Description

The long perspectival wing of the Palazzo Corsini overlooks via della Lungara, roughly parallel to the Tiber river. This façade was designed by the

eminent architect Ferdinando Fuga according to the preexisting building and the light architectural partition, marked by the rhythm of the windows, forewarns a Neoclassical order. The original edifice was built by the cardinal Raffaele Riario, member of pope Sisto IV Della Rovere’s family, between ca. 1510-1512 and it housed in the 17th century Christina, Queen of Sweden, who founded here a cultural academy. Around 1736, the palace was acquired by the Corsini family who intended to set-up here their library and paintings gallery. In the 18th century, the architect Ferdinando Fuga intervened several time to transform and enlarge the complex. Around 1738, Fuga restored the old Palazzo Riario, then between 1744 and 1747 he built the library wing as symmetrical to the existing palace. At a later time (1749-1753), he connected the two building blocks and between 1755 and 1758 he completed the back section. In the mid-19th century the complex underwent some changes and restoration works. Since 1883, the complex has been a property of the Italian state and it’s both seat of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and one of the two seats of the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, together with Palazzo Barberini. The museum inside Palazzo Corsini is accessible from the civic number 10. A hallway decorated with ancient busts leads to the entrance hall decorated with a group of statues from the Torlonia collection dating to the 19th century, together with some ancient ones. The group sculpture depicting Cleopatra by Pietro Paolo Olivieri (ca. 1574) is placed in the center of the elegant space. You can enter the museum from the portal located on the right side of the entrance hall and admire the gallery set-up, which recalls the original aspect of a noble “quadreria”, displaying the paintings in overlapping lines to embellish the entire wall. The painting collection, started by the cardinal Neri Corsini, nephew of pope Clemente XII Corsini, is a rare example of a 18th century collection in Rome that has survived almost intact, also enriched in the following centuries by Flemish and Italian masterpiece of the 16th and 17th century according to a coherent museological and museographic project. The luxuriant garden of the palace houses the Orto Botanico, featuring about 3500 plant species and extending on a surface of about 12000 m2. Just in front of Palazzo Corsini, the entrance to the Renaissance Villa della Farnesina is open on the opposite side of via della Lungara.

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About the place