Villa Farnesina: Raphael's frescoes in Trastevere

The Villa Farnesina, on Via della Lungara, is the pleasure villa that the Sienese banker Agostino Chigi had built between 1506 and 1510 by Baldassarre Peruzzi, on the bank of the Tiber opposite Trastevere. People come for its Renaissance frescoes: Raphael's Triumph of Galatea, the Loggia of Psyche designed by Raphael and painted by his workshop, Peruzzi's perspectives and the bedroom decorated by Sodoma. It takes its name from the Farnese family, who bought it in 1580. It now belongs to the State and serves as the representative seat of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei; a visit costs €12 and the villa closes at 2 pm from Monday to Saturday. Allow about 1 hour for the ground-floor and upper-floor rooms, plus a stroll through the garden.

Highlights

The Triumph of Galatea

Around 1512, in the open loggia on the ground floor, Raphael painted the nymph Galatea standing on a shell drawn by dolphins, surrounded by tritons and nereids. The scene is set against the frescoes by Sebastiano del Piombo, who painted the Cyclops Polyphemus and episodes from Ovid in the same room, and against Peruzzi's vault, which shows the astrological chart of Agostino Chigi's birth.

The Loggia of Psyche

This former loggia, once open to the garden, tells Apuleius's fable on its vault, in two large scenes painted as tapestries stretched across the ceiling: the council of the gods and the wedding banquet. The design is Raphael's; the execution was by his workshop (Giulio Romano and Gianfrancesco Penni, among others). The garlands of fruit and flowers framing the scenes are by Giovanni da Udine.

The villa and its garden

A regular block, a five-arched loggia on the ground floor and a frieze under the roof: the villa is one of the first examples of the suburban villa of the Roman Renaissance. It opens onto a small garden with a fountain and clipped box hedges, which you cross on arrival.

Peruzzi's perspectives and Sodoma

Upstairs, the Sala delle Prospettive is decorated by Peruzzi with false columns that open onto trompe-l'œil views of Rome. The neighbouring room, Chigi's former bedroom, holds Sodoma's great cycle of the Wedding of Alexander and Roxana.

Hours and prices

Open Monday to Saturday 9 am-2 pm, last entry 1:15 pm; special opening on the second Sunday of each month 9 am-5 pm (last entry 4:15 pm). Closed on other Sundays. Full ticket €12; reduced €10 (students, over-65s); free for children under 10, people with disabilities and a companion, and licensed guides.

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