Rome Trastevere

V. della Lungara 230, just across from Palazzo Corsini. Bus #23; get off between Ponte Mazinni and Ponte Sisto. ☎06 680 272 68; www.villafarnesina.it. Open M-Sa 9am-1pm. Last entry 12:40pm. €5, reduced €4.

Thought to be the wealthiest man in Europe in his day, Agostino “Il Magnifico” Chigi entertained the stars of the Renaissance papal court in his sumptuously decorated villa and its extensive palm gardens. The interior decoration boasts frescoes by Raphael, Peruzzi, Il Sodoma, and Giulio Romano. After the banker’s death in 1520, however, the villa fell into disrepair and was bought by the Farnese family.

First Floor. To the right upon entering is the fantastical Sala of Galatea. The villa’s architect, Baldassare Peruzzi, bears most of the responsibility for the frescoes. Those on the ceiling depict symbols of astrological signs, which, taken with the two central panels of Perseus decapitating Medusa and Callisto, add up to a symbolic plan of the stars in the night sky at 9:30pm on November 29, 1466—the moment of Chigi’s birth. The masterpiece of the room, on the long wall opposite the windows, is Raphael’s vibrant fresco, The Triumph of Galatea, in which Galatea surfs on a conch-shell chariot drawn by two dolphins. Galatea was the lover of Polyphemus, one of the Cyclops whom Odysseus kills in The Odyssey.

One room over is the lovely Loggia di Psiche, which was an entrance hall before the Farnese family glassed it in to protect the frescoes. The 1520 ceiling fresco recreates the adventures of Psyche on Earth, including her love affair with Cupid and the ensuing jealousy of Venus. It is speculated that this love affair mirrors that of Chigi and his wife, Francesa Ordeaschi, who can be seen to the far left of the second ceiling fresco, offering a bowl to Mercury. Raphael was commissioned to paint these and even drew up designs for them, but rumor has it that he was too obsessed with his new mistress, la Fornarina, to do any work. The frescoes are attributed to Penni, Giovanni da Udine, and Giulio Romano.

Second Floor. Upstairs you’ll find two rooms decorated with impressive frescoes that celebrate Chigi’s wedding to a young Venetian noblewoman whom he had abducted and kept cloistered in a convent for several years. The first, the Sala delle Perspettive, was embellished on two ends by Baldassare Peruzzi with views of 16th-century Trastevere (right) and the Borgo (left), framed between trompe l’oeil columns. The geometry’s not all there, but a gullible eye might still get tricked into thinking it has three dimensions. Vulcan sits above the fireplace and 11 Olympian gods relax atop vine-covered arches. The adjacent Stanza delle Nozze (Marriage Room) is the real reason for coming. It was frescoed by Il Sodoma, who had been busy painting the papal apartments in the Vatican until Raphael showed up and stole the commission. But Il Sodoma rebounded well, making this masterful fresco of Alexander the Great’s marriage to the beautiful Roxanne in 1509. The side walls show the family of Darius the Persian surrendering to Alexander and a comparatively awful depiction of Bellerophon the Pegasus-tamer painted by an unknown hand.

Other Museums

Galleria Corsini. The collection of the Museo Nazionale d’Arte Antica is split between Palazzo Barberini and this gallery. Follow signs to the second floor of the Palazzo Corsini, where you will find a crowded collection of 18th-century furniture, ancient and modern sculpture, and paintings from the 14th through the 18th centuries. Among these are works by the Dutch masters Rubens and Van Dyck, and Italian virtuosi Fra Angelico, Titian, and Caravaggio. In Room 2, note in particular Fra Angelico’s triptych of the Last Judgment, the Ascension of Christ, and Pentecost to the left of the door, Titian’s Portrait of Philip II of Spain and Rubens’ St. Sebastian. Nicolas Poussin’s Triumph of Ovid in Room 6 is remarkable. Try not to miss the bedroom where Queen Christina of Sweden died—it is marked by a plaque of her dying words in Italian and Swedish (“I was born free, I lived free, and I will die free.”), as well as a rather unflattering portrait of her painted as the goddess Diana. (V. della Lungara 10. Opposite Villa Farnesina in Trastevere. Take the #23 bus and get off between Ponte Mazinni and Ponte Sisto. ☎06 68 80 23 23; www.galleriaborghese.it. Book a guided tour in advance ☎06 22 58 24 93; info.tour@libero.it. Wheelchair-accessible. Open Tu-Su 8:30am-7:30pm. Last entry 7pm. €4, reduced €2. Tickets cash only. Bookshop AmEx/D/MC/V.)