Rome in the Footsteps of an XVIIIth Century Traveller

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Sala Maestra (Main Hall)

Palazzo Chigi is a very considerable edifice, and was purchased by that family, with the surrounding estate, during the reign of Alexander the VIIth, towards the end of the 17th century. This Pope, remarkable for his disputes with Lewis the XlVth, was the son of a banker named Chigi, who amassed immense wealth, and purchased great estates both in the Roman dominions and in Tuscany, whence he originally came. (..) This palace has in it sufficient room to lodge three or four princely families.
Ellis Cornelia Knight - Description of Latium: or, La Campagna di Roma - publ. 1805, based on notes made before the first French occupation of Rome in 1798.
Sala Maestra is the principal room of the palace and today it houses concerts, meeting events and conferences. Its very high ceiling which brings to mind those of Palazzo Pamphilj al Collegio Romano made it very suitable for operas (by Pier Antonio Tenaglia, Bernardo Pasquini, Piersimone Agostini and others) some of which were dedicated to Prince Agostino Chigi or his brother Cardinal Flavio and were first executed in this hall. On the lower part of the walls there is a cycle of views, executed about 1680 by the Flemish painter Jean-Charles van Eck and on the upper part are large canvases by il Cavalier d'Arpino representing angels, preparation cartoons for the mosaics of the dome of S. Pietro. Some of the paintings were originally in the Chigi palace at Santi Apostoli and later on in that at Piazza Colonna.

Sala Maestra: XVIth century mantelpiece with heraldic symbols (lions) of the Savelli; at the centre of the decoration is a scroll with the allegory of the "ship of the Church" held by cardinals of the Savelli family after the 1571 battle of Lepanto

Sala Maestra is part of the original construction of the XVIth century, as proven by the great mantelpiece in peperino stone with caryatids and heraldic symbols of the Savelli along the frieze. The fireplace is equipped with a cast iron screen with the Chigi della Rovere coat of arms which is attributed to Giovanni Paolo Schor, a designer of decorative objects (see one of his works at S. Maria in Campitelli).

(left) Chapel (with access from Sala Maestra); (right) 1663 sketch by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

In the chapel is a sketch, on marble, of St. Joseph and the infant Saviour, by Bernini, executed in black and red as a drawing: there is much expression in the countenances. This artist, whose performances, as an architect and sculptor, would have been excellent had he felt the dignified charms of simplicity, was a great favourite with Alexander the VIIth, who is said to have delighted in finery to such a degree, that his morning gowns were fastened by diamond buttons. Knight
The painting by Raffaello Vanni on the altar portrays the Virgin Mary, St. Thomas of Villanova and St. Francis de Sales, two saints canonized by Alexander VII respectively in 1658 and 1665.

Appartamento del Cardinale - ground floor: ceiling of the Virgo Room

The "Cardinal's apartment" in the west wing of the ground floor of the palace is made up of seven rooms of the Savelli phase and four of the Chigi one. This was the private apartment of Cardinal Flavio, who commissioned the decoration on the vaults with birds and zodiacal signs. It later became the residence of other Chigi Cardinals, Flavio II and Flavio III. After the public acquisition of the palace in 1988, the apartment was held in usufruct until 1999 by the last owner, Prince Agostino Chigi X, and was opened to the public in 2003 with some of the furniture it originally had.
The zodiacal signs on the vaults of each room show only the Spring and Summer months, when the Chigi sojourned at Ariccia. The vault is decorated in tromp l'oeil with native or exotic birds in the sky or resting on a painted iron fence; the Chigi star decorates the corners. From the end of the 1800s the Virgo Room has been used as a kitchen and the vault covered with a false ceiling which was removed in 2002. An adjoining room is decorated with tapestries with scenes of Gerusalemme Liberata by Torquato Tasso (see one of them in a page covering the Crusades).

