A sumptuous 16th century mansion filled with impressive staircases, fantastic frescoes and magnificent gardens. The extraordinary Villa Farnese is one of the most impressive examples of 16th century architecture in Lazio.
It is located on the slopes of the forested Cimini mountains, near Lake Vico.
The castle construction project was initiated in 1504 by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, from the powerful Farnese family. He later became Pope Paul III and hired two of the greatest architects of his time: Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and Baldassare Peruzzi. The Pope's grandson, Alessandro Farnese of the same name, also a cardinal, commissioned the construction of this object in the second half of the 16th century to another great architect of the time, Giacomo Barozzi da Vignole.
At this second stage, the pentagonal plan of the building was retained, but the courtyard was changed from a pentagonal plan to a round one, and the residence changed its appearance from a defensive fortress to an aristocratic mansion, in which Alessandro Farnese the Younger could retire at a time when his family was no longer popular at the court of Paul IV.
The plan of the city of Caprarola itself was also changed. As a result, a straight road (currently through Filippo Nicolai) crosses the town and leads directly to the entrance to the villa with two staircases.
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Over the next 20 years, Farnese commissioned several artists to paint the rooms with an unusual and seemingly endless collection of frescoes that remain one of the villa's main attractions. Among these artists were the Zuccari brothers, Jacopo Zangidi and Giovanni Antonio da Varese, and the themes were most likely inspired by the great poet Annibale Caro, a friend of Farnese.
The rooms were named after the iconography that is vividly depicted on the walls and ceilings. The most significant rooms include Farnese's room of exploits, the world map room (with highly detailed maps of the world as he was known in the 1570s), and the Hercules room (with a panoramic loggia and grotto-like fountain). Hercules plays a significant role in the mythology of the region.
The ground floor, also known as Piano Nobili, houses the most important rooms of the building's five floors and is divided into two symmetrical apartments with different seasonal roles. To get to Piano Nobili, Vignola designed several spiral staircases, the most impressive of which, with frescoes by Antonio Tempesta, is known as the Scala Regia. The Scala Regia was inspired by the Bramante staircase at the Pope Julius II casino in the Belvedere, and could be climbed on a mule or small horse.
Drawbridges from the Piano Nobili apartments lead to impressive gardens, the first part of which included a theater in a grotto, and along the chestnut forests, the architects designed the Secret Garden with a gazebo, also known as the Casino. The staircase leads to the Casino and is divided by a cascading stream that flows from the statues of the river gods. Below the Casino, a maze-like garden is surrounded by giant herms (all decorated differently) and cypress trees. The Rose Garden is located between the Casino and the upper gate leading to the chestnut forest.