The famous Scala Regia in the Villa Farnese.

The Villa Farnese, also known as Palazzo Farnese or Villa Caprarola, is a mansion in the town of Caprarola in the province of Viterbo, Northern Latium, Italy approximately 50 kilometres (35 miles) north-west of Rome. It should not be confused with the Palazzo Farnese and the Villa Farnesina, both in Rome. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 578 pixelsFull resolution (2024 × 1462 pixel, file size: 370 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 578 pixelsFull resolution (2024 × 1462 pixel, file size: 370 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... A mid-18th century engraving of Palazzo Farnese by Giuseppe Vasi Palazzo Farnese, Rome (housing the French Embassy), is the most imposing Italian palace of the sixteenth century (Sir Banister Fletcher) (1). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Caprarola is a small village of grey stone houses approximately 35 miles from Rome. ... Viterbo (It. ... Latium (Lazio in Italian) is a region of central Italy, bordered by Tuscany, Umbria, Abruzzo, Marche, Molise, Campania and the Tyrrhenian Sea. ... Nickname: Motto: SPQR: Senatus Populusque Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC Government  - Mayor Walter Veltroni Area  - City 1,285 km²  (580 sq mi)  - Urban 5... A mid-18th century engraving of Palazzo Farnese by Giuseppe Vasi Palazzo Farnese, Rome (housing the French Embassy), is the most imposing Italian palace of the sixteenth century (Sir Banister Fletcher) (1). ... Villa Farnesina. ...

The Villa Farnese is a massive Renaissance construction built circa 1550, opening to the Monte Cimini, a range of densely wooded volcanic hills. It has a five-sided plant, and is built in reddish gold stone; buttress support the piano nobile above, with two floors above again housing an almost complete two storey villa in itself. As a power house at the center of vast Farnese holdings, it has always been more than a villa in the ordinary agricultural or pleasure senses. The Renaissance (French for rebirth, or Rinascimento in Italian), was a cultural movement in Italy (and in Europe in general) that began in the late Middle Ages, and spanned roughly the 14th through the 17th century. ... The Monte Cimini, in English: Cimini Hills, are a range of densely wooded volcanic hills approximately 35 miles north-west of Rome. ... This article is about volcanoes in geology. ... For other uses, see Rock (disambiguation). ... A buttress (and mostly concealed, a flying buttress) supporting walls at the Palace of Westminster Three different types of buttress: diagonal, on the statues plinth; an ordinary buttress supporting a flying buttress, to the right of the statue; a small ordinary buttress to the right side of the picture... Kedleston Hall. ... The Albertian Villa Medici in Fiesole: terraced grounds on a sloping site. ...

The shape of the villa was predetermined by the rocca, the pentagonal fortress foundations it sits upon, which were constructed in the 1520s by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and Baldassare Peruzzi. Each face of the pentagon is canted inwards towards its center, to permit raking fire upon a would-be scaling force, both from the center and from the projecting bastions that advance from each corner angle of the fortress. It is thought that the circular central courtyard was also determined by the necessities of the pentagonal plan. Fortifications (Latin fortis, strong, and facere, to make) are military constructions designed for defensive warfare. ... ... Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (or Antonio Cordiani) (April 12, 1484 - August 3, 1546) was a Florentine architect active during the Italian Renaissance. ... Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi (7 March 1481—6 January 1537) was an Italian architect and painter, born in a small town near Siena and died in Rome. ... The point of a bastion on a reconstructed French fort in Illinois. ...

