In two 19th-century greenhouses, after three years of restoration, marble sarcophagi, bas-reliefs, figurines, fragments of ancient inscriptions, statues, and architectural elements dating from the 1st century BC to the 3rd century AD are on display. These exhibits were part of the famous collection of Princess Zinaida Alexandrovna Volkonskaya, who owned the villa from 1830 until her death in 1862.

Many of these ancient artifacts were found in the necropolis on the Esquiline Hill, not far from the villa. Visitors are greeted by a statue of a Satyr-Musician, assembled from fifteen large fragments previously scattered throughout the garden. The restoration also included outdoor sculptures and the garden itself, which was restored according to the original plan from the time of Zinaida Volkonskaya.

It can be said that the dream of the Russian princess to make her collection public has finally come true. In 1831, she proposed to create a museum of classical arts in Moscow, but the idea was rejected. Almost a hundred years later, thanks to the efforts of I.V. Tsvetaeva, the Museum of Fine Arts was opened. The Roman museum at the Volkonskaya villa was established in honor of the 225th anniversary of the princess's birth.

Zinaida Alexandrovna Volkonskaya, known for her talent as a singer, writer, and composer, was born on December 3/14, 1789, in Dresden, where her father, Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Beloselsky-Belozersky, was the Russian envoy. After her mother's early death, she was raised by her father, who instilled in her a love for the arts. His death was a heavy blow for Zinaida and accelerated her unhappy marriage to Prince Nikita Grigorievich Volkonsky.

Due to her husband's noble lineage, Zinaida Alexandrovna spent several years abroad in the entourage of Emperor Alexander I after Napoleon's defeat. In 1820, she moved to Italy and settled in Rome, where her home became a meeting place for Russian and Italian figures in the arts. Among the guests were artists Silvester Shchedrin and Fyodor Bruni, as well as composer Gaetano Donizetti.

Her second departure to Italy in 1829 was prompted by tragic events: the death of Alexander I, the exile of her husband's brother Sergey Grigorievich Volkonsky, and the death of poet Dmitry Venevitinov. Zinaida Alexandrovna came under police surveillance after seeing off Princess Ekaterina Trubetskaya and Maria Volkonskaya to Siberia.

She chose Italy but did not sever ties with Russia. Her Roman home and country villa continued to attract the Russian artistic colony. The villa had two special alleys: the Alley of Friends and the Alley of Memories, where the princess erected monuments to her departed friends and loved ones.

After Zinaida Alexandrovna's death, her son erected a monument in her honor on the Alley of Memories. However, not all monuments have survived, and the villa itself was rebuilt. After her son's death, the villa passed to Nadezhda Vasilyevna Ilyina-Volkonskaya, but her husband squandered the fortune, and in 1922 the villa was sold to the Italian state. Many antiques and paintings disappeared, and Zinaida Volkonskaya's archive ended up in the Harvard University library. In the 1990s, fifteen unknown letters from the princess were found in the Roman archive.