Page 153 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Rome

C A MPO DE ’ FIORI  151

w Palazzo Ricci
Piazza de’ Ricci. Map 4 D4 & 11 B4.
@ 23, 40, 46, 62, 64, 116, 280, 870.
Closed to the public.
Palazzo Ricci was famous for its
frescoed facade – now rather
faded – originally painted in
the 16th century by Polidoro
da Caravaggio, a follower
of Raphael.
In Renaissance Rome it was
common to commission artists
to decorate the outsides of
houses with heroes of Classical
antiquity. A fresco by a leading
artist such as Polidoro, reputedly
the inventor of this style of Courtyard of Palazzo della Cancelleria
painting, was a conspicuous
status symbol, in the nobility’s alterations to the transept and constructed at the start of the
attempts to outshine each apse in 1638, it was later restored 20th century. The original facade
other with their palazzi. to its 15th-century lines. Its on the left of today’s entrance is
porticoes housed libraries for attributed to Antonio da Sangallo
e Palazzo della the first Papal Archives. the Younger. Note the asym-
metrical arrangement of its
Cancelleria windows and ledges. The elegant
r Piccola Farnesina central courtyard also retains
Piazza della Cancelleria. Map 4 E4 & 11
C3. Tel 06-6988 7566. @ 40, 46, 62, 64, Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 168. its original appearance.
70, 81, 87, 116, 492. Courtyard: Open Map 4 E4 & 11 C3. Tel 06-0608. The Piccola Farnesina now
7:30am–8pm Mon–Sat, 9:30am–7pm @ 40, 46, 62, 64, 70, 81, 87, 116, 492. houses the Museo Barracco, a
Sun. Sala Riaria: Open Tue pm & Sat Open Oct–May: 10am–4pm Tue–Sun; collection of ancient sculpture
am (call 06-6989 3405 at least a month Jun–Sep: 1–7pm Tue–Sun. assembled during the 19th
in advance). ∑ museobarracco.it century by the politician Baron
Giovanni Barracco. A bust of the
The palazzo, a supreme example This delightful miniature palazzo baron can be seen in the court-
of the confident architecture of acquired its name from the lilies yard. The collection includes an
the Early Renaissance, was begun decorating its cornices. These ancient Egyptian relief of the
in 1485. It was financed partly were mistakenly identified as scribe Nofer, some Assyrian
with the gambling winnings of part of the Farnese family crest. artifacts, and, among the
Cardinal Raffaele Riario. Roses, In fact they were part of the coat Etruscan exhibits, a delicate
the emblem of the Riario family, of arms of a French clergyman, ceramic female head. On the first
adorn the vaults and capitals of Thomas Le Roy, for whom the floor is the Greek collection with
the beautiful Doric courtyard. palazzo was built in 1523. a head of Apollo.
The palazzo’s interior was The entrance is in a facade
decorated after the Sack of built to overlook Corso Vittorio t Burcardo Theater
Rome in 1527. Giorgio Vasari Emanuele II when the road was
boasted that he had completed Museum
work on one enormous room Via del Sudario 44. Map 4 F4 & 12 D4.
in just 100 days; Michelangelo Tel 06-6819 471. @ 40, 46, 62, 64, 70,
allegedly retorted, “It looks like 81, 186, 492. v 8. Museum: Open
it.” Other Mannerist artists, Perin 9:15am–4:30pm Tue & Thu. Closed
del Vaga and Francesco Salviati, Aug. 8 ∑ burcardo.org
frescoed the rooms of the
cardinal in charge of the Papal This late-15th-century house
Chancellery, the office that once belonged to Johannes
gave the palazzo its name Burckhardt, chamberlain to
when it was installed here. Pope Alexander VI Borgia, and
On the right of the main author of a diary of Rome under
entrance is the unobtrusive and the Borgias. His house now
rather quaint church of San holds Rome’s most complete
Lorenzo in Damaso, founded collection of theater literature,
by Pope Damasus (reigned plus Chinese puppets and
366–84). It was reconstructed in comic masks from the various
1495, and although Bernini made Inner courtyard, Piccola Farnesina regions of Italy.

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