VILLA FARNESINA, Villa Farnesina

Hi, I'm Alyson, your personal guide. Together with MyWoWo, I'd like to welcome you to one of the wonders of the world.

Today I'll accompany you through Villa Farnesina, which is one of the most fairy-tale like places in Rome!

The elegant villa that you're about to see once belonged to Agostino Chigi, a wealthy and educated banker of a family from Siena whose name is connected to the present building of the Council of Ministers. This villa is called "La Farnesina" because it was bought by the Farnese family towards the end of the 16th century.

Its architect, Baldassarre Peruzzi, was also from Siena. If you look at the façade, one side looks like any building in the city would, with two floors divided by regular frames; instead, the rear façade facing the garden has a much more "countryside" feeling, with two side wings and a deep loggia with five arcades. But long ago the back was the main entrance, with its splendid mythological frescoes based off of Raphael's cartoons....