Appartamento del Cardinale - His Highness bedroom or Red Room (in origin Aries Room)

This was Cardinal Flavio I's bedroom; it is occupied by a canopy bed of the XVIIth century, modified in the 1800s with red damask of Bernini's design, taken from the chapel of the Chigi Palace at Piazza Colonna. On the left wall, a portrait of Cardinal Flavio I by Giovanni Maria Morandi, with red satin, carved and gilded wood frame. Below is a kneeler in walnut root of the first quarter of the XVIIIth century and a framed wax crucifix of the 1600s. To the side, a glass case with a travel toilet set of the Cardinal, ca 1660.

Appartamento del Cardinale - Antechamber (in origin Taurus Room): portraits of Agostino Chigi I, Prince of Farnese and of his wife Maria Virginia Borghese

The room served as antechamber and studio of the Cardinal. The precious leather hangings, bearing an oak tree leaf motif in gold on a dark red background, are of evident Bernini's manner. The hangings, coming from the Palazzo Chigi ai Santi Apostoli, designed by Bernini for the Cardinal, were moved to Ariccia after 1693. On the back wall are the portraits of Agostino I and of Maria Virginia Borghese. The paintings are contained in rare frames in carved gilded wood and red satin.
The extremely rare leather hangings of the XVII century that still cover the walls of many rooms, make the palace a unique case in this sort of decoration. Some leather hangings are of Dutch manufacture, embossed, while the greater part can be referred to a Roman provenance. The examples clearly of Bernini's manner stand out in the Chapel and Summer Dining Room, and mostly in the Red Room and the Antechamber. The image used as background is based on a leather tapestry.

Appartamento del Cardinale - Sala di Apollo aka Sala dei Cani (Dogs): fiefdoms of the Chigi: (above) Ariccia; (below) Villa di Cetinale near Siena

The room is named after paintings showing greyhounds with Chigi fiefdoms in the background. Other paintings are also linked to the Chigi, e.g. that depicting Episcopio di Porto, because Cardinal Flavio I was Bishop of Porto and a bird's view of Villa di Cetinale during a party. Today the room houses also The Grand View of Rome from the Gianicolo, a large engraving by Giuseppe Vasi.

Piano Nobile (first floor): Summer Dining Room: the loggia

The room is divided into two parts by means of arched pilasters: the loggia and the actual dining room which was used during the summer and autumn stays of the Chigi. The tempera decorations around the balustrade overlooking the park, are allusive of an aviary, with views towards Rome and Genzano. They were painted around 1857 by Annibale Angelini for the marriage between Mario Chigi and Antonietta Sayn Wittgenstein. Opposite the arches of the loggia is the Cratere Chigi, a Roman vase found in 1780 by Sigismondo Chigi in excavations made near the so called villa di Plinio in Porcigliano (Tor Paterno) and restored by Bartolomeo Cavaceppi (see also Tabula Chigi a relief found in the same spot).

Studio of Prince Mario Chigi best known as Stanza dei Pavoni (peacocks)

In the interior are some interesting rooms hung with exceedingly curious stamped leather, and a chamber containing portraits of the twelve nieces of Alexander VII., who were so enchanted at the elevation of their uncle, that they all took the veil immediately to please him. Apartments are let here in the summer months, and are very delightful.
Augustus J. C. Hare - Days near Rome - 1875
The room, related to the enlargement of the north-west wing of the palace, preserves paintings, memories, pictures and prints relative to Prince Mario Chigi, head of the family in 1877-1914 of whom this was the studio, and of his wife Antonietta Sayn Wittgenstein, daughter of Peter Wittgenstein, a Prince of German descent who became Field Marshal in the Imperial Russian Army during the Napoleonic wars. He was nicknamed the Saviour of Saint-Petersburg. The walls are covered with precious wallpaper in "Venetian style" leather, with peacocks, birds and vases of flowers on a red background.

Winter Dining Room or Mario de' Fiori Room

The room, decorated with embossed Dutch leather hangings, served in winter as an alternative dining room to the one used in summer. It is named after a series of paintings portraying the Four Seasons by Mario Nuzzi, aka Mario de' Fiori, and some of the greatest artists operating in Rome in the second half of the XVIIth century. Originally placed in the palace at Santi Apostoli the canvases were transferred to the palace in Piazza Colonna and after 1917 to Ariccia.

