Rome’s Villa Farnesina, with masterpieces painted by Raphael, is next to the Tiber river, between the Botanical Garden and the bohemian quarter of Trastevere.
To be enjoyed without crowds
The first thing that strikes you, apart from the beautifully manicured gardens, is that the villa and grounds are rarely crowded.They get nothing like the number of visitors other Roman attractions do. Such as the Vatican Museums, where works by Raphael, who painted the very beautiful frescoes in Villa Farnesina, draw massive crowds. That same Raphael Sanzio whose four rooms in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican Museums attract millions of visitors every year, and whose Galathea Loggia in this hushed mansion are every bit as stunning.
A head perhaps painted by Michelangelo
The property was bought the end of the 16th century by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, from which the name Farnesina derives. This mansion is not to be confused with Palazzo Farnese, now the French Embassy which has a famous façade by Michelangelo and is is on the other side of the Tiber river. In 1517 and 1518 Raphael and his apprentices painted scenes from the fable of Cupid and Psyche on the vaulted ceiling of the vast loggia, while legend has it that one of the lunettes, with the gigantic head of a young man, is the work of the great Michelangelo.
Raphael’s fresco of Galatea
The Loggia of Galatea gets its name from Raphael’s fresco of the nymph Galatea. The great master gave the nymph delicate facial features contrasting with her lush body, and she is transported across the water in a chariot formed by a shell pulled by dolphins and surrounded by tritons, cupids and nereids.
