Villa Paradiso is a nineteenth-century villa, located at the top of via Pietro Castellino, formerly via Nuova Montedonzelli, in the Arenella district.
The villa covers an area of about one hundred thousand square meters and originated from two pre-existing villas, namely Villa Ruffo di Scilla, uphill, and Villa Romeo, downhill.
Inside the villa, purchased by the Paradiso family at the end of the 1800s, you can still find a chapel that belonged to the Romeos and decorations of Apollo with the Muses and frescoes by Luca Giordano in the palace rooms, on the downhill side. On the uphill side, instead, there is a huge courtyard with a very deep well (the entire area, at the time, used rainwater due to the lack of water) and a nineteenth-century sacred shrine dedicated to the Immaculate. At the time, there was also a small bridge, called the "cardinal's bridge," which led to the Masseria Elefante, also owned by the Ruffo family.
You can also glimpse a tower with a sundial.
