Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
( 06 3 28 10;
www.gebart.it
;
Via delle Quattro Fontane 13; adult/reduced €7/3.50, incl Palazzo Corsini
€9/4.50; 8.30am-7pm Tue-Sun; Barberini)
Commissioned to celebrate the Barberini fam-
ily's rise to papal power, Palazzo Barberini is a sumptuous baroque palace that impresses
even before you go inside and start on the breathtaking art. Many high-profile architects
worked on it, including rivals Bernini and Borromini: the former contributed a large
squared staircase, the latter a spiral one.
Amid the masterpieces, don't miss Pietro da Cortona's
Il Trionfo della Divina Prov-
videnza
(Triumph of Divine Providence; 1632-39), the most spectacular of the palazzo's
ceiling frescoes in the 1st-floor main salon. Other must-sees include Hans Holbein's fam-
ous portrait of a pugnacious Henry VIII (c 1540), Filippo Lippi's luminous
Annunciazione
e due devoti
(Annunciation with two Kneeling Donors) and Raphael's
La Fornarina
(The
Baker's Girl), a portrait of his mistress who worked in a bakery in Trastevere. Works by
Caravaggio include
San Francesco d'Assisi in meditazione
(St Francis in Meditation),
Narciso
(Narcissus; 1571-1610) and the mesmerisingly horrific
Giuditta e Oloferne
(Judith Beheading Holophernes; c 1597-1600).
ART & POLITICS ON VIA DEL CORSO
On Via del Corso, the arrow-straight road that links Piazza Venezia to Piazza del Popolo, you'll find
one of Rome's finest private art galleries. You wouldn't know it from the grimy exterior but the
Gal-
Corso 305; adult/reduced €11/7.50; 9am-7pm, last admission 6pm; Piazza Venezia) houses an
extraordinary collection of works by Raphael, Tintoretto, Brueghel, Titian, Caravaggio, Bernini and
Velázquez. Masterpieces abound but the undisputed star is Velázquez' portrait of Pope Innocent X,
who grumbled that the depiction was 'too real'.
A short walk to the north of the gallery, the 30m-high
Colonna di Marco Aurelio
OFFLINE MAP
GOOGLE MAP
(
www.governo.it
; Piazza Colonna 370;
guided visits 9am-1pm Sat Oct-May, book-
ing obligatory) , the official residence of the Italian prime minister. Next door, on Piazza di
800
012955;
www.camera.it
; Piazza di Montecitorio;
guided visits 10.30am-3.30pm, 1st Sun of
month;
Via del Corso)
is home to Italy's Chamber of Deputies.
Convento dei Cappuccini
MUSEUM
