Palazzo Barberini – Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica

Palazzo Barberini is a seventeenth-century Roman palace built for the Barberini family and now houses the National Galleries of Ancient Art.

Why it matters

The palace was a prototype of Baroque residential architecture, combining an innovative plan with work by Carlo Maderno, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Francesco Borromini and Pietro da Cortona. Its collections include major works of Renaissance and Baroque painting.

What to notice

The H-shaped plan incorporates an earlier villa and opens toward a garden. Bernini's square staircase and Borromini's oval helical staircase present contrasting architectural designs. Pietro da Cortona's ceiling fresco fills the grand salon. The galleries include works by Caravaggio, Raphael and Guido Reni, among other Italian and European painters.

Context and history

After Maffeo Barberini became Pope Urban VIII in 1623, the family acquired a villa on the Quirinal slope and commissioned Maderno to transform it into a palace. Bernini and Borromini continued the work after Maderno's death, while Cortona painted the principal salon. The Barberini family lived in the palace until 1955. It later became one of the two sites of the Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica, alongside Palazzo Corsini.