Élisa Bonaparte, Napoleon's sister, only occupied the villa for 7 years, from 1806 to 1814. But those years were enough for her to transform the old fortified building into a neoclassical palace, in the image of Malmaison, and turn the old park into an immense English garden, one of the only ones in Italy at the time. Cocteau, Dali, Paul Valéry, the Dukes of Windsor and many others have strolled through the immense gardens, famous for the camellias that are fragrant when they flower.