History

The Villa Farnese was commissioned in 1559 by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese a grandson of Pope Paul III who was known for advancing the ambitions of his relations. He selected for his architect Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, who worked on the villa at Caprarola until his death in 1573. Farnese was a courteous man of letters, however the Farnese family as a whole became unpopular with the following pope, Julius III. Alessandro Farnese decided it would be politic to retire from The Vatican for a period. He therefore selected Caprarola on the family holding of Ronciglione, being both near and yet far enough from Rome as the ideal place to build a country house. The coat of arms of a Cardinal are indicated by a red galero (wide-brimmed hat) with 15 tassels on each side (the motto and escutcheon are proper to the individual Cardinal). ... Categories: Families | Farnese | Italian history | Italian nobility | Political families ... Pope Paul III (February 29, 1468 – November 10, 1549), born Alessandro Farnese, was Pope from 1534 to 1549. ... The five orders, engraving from Vignolas Regole delle cinque ordini darchitettura set the standards Giacomo (or Jacopo) Barozzi da Vignola (Vignola, near Modena, October 1, 1507 - July 7, 1573) was one of the great Italian architects of 16th century Mannerism, also known as Vignola. ... The Farnese family was an influential family in Renaissance Italy. ... Julius III, né Gian Maria del Monte or Giovan Maria Giocci (September 10, 1487 - March 23, 1555) pope from February 7, 1550 to 1555, the last of the High Renaissance popes, was born at Rome, the son of a famous jurist. ... The State of the City of the Vatican or the Vatican City (Latin: Status Civitatis Vaticanae, Italian Stato della Città del Vaticano) is the smallest independent state in the world (both in area and in population), a landlocked enclave surrounded by the city of Rome in Italy. ... Ronciglione is a city in the province of Viterbo, Lazio (central Italy), c. ...

Design

The Villa is one of the finest examples of Renaissance architecture. Ornament is used sparingly to achieve proportion and harmony. Thus while the villa dominates the surroundings, its severe design also complements the site. This particular style, known today as Mannerism, was a reaction to the ornate earlier High Renaissance designs of twenty years earlier. Tempietto di San Pietro in Montorio, Rome, 1502, by Bramante. ... In Parmigianinos Madonna with the Long Neck (1534-40), Mannerism makes itself known by elongated proportions, affected poses, and unclear perspective. ...

In 1559 Vignola, the architect chosen for this difficult and inhospitable site had recently proved his mettle in designing Villa Giulia on the outskirts of Rome for the preceding pope, Julius III. Vignola in his youth had been heavily influenced by Michelangelo. His plans as built were for a pentagon constructed around a circular colonnaded courtyard. In the galleried court, paired Ionic columns flank niches containing busts of the Roman Emperors, above a rusticated arcade, a reworking of Bramante's scheme for the "House of Raphael", in Via Giulia, Rome. A further Bramantesque detail is the entablature that breaks forward over the columns, linking them above, while they stand on separate bases. The interior loggia formed by the arcade is frescoed with Raphaelesque grotesques, in the manner of the Vatican Logge. The gallery and upper floors were reached by five spiral staircases around the courtyard: the most important of these is the Scala Regia ("Royal Stairs") rising through the principal floors. January 15 - Elizabeth I of England is crowned in Westminster Abbey. ... An architect at his drawing board, 1893 An architect is a person who is involved in the planning, designing and oversight of a buildings construction. ... Sarcofago degli Sposi : the sarcophagus of the married couple The Villa Giulia is a magnificent villa built by Pope Julius II on the edge of the city of Rome, 1550–1555. ... Pope Julius III (September 10, 1487 – March 23, 1555), born Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, was Pope from February 22, 1550 to 1555. ... For other uses, see Michelangelo (disambiguation). ... Enormous colonnade of the Kazan Cathedral in St Petersburg. ... A court or courtyard is an enclosed area, often a space enclosed by a building that is open to the sky. ... Architects first real look at the Greek Ionic order: Julien David LeRoy, Les ruines plus beaux des monuments de la Grèce Paris, 1758 (Plate XX) Ionic order: 1 - entrablature, 2 - column, 3 - cornice, 4 - frieze, 5 - architrave or epistyle, 6 - capital (composed of abacus and volutes), 7 - shaft, 8... An emperor is a (male) monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. ... Donato Bramante Donato Bramante (1444 – March 11, 1514) was an Italian architect, who introduced the Early Renaissance style to Milan and the High Renaissance style to Rome, where his most famous design was St. ... Michelangelos bridge spanning Via Giulia, Rome The via Giulia, in the rione Regola, Rome, projected and only partly carried out for Pope Julius II, was the first attempt since Antiquity to pierce a new thoroughfare through the heart of Rome and the earliest example of urban renewal. ... This article is about the word itself. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Stairs, staircase, stairway, flight of stairs are all names for a construction designed to bridge a large vertical distance by dividing it into smaller vertical distances, called steps. ...