Winter Dining Room - Portrait of Mario de' Fiori while painting by Giovanni Maria Morandi

The flowers in the portrait of Mario de' Fiori were painted by Mario de' Fiori himself. He acquired a great fame for the floral arrangements which constitute the subject of almost all his paintings. In the series of the Four Seasons Filippo Lauri (Spring), Carlo Maratti (Summer), Giacinto Brandi (Fall) and Bernardino Mei (Winter) painted the figures and Nuzzi the flowers.

Sala del Trucco

The room is named after the billiard table used for the game "trucco", a sort of croquet very fashionable in the XVIIth century, a work by the wood carver Antonio Chicari (1670). On the long wall are portraits of the popes Alexander VII, Clement IX Rospigliosi (his successor) and Sixtus V, with a bust of Pope St. Sixtus I. Above the writing desk are the wooden matrices for printing the leather hangings.

Cabinet of curiosities with a pharmacy, a library, miniatures and other small objects

In a small cabinet is a collection of medals, and also many portraits in miniature of the Chigi family. One of the lesser rooms contains an assemblage of pictures, representing the Roman beauties of the reign of Alexander the VIIth. It appears to have been the general fashion throughout Europe, in those times, to form similar collections. The courtiers of Lewis the XIVth, and Charles the IInd, imitated their masters; and in all these galleries of portraits that of Hortensia Mazarini is to be observed. Neither is she forgotten here among her countrywomen. Knight
The furniture of the room was moved to its current location in 1918. The pharmacy cabinet was made in 1670 by Antonio Chicari after a project of Carlo Fontana. The jars are of Roman manufacture and are of different shapes for pulp and ointment, for liquids and for pills. The other wall cabinet used to be the wardrobe of Maria Virginia Borghese. A group of medals of the Marshals of the Conclave are kept there with their original moulds. The book cases along the walls contain the library that belonged to Agostino I Chigi, mainly composed of theatre and melodrama texts.

Stanza dell'Ariosto - stories from the Ludovico Ariosto's Poem "Orlando Furioso": (left to right) Bradamante, fictional knight heroine, hurled down by Pinabello, a traitor; Bradamante and the magician Atlante; Dalinda, a lady-in-waiting and her lover Polinesso; monochrome painting depicting an allegory of "Italia Nova"

The Ariosto Room is the most significant wall decoration of the palace and it is one of the first examples of neoclassic style, having been painted in the 1780s by Nicola la Piccola (architectural frames) and Giuseppe Cades (Ariosto's stories). Cades was a forerunner of the French historical painting of the early XIXth century which was based on idealized depictions of the Middle Ages and of the Renaissance. You may wish to compare this room with that decorated by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld at Villa Massimo in the 1820s.

Gallery of busts: (left) Aurelio Chigi (1566-1610) by Tommaso di Bartolomeo Redi, a sculptor from Siena; (centre) Plotina, Emperor Trajan's wife (XVIIth century); (right) Cardinal Flavio Chigi, school of Bernini

The palace is very rich in paintings whereas its sculpture collections are rather limited.

Museo del Barocco: one of the rooms

The Museum of Baroque in Palazzo Chigi was born after an idea of the art historian Maurizio Fagiolo dell'Arco (1939-2002) and was opened to the public in 2008. Made up by an important collection of paintings of the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries, mostly of Roman school, it is set on the floor of the mezzanine. All the works have been achieved through donation, mainly between 2002 and 2008. They are displayed in the fashion which was typical of the XVIIth century Roman collections, e.g. that at Palazzo Spada.

Museo del Barocco: (left) Self-portrait of Giovan Battista Gaulli, il Baciccio; (right) Lazzaro Baldi: Ecstasy of St. Rose of Lima, a Domenican nun who was canonized in 1671

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