Via Giulia Renaissance Palaces

The Basilica of San Giovanni Battista dei Fiorentini wears a travertine facade that pushes out into the narrow street, distinguished by the massive, curved pediment above its central door. Construction began in fifteen twenty-three for the…

The Palazzo Ricci-Sacchetti rises from the street with a heavy, rusticated stone base that anchors the entire corner of Via Giulia. Antonio da Sangallo the Younger designed this home for his own use in the early sixteenth century. During…

The Carceri Nuove features a heavy, rusticated stone facade dominated by a massive, iron-studded central portal that looks more like a fortress gate than a prison entrance. Pope Innocent the Tenth commissioned this building in sixteen…

The Palazzo Falconieri features a facade topped by two massive stone falcons perched on the cornice, gripping the family crest in their talons. Built in the seventeenth century, the structure became the home of the Orazio Falconieri…

A skull and crossbones motif carved in travertine marks the entrance to the Chiesa di Santa Maria dell'Orazione e Morte. Established in fifteen seventy-nine by a confraternity of the same name, this church served a grim but essential…

The Arco dei Farnesi is a brick archway spanning the Via Giulia that connects two parts of the Palazzo Farnese. Cardinal Alessandro Farnese commissioned the structure in the sixteenth century to create a private passage across the street,…

The Fontana del Mascherone features a massive white marble face with a wide, open mouth, set against a dark brick wall on Via Giulia. It is the last remnant of a fountain complex that once supplied water to the nearby Farnese Palace.…

The Galleria Spada occupies a seventeenth-century palace distinguished by the dense, ornate stucco reliefs covering its facade. Cardinal Bernardino Spada acquired the building in sixteen thirty-two and filled the rooms with a collection of…