Palaces & Villas of Rome

The word palazzo in Italian now refers to any urban dwelling, modern apartment blocks included. Its origins were more august, however, going back to the ‘palatium’: the extensive residence of the Caesars on the Palatine Hill in Rome.

These imperial associations were then assumed by the medieval popes, who called their residences at the Lateran and the Vatican ‘palaces’. The sprawling, fortified strongholds of the Roman baronial families, such as the Colonna and Corsini, also acquired this name, as did the municipal town hall on the Capitol. The popes periodically had difficulty in asserting their authority over their Roman subjects and had to leave town, but their return from Avignon after an absence for most of the fourteenth century was followed during the next two by an extraordinary period of urban renewal. During the Renaissance, popes rebuilt and decorated the Vatican to stress their links with St. Peter, claimed as the successor of Christ and the foundation of their sacred authority. Cardinals followed suit, building on a magnificent scale. Their enormous palaces became satellite courts, sometimes rivalling those of the popes themselves.

Palaces changed from fort-like structures to classically inspired residences built around all’antica courtyards. Inside, they were laid out according to a ceremonial sequence of rooms linked by aligned doors that set the standard for state apartments across Europe for centuries, including at Versailles. In the Baroque period, Roman palaces acquired an unprecedented level of decorative splendour, their princely collections of antiquities and old master paintings displayed in purpose-built galleries whose frescoed ceilings proclaim the glory of the families who owned (and often still own) them. Many of these remarkable residences have survived intact, as have the suburban villas to which their owners would retire to escape the summer heat of the city centre.

Inclusions

Travel by private coach throughout; hotel accommodation; breakfasts, 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine, water, coffee; all admissions; all tips for waiters; all state and airport taxes; the services of the lecturer and tour manager.

Expert Speakers

Dr Michael Douglas-Scott
Dr Michael Douglas-Scott mixes scholarship with accessible discourse, with reasoned opinion, and is highly sought-after as an art history lecturer. He has lectured for New York University (London campus) and Birkbeck College, University of London, specialising primarily in 16th-century Italian art and architecture. He studied at the Courtauld and Birkbeck College and lived in Rome for several years. He has written articles for Arte Veneta, Burlington Magazine and the Journal of the Warburg & Courtauld Institutes.

Tour by Martin Randall Travel.