Built in the 16th century on an earlier Roman villa, it is one of the oldest and most admirable historic buildings in Frascati. Enlarged and renovated by various popes and aristocratic families, including the Falconieri family to whom it owes its name, it also housed a German school of fine arts and letters, commissioned by Emperor Wilhelm II. It is famous for its frescoes, its library, its park, and for being a landmark of humanistic and Renaissance culture. Today it is home to the Academy Vivarium Novum, an institution of excellence for the study of classical languages and cultures.