Galleria Colonna (RM)

One of the oldest residences in Rome, Palazzo Colonna is the house-museum of one of the most adventurous families in history, an essential stop on the Grand Tour, the scene of some of the most famous Italian events of the last 8 centuries, and the custodian of one of the most significant private art collections in the world.
Palazzo Colonna houses a jewel of Roman Baroque: the Gallery commissioned in the mid-1600s by Cardinal Girolamo I Colonna and his nephew Lorenzo Onofrio and then inaugurated by the latter’s son, Philip II, and intended as a reception room to celebrate the victory in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 by the commander of the papal fleet, Marcantonio II Colonna.
Here, and in the adjacent rooms, the main works of art of the Colonna family are housed, one of the most significant private collections in the world. There are various reasons: because it has reached us almost intact, except for the masterpieces that were given up to help the papal finances following the Treaty of Tolentino and Napoleon’s victory, for the importance of the works still placed in their original arrangement, and because it covers 8 centuries of art history, bearing witness to all its fundamental turning points.
For us it is a family museum, whose values and principles we want to share in the name of Beauty and Goodness.
(Princes Don Prospero Colonna and Donna Jeanne Colonna Pavoncelli)
Among the various rooms, the one that collects the most famous masterpieces is the Hall of the Apotheosis of Martin V where you can admire, among others, The Bean Eater by Annibale Carracci which represents the meal of a 16th century peasant and which has certainly inspired, after three centuries, impressionist painters such as Van Gogh and Degas.
But also the Madonna with the Sleeping Child, St. Anne and St. John the Baptist by Bronzino or the Portrait of the composer Adrian Willaert at the spinet by Jacopo Tintoretto, St. Jerome penitent in the desert by Perugino and the Holy Family with St. Sebastian, St. Jerome and the Magdalen by Paris Bordone, the Self-portrait with cameo and the Resurrection of Lazarus by Francesco Salviati, The Gentleman by Paolo Veronese.
When you finally arrive at the Great Hall, it is impossible not to be enchanted by such beauty wrapped in a golden shimmer that seems never-ending. The cycle of frescoes depicts the different moments of the Battle of Lepanto, while, on the side walls, you can admire four scenic mirrors, painted by Mario dei Fiori, Giovanni Stanchi and Carlo Maratta, as well as the imposing succession of pictorial masterpieces by Guercino, Salvator Rosa, Jacopo Tintoretto, Francesco Salviati, Guido Reni, Giovanni Lanfranco and many others.
Open just in 2020, you can also visit the rooms of the Pio Pavilion, once inhabited by three cardinals Colonna, Ascanio (16th century), Girolamo I (17th century), and Girolamo II (18th century), and today dedicated to Princess Sveva Colonna (1912-1999).
Going then out in the garden, you reach the slopes of the Quirinale Hill, which once had a significant strategic importance, which is why the Colonna family built their first homes here, fortifying the entire area now included between Palazzo Colonna and the garden itself.
Going up the grand staircase, you can admire, literally stratified in time and space, all the beauty of Rome, from ancient Rome, with the remains of the Temple of Serapis from the 3rd century AD, to a breathtaking view that goes from the Vittoriano to the Cupolone.
The visit to the Palace can also include Isabelle’s Apartments, which we have already talked about here.
Palazzo Colonna is a valid example of that “recycling of beauty” that is Rome, as the great Salvatore Settis would say, of which the Colonna family is a precious custodian.
The Secret
On the flight of stairs leading down to the Great Hall there is a cannonball that landed in exactly the same spot in 1849, during the Roman Republic. The ball was fired from the Janiculum by the French army under the command of General Oudinot, who entered through Porta San Pancrazio to rescue Pope Pius IX from the republican insurgents, including Mazzini, Armellini and Saffi, who occupied the historic center of Rome for a few months.
Useful Info
Galleria Colonna
Piazza SS. Apostoli 66
00187 Roma
Tel. +39 06 6784350
Visits every Friday and Saturday morning
Entrance: from 15 euro, for the various options consult the Palazzo Colonna website