The Embassy of Italy in Tanzania is made up of a Chancery and the Ambassador's residence in Dar es Salaam. All the buildings are the property of the Italian Government. The Chancery in Dar es Salaam is located in Upanga area.
Embassy of Italy
P.O.Box 2106
316, Lugalo Road - Upanga
Dar es Salaam
Tanzania
Ph. +255 22 2115935/6 - 2123010/1
Fax +255 22 2115938
Commercial Office :
Ph/Fax. +255 22 2117369
Emergency number: +255 754 777701
The Residence of the Italian Ambassador
Located at 104 Kenyatta Drive, the Residence of the Italian Italian Ambassador in Dar es Salaam was build between 1950 and 1952 By Amirali Yusufali Karimjee, Tanganyikan Minister of Commerce and Industry and member of the prominent Karimjee Jivanjee family, which became established through the cultivation and exportation of tea and sisal.
The villa was designed by the architect Hastings, who was working with the Bransgrove firm, and Amirali Yusufali himself also contributed to the project: he had visited Spain and collected numerous photographs of historic building. The actual construction was carried out under the direction of the architect Arrigoni, on behalf of the firm Karimjee - Jivanjee Estate Ltd.
The complex drew inspiration from the Alhambra at Granada and from a residence constructed in Seville during the period of Alfonso XIII. The Hispano-Moresque style also reflected in the materials employed: maiolica titles imported from Andalusia and wrought-iron gates and gratings. The "tile-picture" composition in the palio area, facing the coat of arms of the Italian maritime republics, reproduces that of the Spanish kingdoms, whereas the lounge loggia is decorated with wood panels containing verses from the Koran.
Situated in a residential area shaded by acacia and baobas, on the small promontory separating the long beach of Oysterbay from Msimbazi cove, the villa is divided into two wings that are connected by a quadrangular court. the court is enclosed by twenty-three columns made of a coral limestone mixuture, surmonted by wood-architrave capitals, modelled after Roman villas that had been restored in great Britain.
The north wing, with its staircase tiled in Andalusian majolica, extrends over two floors and includes a loggia screened by a delicately worked hig grating. Four bedrooms make up the private apartments. The south wing consists of a large lounge illuminated by twenty skylights and six French windows which, on one side, open on to the inner patio and on the other, on to the garden terrace. This part of the building was enlarged in 1986 by System Construction Ltd. of Ameglia, with the addition of a drawing-room and a small quadrangular tower, diagonally opposite the already existing noth-wing tower. From the latter tower one enters a guest room that has a roofed loggia and a view of the gardens and the sea.
During the same year, the firm also build a south wing, which houses the new dining room, decorated with a large mirrors and five French windows aligned along the cast wall. The French windows open on to a garden terrace that is slighly elevated with respect to the level of the garden. In 1992, the same firm created a long enclosure wall along the west site and build two large entrance gates. A portico which leads to the garden borders the east side of the patio.
A private way is located in front of the west side and it brodens in the square facing the main entrance, which is surmonted by an arch in pink stone, leading to a lobby which is also decorated with polychrome tiles.
This part of the garden is dominated by a huge tree with dome - shaped foliage that has a diameter reaching thirty meters and a wide twisted trunk interwinded with robust boughs. It is a Ficus religiosa, also known as the Abo tree or Peepul, or more commonly as Buddha's tree, transplanted there in 1952 by a Buddhist monk from Ceylon. Ornamental plants grow beneath its branches and on the lawn there is a small stone comemorating little Ferdi, a house dog at the residence for a brief months.
The garden extend to the opposite end of the building and they are shaded by the high trunks characteristic of African flora.
Plants and shrubs are arranged in beds and flower year-round with brilliant colours against the stark white walls. few steps lead down to the cast section that is even more pleasant and shaded.
The south side has a greater slope over which a charming terrace was build. It is enclosed by a balustrade and make a perfect stage for the musical ensembles performing for guests and receptions.
The new wing of the building ends in a porticoed niche and a basin decorated with a floral-patterned majolica tiles, among which a lion of Castle and Colombus caravel appear white and gold carps slip by among waterlilies and papyruses.
Among the guests invited to the villa by its first owner, one finds Prince Aly Khan, the Maharajah of Baroda and the Maharaja of Porbandar, the United States Senator Adlai Stevenson, Louis Armstrong, Randolph Churchill, Viscount Boys, the British Governor General Edward Twining and Richard Turnbull, the President of Tanganyika Julius Nyerere and Bernard Grizmek.
After its purchase by the Italian State in 1963, guests received at the Residence include the President of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Italian Chamber of Deputies Giulio Andreotti, Senator Giovanni Bersani, the Under-Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs Angelo Salizzoni, Luciano Radi, Mario Pedini, Roberto Palleschi, Mario Raffaelli and Carmello Azzar’a, the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Trade Guido Bernado, the Presidnet of the Institute for Foreign Trade Luigi Deserti, Senator Tullia Carettoni, the Mayor of Bologna Renato Zangheri, Mrs. Mariapia Fanfani, General Sergio Siracusa, the Secretary General of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi Horace Kolimba, the Tanzanian Ministers Gilman Rutihinda, Steven Kibona, Benjamin Mkapa, Abdulrahman Kinana, Al Noor Kassum, Philemon Sarungi, Nyalala Kiula, Anna Makinda, William Shija, Marcel Komanya, the Ambassadors Abbas Kleist Sykes, Paul Rupia, Crispin Mbapila, Daudi Ngelautwa Mwakawango and Sulaeiman Hemedi, Professor T.L Malyamkono, Monsignor Luigi Mazzucato and Professor Anacleto Dal Lago, the writes Alberto Moravia, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Roberto Pazzi and Andrea Bardi, professor Enrico Castelli, Professor Donato Sartori, the Archtect Paola Piizzi, the Antiquarian Simona Fraja, the poet, Musician and composer Enzo Samaritani and his son Giovanni, the Pianists Carole CArniel and Nadia FAnzaga, the Painters Elie-Georges Berreby, Luc-Francois Granier, Flo Liebst, Lady Moon and Professor Umberto Gori.
During the Italian National Day celebrations, a large number of visitors admire the unique beauty of the villa and the gardens.