The Galleria Spada occupies Palazzo Spada, on Piazza Capo di Ferro, 200 m from Campo de' Fiori: people come first of all for Francesco Borromini's perspective, a colonnade about 8 m long that looks more than 30 m deep. Upstairs, four rooms hold the collection gathered in the 17th century by Cardinal Bernardino Spada and his great-nephew Fabrizio, hung in the old style, with paintings by Guercino, Guido Reni, Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi and Jan Brueghel the Elder. The state museum is open every day except Tuesday; a ticket costs €6. Allow about 1 hour. The rest of the palace houses Italy's Council of State, which has owned it since 1927, and cannot be visited freely.
Highlights
Borromini's perspective
Built in 1653 for Cardinal Bernardino Spada, with calculations by the Augustinian friar Giovanni Maria da Bitonto, the colonnade tricks the eye: the columns shrink, the floor rises and the vault drops towards the end. The warrior statue that looks life-size at the end of the corridor, added in the 19th century, is about 60 cm tall. You view it from the Secret Garden, without being able to walk under the colonnade.
The Cardinal's Gallery
Room III, the largest, was decorated in 1698-1699 for Cardinal Fabrizio Spada; Michelangelo Ricciolini painted the ceiling with allegories of the four continents, the elements and the seasons. At the far end hangs Guercino's Death of Dido (1631); around it are canvases by Pietro Testa and Francesco Trevisani and a Landscape with Windmills by Jan Brueghel the Elder (1607), above ancient busts and period furniture.
The palace façade
Built around 1540 for Cardinal Girolamo Capodiferro, the palace was bought in 1632 by Bernardino Spada, who brought in Borromini for alterations. Its façade is covered with Mannerist stucco work by Giulio Mazzoni and his workshop: garlands of fruit and flowers, medallions and statues of great men of ancient Rome in niches.
The Gentileschi and the Caravaggisti
Room IV, a former terrace turned into a study in 1653, brings together Orazio Gentileschi's David with the Head of Goliath, the Virgin Nursing the Child and the Saint Cecilia by his daughter Artemisia, and canvases by Valentin de Boulogne, Nicolas Régnier and Michelangelo Cerquozzi. In Room I, Cardinal Bernardino Spada sits for two portraits painted around 1631, one by Guido Reni, the other by Guercino.
Opening hours and prices
Open Wednesday to Monday from 8:30am to 7:30pm, ticket office closes at 7pm; last access to the Secret Garden and the perspective at 6:30pm. Closed on Tuesdays, 1 January and 25 December. Full-price ticket €6; reduced ticket €2 for European Union citizens aged 18 to 25; free for under-18s, people with disabilities and their companion. Free admission on the first Sunday of the month, without booking.
Infos pratiques
Tips
Booking is not required for individual visitors; tickets are also sold online on the Italian state museums portal, except on free days. Leave time for the perspective: walking towards the colonnade and then back is how you grasp the illusion. Groups of more than six people must book. Prices checked in October 2026.
How to get there
Piazza Capo di Ferro 13, 00186 Rome, 200 m from Campo de' Fiori and next to Palazzo Farnese. No metro station nearby: tram 8, Arenula/Cairoli stop, about a 5-minute walk. Buses 40, 46, 62, 64 and 70, stops on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II or at Largo di Torre Argentina, a 10-minute walk.
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