Outside, the Villa Farnese is approached by steps from the village piazza, a series of terraces beginning with the basement sotteranei excavated from the tufa, surrounded by steep curving steps leading to the terrace above. This basement floor in the foundations appears as a series of buttresses and retaining walls, large heavily grilled doors in the rusticated walls appear to lead into the guardrooms of a fortress, while above them a curved balustraded external double stairway leads to the terrace above. This in turn has a formal double staircase to the principal entrance on the 'Piano dei Prelati' floor. This bastion-like floor, which appears as a second ground floor is rusticated, the main door a severe arch flanked by three windows each side. The facade at this level is terminated by massive solid projections. Masouleh village, Gilan Province, Iran. ... A piazza is an open square in a city, often used as a marketplace, found in Italy. ... In gardening, a terrace is an element where a raised flat paved or gravelled section overlooks a prospect. ... A townhouse with basement windows showing A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. ... Tufa is the name for an unusual geological formation. ... Stairs, staircase, stairway, flight of stairs are all names for a construction designed to bridge a large vertical distance by dividing it into smaller vertical distances, called steps. ... An imperial staircase. ... The point of a bastion on a reconstructed French fort in Illinois. ... A masonry arch 1. ... West facade of the Notre-Dame de Strasbourg Cathedral A facade (or façade) (Pronounced fa-sa-de) is generally the exterior of a building — especially the front, but also sometimes the sides and rear. ...

Above this is the double-height piano nobile, where five huge arched windows incongruously dominate the facade over the front door; above this sit a further two floors, the numerous windows divided by rusticated pilasters in dressed stone. Kedleston Hall. ...

Fasti Farnesiani (Feats of the Farnese) by Taddeo Zuccari. Portrays Francis I of France and Charles V.

Image File history File links Size of this preview: 431 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (2024 × 2815 pixel, file size: 530 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 431 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (2024 × 2815 pixel, file size: 530 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Taddeo Zuccaro or Zuccari (1529 -1566), was an Italian painter, one of the most popular members of the Roman mannerist school. ... Francis I (François Ier in French) (September 12, 1494 – March 31, 1547), called the Father and Restorer of Letters (le Père et Restaurateur des Lettres), was crowned King of France in 1515 in the cathedral at Reims and reigned until 1547. ... For the Carlist claimant King Carlos V, see Infante Carlos, Count of Molina. ...

Interiors

The principal staircase or Scala Regia is a graceful spiral of steps supported by pairs of Ionic columns rising up through the three floors, frescoed by Antonio Tempesta. Architects first real look at the Greek Ionic order: Julien David LeRoy, Les ruines plus beaux des monuments de la Grèce Paris, 1758 (Plate XX) Ionic order: 1 - entrablature, 2 - column, 3 - cornice, 4 - frieze, 5 - architrave or epistyle, 6 - capital (composed of abacus and volutes), 7 - shaft, 8... Fresco by Dionisius representing Saint Nicholas. ... Antonio Tempesta (1555-1630) was an Italian painter born and trained in Florence and painting in a variety of styles, influenced to some degree by Contra-Maniera or counter-Mannerism. ...

On the piano nobile a series of 12 state rooms are famed for their Mannerist frescoes by the brothers Taddeo and Federico Zuccari. The frescoes portray the exploits of Alexander the Great, Hercules and of course the Farnese family themselves: in the Hall of the Farnese Annals, decorated by the Zuccari brothers, the Farnese are depicted at all their most glorious moments, from floor to coffered ceiling. Another notable room is the Summer Dining Hall, also frescoed, but with grotto like sculpture too. Other artists employed in fresco decoration include Giacomo Zanguidi (il Bertoia), Raffaellino da Reggio, Antonio Tempesta, Giacomo del Duca, and Giovanni De Vecchi. For other uses, see State (disambiguation). ... In Parmigianinos Madonna with the Long Neck (1534-40), Mannerism makes itself known by elongated proportions, affected poses, and unclear perspective. ... Taddeo Zuccaro or Zuccari (1529 -1566), was an Italian painter, one of the most popular members of the Roman mannerist school. ... Federigo Zuccaro, Self-portrait, after 1588 Federigo Zuccaro or Federico Zuccari (c. ... For the film of the same name, see Alexander the Great (1956 film). ... Hercules and the Nemean Lion (detail), silver plate, 6th century BC (Cabinet des Médailles, Paris). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A sculpture is a three-dimensional object, which for the purposes of this article is man-made and selected for special recognition as art. ... Giacomo Zanguidi also called Bertoia or Jacopo Zanguidi,(1544 - 1574), was an Italian painter of a late-Renaissance or Mannerist style that emerged in Parma towards the end of the 16th century. ... Raffaellino da Reggio (1550-1578) was an Italian painter from Emilia, active in a Mannerist style mainly in Rome. ... Antonio Tempesta (1555-1630) was an Italian painter born and trained in Florence and painting in a variety of styles, influenced to some degree by Contra-Maniera or counter-Mannerism. ... Giacomo Del Duca(born c. ... Giovanni de Vecchi (1536 - 1614) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period. ...

