The private visit to Palazzo Colonna

Why it is on the list

The Colonna family began the palace in the fourteenth century and still lives in it; Pope Martin V, a Colonna, ruled from it between 1420 and 1431.¹ The gallery runs 76 metres, with work by Bernini, Carlo Fontana and Johann Paul Schor, and the family's paintings hang where they have hung since a trust of 1800 bound them to the walls: Carracci's Bean Eater, Bronzino, Tintoretto, Veronese, Guercino, Guido Reni.¹² On the ground floor, Princess Isabelle's apartment is kept as she left it, family photographs in place, beside thirty-seven views by Vanvitelli and ceilings by Pinturicchio.³

The private visit is priced for ten people at least, so for one or two it is a lot of house to open. A couple can take the guided Friday morning tour instead, about two hours, or walk the rooms on a Saturday morning.⁴ For a smaller family house with a single masterpiece, take the Caravaggio ceiling at Casino dell'Aurora.

How to get it

Call the gallery office on +39 06 6784350 or write to info@galleriacolonna.it and ask for a private visit.⁴⁵ Private visits run any hour you choose from Sunday to Thursday, and on Friday and Saturday from 3 pm; say which apartments you want to see, the language, and whether you bring your own guide or want the palace's staff and a specialist guide.⁴ The rate is agreed case by case, with a minimum of ten people or payment for ten.⁴ Visits are taken seven days a week, holidays included.¹

Discretion

Private visits enter from Piazza SS. Apostoli 66, not from the public door on Via della Pilotta.⁴ Outside Friday and Saturday mornings the rooms are open only to the party that booked.⁴