IN Roman Holiday, the princess played by Audrey Hepburn escapes from this palace to end up on a romantic adventure with reporter Gregory Peck. It’s sublime to play Audrey’s moves backward and escape inside the Barberini to peacefully take in Renaissance masterpieces.
The palace was the digs of Maffeo Barberini, who transformed it when he became Pope Urban VIII in 1623. He went all out to make it splendido, calling in the best artists of the day, including Bernini and Borromini. You’ll climb Borromini’s spiral staircase as you enter. Inside you’ll get a dizzying hit looking up at the Grand Salone ceiling, frescoed by Pietro Da Cortona. Go ahead and lie back on a couch to admire this Triumph of Providence, where golden bees (the Barberini family emblem) ascend to the heavens.
Most of the rooms you’ll be walking through were originally the apartment of Princess Anna Colonna Barberini, who had married the pope’s nephew. She was the palace hostess and the most powerful woman in Rome during the Barberini’s seventeenth-century heyday. The family’s fortunes got dispersed over the years, and the palace was sold to the State in 1949, becoming the National Gallery of Art.
In the galleries, you’ll see beautiful women immortalized by masters, including:
Fornarina (Raphael’s Girlfriend)
The subject of Raphael’s most famous portrait is his longtime lover, Margherita Luti, who he called Fornarina, which translates to “little oven.” The dark-haired, bare-breasted, mischievous-looking beauty was a Trastevere baker’s daughter. She wears a bracelet with Raphael’s signature on it, as if they were going steady.
With those legendary huge eyes and innocent over-the-shoulder look, it’s hard to imagine this sixteen-year-old bludgeoned her father to death. That is until you hear the story of the man’s atrocious cruelty to his whole family, who joined Beatrice in the murder. The painting is believed to have been completed the night before Beatrice was decapitated, in front of huge crowds on the Ponte Sant’Angelo. It’s attributed to Guido Reni, but many believe Elisabetta Sirani, a female artist, is the one who painted it.
Master painter Caravaggio captures a gory biblical moment here. It’s Judith, chopping off the head of General Holofernes, complete with spurting blood. Her maid stands by with a “Take that, you bastard!” look.
According to the Old Testament, Judith was a widow who got fed up with her Israeli countrymen in their fight against the Assyrians, so she took matters into her own hands, got all dolled up, and went to visit the enemy’s General Holofernes. Clever woman that she was, Judith promised him helpful information and sexual favors, which she never made good on. The general lusted after Judith, and threw a banquet where he became “sodden with wine,” expecting some nooky afterward. Imagine his surprise when Judith snuck into his tent, found Holofernes sprawled out drunk as a skunk, and lopped his head off.
Caravaggio’s brilliant brush strokes illuminate Judith’s conflicted expression. She’s repulsed, curious, a bit repentant, but committed. For his model, he used one of Rome’s most popular courtesans of the day, Fillide Melandroni. A few years after the painting was completed, Caravaggio got into a street brawl with Melandroni’s “protector,” Ranuccio Tomassoni. It’s believed Caravaggio was trying to castrate Tomassoni, but instead gave his thigh a fatal artery-severing slash. Caravaggio was exiled from Rome for the murder, never to return.
Palazzo Barberini: Via delle Quattro Fontane 13, 8:30–7, closed Monday (www.galleriaborghese.it)
Golden Day: Morning at the Barberini and lunch at Colline Emiliane for specialties of the Emilia-Romagna region—the lasagna and tagliatelle alla bolognese are out of this world. (Via degli Avignonesi, 22, 06 481 7538, reservations essential, closed Sunday night and Monday)
TIP: Don’t miss the classic garden in the back of the museum.
RECOMMENDED READING
The Families Who Made Rome: A History and Guide by Anthony Majanlahti
Beatrice’s Spell: The Enduring Legacy of Beatrice Cenci by Belinda Jack