The Carracci Gallery at Palazzo Farnese

Why it is on the list

The gallery's 20-metre vault, frescoed by Annibale and Agostino Carracci between 1597 and 1608 with the loves of the gods from Ovid's Metamorphoses, is held to be Annibale's masterpiece.¹ The cycle turned Roman painting from Mannerism towards the Baroque and Classicism of the next century; Domenichino and Lanfranco worked on it in Annibale's studio.² The visit also takes in the Salone d'Ercole with its seventeenth-century tapestries, the Camerino Annibale painted before the gallery, the Sala dei Possedimenti, the vestibule, the courtyard and the garden, in a palace begun in 1513 for the future Pope Paul III and built under Sangallo the Younger, Michelangelo, Vignola and Giacomo Della Porta.¹ It has been the French Embassy since 1874, and only a guided visit goes in.¹³

It is the wrong visit for anyone who wants time alone with the ceiling: every visit is a guided group of up to 33, and photographs are not allowed.³ For a Roman palace seen privately, take the private visit to Palazzo Colonna instead.

How to get it

Buy named tickets on the palace's own site, by card or PayPal: sales open 90 days ahead and close 5 days before the visit, up to 8 tickets at a time.³ Each visitor gives name, place and date of birth, email, phone and the number of a passport or identity card; a driving licence is not accepted.³ Tickets are not refundable or transferable; the flexible ticket lets you change the date, time or names through the Mirabilia booking office until 7 days before.³

The palace visit is €15.00, €20.00 with the Roman mosaics in the basement and €22.00 with the École française de Rome; children to 6 go free.³ Visits run Monday at 15:00, 16:00 and 17:00 and Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 15:00 and 16:00, in Italian, French or English, chosen when booking.³ The visit with the basement is at 17:00, in English on Tuesdays, and admits no one under 12.³ Allow 30 minutes for security and 60 for the visit, 90 with the basement.³ A party of 15 or more books through prenotazioni@artwonders.it.³

Discretion

It is a diplomatic building with reinforced security: be at the door on Piazza Farnese 30 minutes before the visit with the original passport or identity card named on the ticket.³ There is no cloakroom, so no luggage or backpacks, however small; handbags are allowed.³ Photographs are not allowed inside, and phones stay silent.³