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All images © by Roberto Piperno, owner of the domain. Write to romapip@quipo.it. Text edited by Rosamie Moore.
Page revised in January 2010.

To the Italian visitors of this web site

Veduta del Giardino Farnese (Book 5) (Map D3) (Day 6) (View D7) (Rione Trastevere)

In this page:
The plate by Giuseppe Vasi
Today's view
La Farnesina

The Plate (No. 88)

Veduta del Giardino Farnese

Rome during the Papal rule experienced many floods because the river bed was not dredged properly and over the centuries its width decreased; this view by Giuseppe Vasi shows that in the XVIIIth centuries mounds on both sides of the river narrowed the space between the two banks. In addition Giardino Farnese was already projecting from the right bank.
The view is taken from the green dot in the small 1748 map here below. In the description below the plate Vasi made reference to: 1) Palazzino Farnese (La Farnesina); 2) Other buildings for the family; 3) Palazzo Corsini; 4) Casino Farnese al Gianicolo. 3) and 4) are shown in detail in other pages. When Vasi made reference to the family, it was not to relatives of the Farnese, but to their household servants, as the word derives from Lat. famulus, servant; the ancient Romans used gens to mean an enlarged family.

Small ViewSmall View

Today

The view today
The view in January 2010 (in the background the Monument to Giuseppe Garibaldi to the far right)

In the late XIXth century the river bed was enlarged to the detriment of the garden which today is very small; in addition high walls were built on the river bank. Today it is difficult to see the small casino on the Janiculum which Vasi mentions in the plate; it is located to the left of the Monument to Giuseppe Garibaldi.
The building for the servants was modified in the XIXth century and the loggia on the roof of la Farnesina is smaller than in the XVIIIth century.

La Farnesina

The view today
Main façade

The villa was built between 1508 and 1520 for Agostino Chigi, a very rich banker from Siena who made a fortune by financing the popes in return for concessions such as the mining of the mines of alum at Tolfa or of salt-works. According to tradition in 1518 at the end of a party held in a (lost) loggia near the Tiber Agostino Chigi ordered that the precious wares used for the banquet should be thrown in the river (although he is suspected of having put nets in the water to recover them).
Agostino Chigi was on such good terms with Pope Julius II that he was allowed to add to the six mountains and a star of his coat of arms, the oak which was the heraldic symbol of the Della Rovere, the family of the pope (you may wish to see a coat of arms of Pope Alexander VII, a member of the Chigi family). He was buried in the family chapel at S. Maria del Popolo.

The rear
Rear façade

In 1590 the property was bought by the Farnese, who for some time considered linking it to their palace on the other side of the river with a boat bridge; because the villa was smaller than the palace it was called la Farnesina (-ina being a suffix which means small).

The rear
Detail of the cornice

The villas built in the second half of the XVIth century (such as Villa Medici) had a decoration which covered almost every inch of their main façade. The walls of la Farnesina appear rather bare with the exception of the cornice and of a relief above the entrance of the rear façade (you can see it in the image used as background for this page); we know however that they had a (lost) graffito decoration.

The garden decoration
(left) A fountain composed with ancient elements; (centre) fountain with a fleur-de-lys, the Farnese heraldic symbol; (right) ancient fragments


The gardens were embellished with ancient statues and reliefs, but when all the Farnese properties were acquired by Charles VII, King of Naples, all movable works of art were relocated to Naples or Caserta, where the king built a very large royal residence. The villa retains however very fine frescoes by Raphael, Giulio Romano, Sodoma and Baldassare Peruzzi who was also the designer of the building.
Read William Dean Howells' account of his visit to this site in 1908.

Excerpts from Giuseppe Vasi 1761 Itinerary related to this page:


Palazzino e giardino Farnese
Sulle sponde del Tevere, ove si crede essere stati gli orti di Geta, si vede il delizioso giardino col magnifico casino eretto dal famoso banchiere Agostino Ghigi per dare un lauto pranzo a Leone X. con molti Cardinali. Contiene questo nel pianterreno tre gallerie con alcune camere di riposo; nella prima dipinse Raffaella da Urbino il convito degli Dei, con altre favole ajutato da Giulio Romano, Gaudenzio Milanese, e Raffaellino del Colla; i fiori però e frutta intorno alla volta con alcuni animali sono opere di Gio. da Udine. Baldassare Peruzzi, che fu l'architetto della fabbrica, dipinse nella volta della seconda galleria il carro di Diana, e l'istoria di Medusa, con alcuni stucchi finti, ma tanto simili al vero, che Tiziano a prima vista credette che fossero di rilievo, come realmente sembrano a tutti. Si osserva in una lunetta una gran testa fatta di chiaro e scuro, quale si dice essere stata fatta dal Buonarroti per riprendere la maniera minuta di quelle pitture. Sotto il cornicione poi si vede la celebre Galatea dipinta di mano di Raffaelle da Urbino. In queste due gallerie sono in oggi buona parte delle statue e busti che stavano nelle stanze del palazzo Farnese; e ultimamente vi è stata ancora portata la celebre statua di Agrippina, madre di Nerone, che stava negli orti Farnesiani di campo vaccino, come già dicemmo. Nell'appartamento superiore evvi una stanza dipinta da Giulio Romano, ripulita ultimamente coll' assistenza di Carlo Maratta, ed altre pitture sonovi di figure, e di architettura; ma perchè hanno patito, non meritano considerazione: onde passeremo a vedere il vicino
Palazzo di Agostino Ghigi
Medesimamente col disegno di Baldassare Peruzzi fu eretto il palazzo, che siegue al piccolo Farnese: ma perchè lasciato in abbandono, resta ora in stato quasi da rovinare, e serve ad uso di fenile.

Next plate in Book 5: Ponte Sisto
Next step in Day 6 itinerary: Porta S. Spirito