FARNESE PALACE

Palazzo Farnese is one of the most beautiful and important buildings in Rome. Formerly considered one of the “four wonders of Rome,” it is an architectural jewel that holds extraordinary works of art.

Commissioned in 1513 by Alessandro Farnese (1468-1549), the future Pope Paul III, and completed in 1589, it was built under the direction of four great architects-Sangallo the Younger, Michelangelo, the Vignola Giacomo Della Porta.

THE CARRACCI GALLERY, A RENAISSANCE MASTERPIECE

During the guided tour, it will be possible to admire the world-famous Galleria Carracci, created between 1597 and 1608 by the brothers Annibale and Agostino Carracci, exponents of the new 16th-century classicism: a magnificent 20-meter vault frescoed with mythological subjects from Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

The frescoes, amidst optical and perspective games, superimpose sculpture, painting and architecture in a triumph of light, shapes and colors that have amazed and fascinated observers for more than four hundred years.

The gallery in Palazzo Farnese, decorated mainly by Annibale, is still considered his masterpiece and is the most perfect conclusion to a century and a half of pictorial innovation in Europe, before the birth of the great artistic currents of the seventeenth century.

THE HALL OF HERCULES AND OTHER WONDERS

Other masterpieces of Palazzo Farnese include the Hall of Hercules with 17th-century tapestries, sarcophagi adorned with mythological scenes and surmounted by sculptures of Roman warships, the Murano Gallery, the Camerino also wonderfully frescoed by Annibale Caracci, the Hall of Possessions, the incredible Vestibule, the Courtyard and the Garden.

THE BASEMENTS OF THE FARNESE PALACE FINALLY OPEN TO THE PUBLIC ALSO IN ENGLISH!

Also open to visitors since 29 May 2024, are the Basements of Palazzo Farnese. And from 4 March 2025 an English-language guided tour is available. The Basements hold a number of archaeological artifacts that can be traced back to three different periods of Ancient Rome, including two marvelous black-and-white tile mosaics, the first depicting animals and sea monsters, the second spectacular circus acrobats on horseback, the Desultores.

FARNESE PALACE TODAY

Since 1874 the Palace has been home to the French Embassy and from the following year also to the École française de Rome, a research institute and library.

Mirabilia Art Wonders is exclusively entrusted with the organization of cultural guided visits to the Farnese Palace on behalf of the Embassy of France.

Tours are possible every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and can be booked through this website: www.visite-palazzofarnese.it

Palazzo Farnese
Embassy of France in Italy
Piazza Farnese
00186 Rome