With a re-affirmation in 1981 that both sites were to be retained, work began to be put in hand at both sites.

At Wolkonsky, the villa itself was extensively refurbished in 1982-3, including in consultation with John Cornforth; the former German minister’s house was converted to a counsellor’s house, and the Gatehouse to a junior staff flat, in 1985; and Azzuri’s original villa for Zenaïde, used successively as German and British chancery offices from the 1920s until 1971 and vacant since then, was converted again in 1988 to five UK staff flats (including one for the minister to FAO). The German hutments were demolished in 1994, after registration of their ‘cubatura’, and the nearby stone cottage was converted in 1998. [Update?]

For Porta Pia, sketch plans were produced in 1983 for the east half of Porta Pia,  comprising sixteen houses and flats in two terraces for UK staff accommodation and a separate building in which to out-house from the chancery building, for security reasons, the consular/visa section. These proposals were submitted in 1985, refused planning permission, and abandoned a few years later. The British Council considered using the site as a cultural centre. It commissioned an archaeological dig on the site by the British School at Rome in 1991, which found only third-century pottery and knick-knacks, indicating that the area had always been a garden.

The eastern half of the site remains unoccupied. [Recent initiatives?]

Italy