Palazzo Colonna is a hidden Roman gem

Susan Spano’s Postcards From Rome

The Colonna family was — and is — one of the grandest aristocratic families in Rome. They gave St. Peter’s a pope, Martin V (1368-1431), and the city a hero, Marcantonio II Colonna (1537-1585), commander of the papal fleet that routed the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Lepanto (1571). The family-owned estates in the countryside and huge properties in Rome, including a palazzo on present-day Via Nazionale at Via della Pilotta.

Normally one passes the entrance of the Palazzo Colonna, a four-sided Baroque building that encloses a courtyard, without noticing it’s there. But on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., the door on the Via della Pilotta will be open, providing access the Galleria Colonna, one of Rome’s finest hidden jewels.

Occupying an enfilade of gilded chambers with frescoes commemorating the exploits of the Colonna admiral Marcantonio II, the galleria was both a place for entertaining in regal style and an old-fashioned picture gallery, with framed canvases chockablock on the walls.

Among them are what to some could be lewd pictures by the Mannerist painter Agnolo Bronzino, whose favored subjects seem to have been nude Venuses and cupids (one of which was given clothing in a later, more modest age).

There is also a room devoted to Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna’s landscape collection, assembled in the 17th century. Another has a throne for receiving the pope. But it is the suite as a whole that takes the breath away, the best example I know of Roman aristocratic style at its most opulent.

The Palazzo Colonna’s similarly sumptuous Princess Isabelle Apartment can be visited by groups of 10 or more, with reservations. Go to the website for more information.

– Susan Spano, Los Angeles Times staff writer

[Photos: The palazzo, top, and the family's coat of arms, by Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 at 12:42 pm by Susan Spano and is filed under Europe, Italy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.