Villa Farnesina

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This “little” Farnese palace, perhaps would better be named Villa Chigi, in honor of the powerful and wealthy Sienese banker and art lover, Agostino Chigi, who commissioned the building and decoration of the impressive palace.

Located in a tranquil position in the Trastevere, the palatial villa is set amongst beautifully sculpted Italian gardens. The villa itself, built in the early 1500s, is a spectacular example of Italian Renaissance architecture, elegant and harmonious. Even grander than the villa and its gardens though, are the sumptuous frescoes which decorate it rooms.

Most famous of all is Raffaello’s Galatea fresco which gives its name to the loggia in which it presides, sharing the space with numerous other works, including a drawing by Michelangelo and dramatic vaulted ceiling painted by the architect himself, Baldassare Peruzzi, featuring signs of the zodiac. Raffaello’s masterpiece features a beautiful sea nymph on a shell escorted by dolphins, not unlike Botticelli’s Birth of Venus.

In part due to this painting, Raffaello became a favorite of the owner and was commissioned to decorate a second loggia. According to Vasari, the work proved slow thanks to the artist’s all-consuming love affair, and Chigi eventually moved both Raffaello and his mistress into the villa in efforts to speed work. While the Loggia of Cupid and Psyche was designed by Raffaello, much of the actual painting was carried out by his assistants. The ceiling features a grand image of the Council of the Gods in center stage, set apart by elaborate garlands which outline the architecture of the room and seemingly extend the gardens just outside the window into the loggia.

Further frescoes abound in the upstairs room, most notably, the Hall of the Frieze, with it’s detailed frieze work and trompe l’oeil draping and the marital chamber entirely decorated with colorful images of Alexander the Great’s wedding.

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