1 Campidoglio
2 Castel Sant'Angelo
3 Colosseum (Colosseo)
4 Palazzo Barberini
5 Pantheon
6 Piazza Navona
7 Roman Forum (Foro Romano)
8 San Clemente
9 Sistine Chapel & Vatican Museums
10 St Peter's (San Pietro)
A treasure trove of paintings from the 13th to the 16th centuries is housed in one of Rome's grandest baroque palaces.
Carlo Maderno's original design, begun in 1624 for Barberini Pope Urban VIII, was embellished by Bernini and Maderno's nephew Borromini. The latter added the elegant oval staircase and the windows of the upper storey which, using ingenious artificial perspective, preserve the symmetry of the façade while staying in proportion with the size of the actual rooms.
The palace was sold to the Italian state in 1949 and houses, together with Palazzo Corsini, the national collection of art. There are plans to remove the officers' mess which occupies a large area, expand the gallery and reunite the collection. In the meantime extensive renovations are bringing the main rooms back to their original splendour, the most spectacular of which is the Gran Salone, with its elaborate ceiling fresco, Triumph of Divine Providence, by Pietro da Cortona. Magnificent quattrocento panel paintings include an ethereal Annunciation by Filippo Lippi, and a Madonna and Saints by Alunno. The highlights of the collection are the 16th- and 17th-century paintings: Andrea del Sarto's magical Sacra Famiglia; Raphael's La Fornarina (widely believed to be a portrait of the baker's daughter who was his mistress, although some maintain it is in fact a picture of a courtesan and was painted by Giulio Romano); a portrait of Urban VIII by Bernini (his genius lay more in sculpture and architecture); and works by El Greco, Bronzino, Guido Reni, Guercino and Caravaggio.Address: Via Quattro Fontane 13
Phone: 06 481 4591/482 4184
Open: Tue-Sun 9-7
Bus: 60, 61, 62, 175, 492, 590 to Piazza Barberini; 590 has facilities for passengers with reduced mobility
Metro: Metro Barberini
Accessible: None
Admission: Moderate
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