Where we find the building of the Italian embassy today, at Rennweg 27, was the former palace of Prince Metternich: the so-called “Villa Metternich” used to stand there. If we trace the origins of this Landstrasser building, we see that originally there were two large plots of land that were later combined, on which the subsequent palace and villa were built. One property is an area that was in the old corridor “In dem Gerstenpauch oder in Teuffengraben”. Old house names refer to previous owners and buildings that used to be here, such as “Thronsches Haus” or “Doppelhof”. In 1713 a Dr. medical Anton von Thron here a house with a pleasure garden. Until 1765 the property was in the hands of the Thron family. Then the house and the land passed to Johann Franz Freiherr von Prettlach. This general of the cavalry and governor of Ostend only owned the property for two years, because in 1767 Adam Wenzel Graf von Batthyan-Strattmann, also a general, became the new owner. After a brief interruption, the property finally came to Anton Freiherr von Dobelhoff-Dier. It was not until 1837 that Clemens Wenzel Lothar Prince Metternich acquired the property. At the time of this acquisition of land on the country road, Metternich was already at the peak of his career. A few decades later, in 1869, the property mentioned above passed to Richard Fürst Metternich, the eldest son of the Chancellor. As already mentioned, the later Metternich estate consisted of two large properties. The second area (the names “Kazysches Haus”, “Palais Esterhäzy”, “Palais Metternich” again refer to some of the owners) had a long development behind it before it was merged with the other. In the further course of the 18th century the property changed hands several times. The so-called “Villa Metternich” was built by an unknown architect in 1815 in the middle of the garden between these two properties, the Tronsches Haus and the Palais Esterhäzy, on the area formerly also known as the “Hölzelsche grounds”. In its original form, this building was a small one-storey garden house with a cruciform ground plan. The flower painter Franz Xaver Gruber (1801–1862) captured the building in a drawing. At that time, a simple inscription “Villa Metternich” adorned the gable, and large, heavy iron bars closed off the building from the street. Dense shrubbery and tall trees made the villa barely visible, only the rear facade facing the garden was open. This original form of the property was already changed in 1835. Peter Nobile, Hofbaurat, Academy Director and builder of the Outer Castle Gate and the Theseus Temple, rebuilt the villa in larger dimensions. Nobile added two side wings to the building, creating a kind of courtyard. The converted villa, set amidst lush gardens, was praised by all visitors. The extremely tastefully furnished living rooms of the Villa Metternich also housed a number of important works of art. Amongst the embroidery, vases, weapons, terracotta and majolica, one could admire works by Canova, Thorwaldsen and Rauch. Until the days of the revolution, the villa was frequented by scholars and artists invited by the state chancellor to his parties. The extremely spacious garden, which was later reduced in size, was considered an attraction. It extended widthwise from the Rechts Bahngasse to the house front of Waaggasse (later Salesianergasse) and lengthwise from Rennweg to the former Rabengasse (later Beatrixgasse). The attic of the villa showed the motto that Metternich had given his property — “Parva domus, magna quies”. The already mentioned “Kazysche Haus”, later also called “Palais Esterhäzy”, stood about in the middle of the elongated area. This old building stock was torn down in 1846, and work began on the new Metternisches Gartenpalais at the Rennweg garden frontage, which was to be built next to the Villa Metternich. The new palace was built according to plans by Johann Romano R. von Ringe and August Schwandernwein in 1846/47. This newly built palace, which we can still find on the Landstrasse, was already the seat of the Italian embassy in the 19th century. In the 1970s, all of Metternich’s property was parceled out. The new streets of the so-called Ambassador Quarter were created in the area of ​​the formerly huge garden area of ​​Metternich-Grund. On the occasion of this parcelling out, the older Villa Metternich was demolished in 1873, the building in which Adalbert Stifter, by the way, frequented as tutor to the prince’s son Richard. Ein anderes, einst berühmtes Palais der Landstraße war auch mit dem Namen Metternich verbunden: das Palais Metternich-Sandor. Pauline Metternich wohnte in ihrem Palais in der Jaquingasse 39 von dessen Fertigstellung im Jahr 1896 an bis zu ihrem Tod am 28. September 1921. Natürlich besitzt dieser an prachtvollen Bauten so reiche Bezirk eine Reihe anderer nicht unbedeutender Palais, von denen an dieser Stelle einige stellvertretend genannt seien. Das Palais Sternberg (Ungargasse 43) etwa, in dem seit 1948 das Italienische Kulturinstitut untergebracht ist, oder das in der Salesianergasse 11 befindliche Palais Obrenovits, bekannt auch unter dem Namen Palais Vetsera. Hier wohnte 1889 Baronesse Mary Vetsera, die gemeinsam mit Kronprinz Rudolf in Mayerling ein tragisches Ende gefunden hat. Erwähnt soll auch noch das Palais Rothschild-Springer (Metternichgasse 8), vormals Palais Bourgoing, werden. Der berühmte Architekt Otto Wagner erbaute für sich 1889 nach eigenen Plänen ein Palais. Bekannt wurde dieses Gebäude später unter dem Namen Palais Hoyos; Otto Wagner hatte seinen Besitz an die Familie Hoyos verkauft. Heute ist in diesem am Rennweg Nr. 3 befindlichen Gebäude die Jugoslawische Botschaft untergebracht. Durch seinen lange Zeit als längste Gartenanlage Wiens geltenden Garten war das Palais Dietrichstein (Rennweg 31–33) bekannt. Zu den bedeutenden Adelspalais der Landstraße gehörte auch das Palais der Familie Harrach (Ungargasse 69). In dem 1945 schwer beschädigten Gebäude, das nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg bis auf die Hauskapelle abgetragen wurde, war unter anderem im 19. Jh. die Lombardo-Venetianische Garde sowie etwas später ein Militärspital untergebracht. Abschließend sei noch des Palais Lanckoronski Jacquingasse 16–18 gedacht, eines ehemals mit wertvollen Kunstgegenständen ausgestatteten Gebäudes. Ein Großteil dieser Kunstgegenstände wurde zu Beginn des Zweiten Weltkriegs, nachdem die Familie Lanckoronski in die Schweiz gezogen war, nach Schloß Hohenems gebracht. Das Gebäude selbst wurde während des Krieges fast total zerstört. In den sechziger Jahren unseres Jahrhunderts entstand auf dem Grund des ehemaligen Palais ein modernes Fabriksgebäude.