PALAZZO BARBERINI / ROME
The large gate of Palazzo Barberini, built in the mid-19th century, faces the busy via delle Quattro Fontane on the Quirinal Hill.
Here, in 1625, shortly after being elected pope (and named Urban VIII), Maffeo Barberini acquired a villa from the Sforza family, with the intent to transform it into his family’s new residence.
The Barberini family had settled in Florence in the early 11th century, growing wealthy and influential through their involvement in the important textile industry, though often in conflict with the Medici dynasty.
By the 16th century, the Medicis had become the most powerful family in Tuscany, overthrowing the Republic of Florence and seizing power.
Having fought on the other side of the conflict, the Barberini clan escaped Tuscany and fled to Rome (though the Medicis nevertheless murdered Francesco Barberini after this exit, on an open street in Rome).
His son survived, and became the papal treasurer. Thanks to this new connection to the Catholic Church, the Barberini family’s wealth could grow once more.
As pope, Maffeo Barberini commissioned Carlo Maderno to help him with his construction plans to remodel the villa into a grand palazzo.
Maderno transformed the former building by creating an open-winged structure, connecting the villa – now only known as the Sforza wing – to a new parallel wing with a central hall. The new floor plan took the shape of an “H”, thus integrating the new building into the surrounding environment.
At the same time, he changed the family coat of arms from a horsefly to three bees on a blue background, next to a papal tiara and the keys to St. Peter’s Basilica.
The bees, at the time a Christian symbol, conveyed devotion, hard work and dedication.
In 1629, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, famous Baroque sculptor (and who had carved his first marble bust at only eight years of age), succeeded Maderno in overseeing the construction.
As is often the case in such circumstances, Bernini changed a few of Maderno’s original ideas, in order to put his on mark on the project.
In celebration of the Barberini family, he would also use bees to adorn many of his creations, including the Triton Fountain and the Fountain of Bees, right in the Piazza Barberini.
Francesco Borromini (newphew of Maderno) aided Bernini in construction process of the palazzo, changing for example the windows on the main floor in the building’s central body.
Maffeo Barberini was a controversial pope, and many thought he abused his power.
He made his relatives cardinals, and gave Bernini the assignment of renovating parts of St. Peter’s, removing bronze beams from the portico of the Pantheon to create the baldacchino used in the cathedral.
One critic even stated, “what the barbarians did not do, the Barberini did.” After his death, the new pope – Innocent X from the Doria Pamhilj family – launched an investigation into the many wrongdoings that had taken place within the Holy See, leading once more to the escape of many of the Barberini family, this time to France.
The fulcrum of the Palazzo Barberini is its impressive entrance hall, containing a great vault frescoed by Pietro da Cortona, with illustrations of the Triumph of Divine Providence.
Many visit the palace to see this fresco alone, as it is considered a masterpiece of illusionism, with fake entablatures that frame an open sky and animated scenes that symbolize the virtues of the pope and his family.
The visitor reaches this monumental space either by a square-shafted staircase, also designed by Bernini, or through an oval helicoidal staircase, probably designed by Borromini.
The Palazzo is 12,000 square metres, and has 187 rooms. Its art collection includes works by El Greco, Caravaggio, Raphael and Poussin.
Throughout the centuries, various masters would continuously update the interior decorations, until in the mid 18th-century, when the last direct heir, Cornelia Costanza, had a Roccoco-style apartment decorated for herself on the top floor.
After this, descendants of the Barberini family would continue living in this apartment, but keeping its interiors intact, until in 1949, when the Italian state bought the palazzo to use as the seat of the National Gallery of Ancient Art (in Italian, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica), and today, this collection is showcased on the piano nobile. The last family members moved out in 1955.
