes. Mussolini planned to use Rhodes as a major naval base, but luckily never set foot in his villa, which was later abandoned in 1947.

There is still a haunting grandeur about this derelict building. Blindsiding the graffiti and obvious looting, you can still see what a remarkably beautiful house this was. The view from the veranda, overlooking the roof of the Elaphos Hotel and onto the sea, is breathtaking. I managed to save a few photos to my computer before Betsy miraculously hid my camera card. Here is what I have for you!

Probably unplanned, but note how the tiled floor of the entrance way looks like an elongated Star of David pattern…