Gardens

The gardens of the Villa are as impressive as the building itself. The Villa's fortress theme is carried out in a moat and three drawbridges. because of the pentagonal plan, two facades face the gardens, each with its parterre beyond the moat. The lower garden is reached from a drawbridge from the terrace of the piano nobile. This is a patrerre garden of box topiary, and fountains. A grotto-like theatre was once here. A walk through the woods from here leads to the well known Casino, a small habitable summerhouse. A 'catena d'acqua' (a kind of cascaded rill in a stone basin) flows from the loggia of the casino to the fountains below. The ornate and frescoed casino has its own parterres, rather like a villa in miniature. The moated manor house of Baddesley Clinton in Warwickshire, England Moats (also known as a Fosse) were deep and wide water-filled trenches, excavated to provide a barrier against attack upon castle ramparts or other fortifications. ... Drawbridge at the fort of Ponta da Bandeira; Lagos, Portugal A drawbridge is a type of movable bridge typically associated with the entrance of a castle, but the term is often used to describe all different types of movable bridges, like bascule bridges and lift bridges. ... A parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing pattern. ... Species About 70 species; see text Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. ... A topiary dinosaur at Epcot Topiary is the art of creating sculptures in the medium of shrubbery, after the Latin word for an ornamental landscape gardener, toparius. ... The worlds highest fountain: King Fahds Fountain in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Three traditional fountain features: a low jet, a pair of raised basins, and sculpture with a water theme, here hippocamps (Villa Borghese, Rome) A traditional fountain is an arrangement where water issues from a source (Latin fons... Serge Sudeikins poster for the Bat Theatre (1922). ... For other uses, see Wood (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A Summerhouse is a small roofed building of varying forms in gardens or parks designed to provide cool shady places of relaxation or retreats from summer heat. ... A cascade is a term for a waterfall, or series of waterfalls, and is applied abstractly to many different concepts involving a series of steps or effects that follow one after the other. ... Villa Godi by Palladio. ...

Today

Alessandro Farnese died in 1589 bequeathing his estates to relations - the Farnese dukes of Parma. The lights were already dimming in the Villa, the Cardinal's fabulous collection was transferred eventually to family properties in Naples. In the 19th century the villa became for a while the residence of the heir to the throne of the newly united Italy, but by now the lights were barely a flicker. Events Rebellion of the Catholic League against King Henry III of France, in revenge for his murder of Duke Henry of Guise. ... An Estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. ... The Duchy of Parma was a small Italian state between 1545 and 1802, and again from 1814 to 1860. ... For other uses see, Naples (disambiguation) and Napoli (disambiguation) Location of the city of Naples (red dot) within Italy. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see inheritance (disambiguation). ... The thrones for The Queen of Canada, and the Duke of Edinburgh in the Canadian Senate, Ottawa is usually occupied by the Governor General and her spouse at the annual State Opening of Parliament. ...

Today the Casino, and its gardens are one of the homes of the President of the Italian Republic. The empty main Villa, owned by the State, is open to the public. The numerous rooms, salons and halls all with their marbles and frescoes, and the architecture of the great palazzo-like villa are still as impressive and daunting as they were first intended to be. President is a title held by many leaders of organizations, companies, trade unions, universities, and countries. ... Look up republic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Trivia

The villa was featured in the movie Luther. Luther is the title of several movies about the life of Martin Luther, father of the Protestant Reformation. ...

Reference

• Peter J. Murray, The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance London:Batsford) pp 240ff (1963)

External links

Photographs

Coordinates: 42°19′44″N, 12°14′12″W Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...