Rome: Palazzo Colonna

It is no exaggeration to state that the Colonna family have left their mark on the history of Rome. Cardinal Jacopo Colonna (ca. 1250-1318) left his traces in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Oddone Colonna (1369-1431) was the only member of his family to reach the papacy, and Marcantonio II Colonna (1535-1584) led the papal contingent during the famous naval battle of Lepanto in 1571. These were all excellent achievements for a family that came into existence in the twelfth century as a subsidiary branch of the house of the counts of Tusculum. The family name Colonna (“column”) derives from the town of Colonna in the Alban hills, just southeast of Rome. There is no evidence to support the tradition that the column in the family’s coat of arms is rooted in Trajan’s Column but it is a fact that this famous column is situated just south of the Palazzo Colonna.

History

The history of this Palazzo Colonna goes back to the beginning of the thirteenth century, when the Colonna settled in Rome and built up their power base there. They became bitter enemies of Pope Bonifatius VIII (1294-1303) and were involved in a fierce struggle with the Orsini, another well-known aristocratic family in medieval Rome. The first versions of the Palazzo Colonna must therefore have looked like a fortress rather than a palace. This fortress did have the honour of serving as the papal residence between 1420 and 1431. On 11 November 1417 Oddone Colonna had been elected pope. As the election had taken place on the feast day of Saint Martin, Oddone had chosen the name Martinus V. The election of Martinus had ended the so-called Great Western Schism (1378-1417). During this schism there had been popes in both Rome and Avignon. On occasion there had even been three popes. One of Pope Martinus V’s priorities was to restore Rome to her former glory. He therefore ordered the restoration of many churches, including the church of the Santi Apostoli adjacent to the Palazzo Colonna.

Even in Pope Martinus’ days the headquarters of the Colonna family was still a fortress. Its conversion into a palace took place in the centuries that followed, especially in the seventeenth century with the construction of the Galleria Colonna, a long gallery in the style of the Baroque on the south side of the complex. The gallery has earned an international reputation, if only because it was here that a long scene from the movie Roman Holiday (1953) starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck was shot. The Galleria Colonna was commissioned by cardinal Girolamo Colonna (1604-1666) and his nephew prince Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna (1637-1689). Lorenzo’s son Filippo II Colonna (1663-1714) inaugurated the gallery in 1700. The original architect of the gallery was the fairly unknown Antonio del Grande (1607-1679) but Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), Johan Paul Schor (1615-1674) and Carlo Fontana (ca. 1638-1714) also contributed.

The palazzo is still in possession of the Colonna family. This special fact explains why the opening hours are limited. For decades now the Palazzo Colonna can only be visited on Fridays (with a guide) and on Saturday mornings (free exploration). I would certainly recommend buying a full ticket, one which also gives access to the apartments of Isabelle Sursock Colonna (1889-1984), a scion of a wealthy Lebanese family who was married to Marcantonio VII Colonna (1881-1947). With the ticket the visitor may also enter the Pio Pavillion, dedicated to their daughter Sveva Vittoria Colonna (1910-1999). The Palazzo Colonna has a marvellous art collection. Its most prized possession is probably a painting called the Beaneater (Il Mangiafagioli) by Annibale Carracci (1560-1609).

Gardens and Pio Pavillion

I had bought my ticket in advance and could therefore skip the line that had formed at the entrance on the Via della Pilotta. After going up the staircase I passed through an antechamber – which had, among other things, a fine work by Mattia Preti (1613-1699) – and entered the great gallery (photo above). There was a lot of hustle and bustle there. Everyone wanted to take selfies on the spot where Princess Ann gave her press conference in Roman Holiday. I therefore decided to visit the gardens of the palazzo first (photos above). The Palazzo Colonna was built against the Quirinal Hill. On the north side of the hill, about where we now find the Pontificia Università Gregoriana, there stood a temple of Serapis in Antiquity. Behind it was a temple dedicated to Hercules and Dionysius. In the Middle Ages, the hill was first and foremost of strategic value but at the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth century cardinal Ascanio Colonna (1560-1608) and prince Filippo I Colonna (1578-1639) had splendid gardens with a beautiful fountain laid out here. The fountain was designed by Girolamo Rainaldi (1570-1655). The platform overlooking the gardens grants a panoramic view of the Roman skyline. Of course, we see the dome of Saint Peter’s Basilica but also the domes of Il Gesù and Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza.

It was not until the eighteenth century that the gardens could be directly accessed from the palazzo. In 1710 Alessandro Specchi (1668-1729) built three bridges across the Via della Pilotta. The architect had been commissioned by the aforementioned Filippo II Colonna. Specchi also built the aedicule with three statues of famous members of the family (photos above). In the centre is of course Marcantonio II Colonna, the hero of Lepanto, whom we will meet again quite a few times inside the palazzo. He is flanked by the cousins Fabrizio Colonna (ca. 1460-1520) and Prospero Colonna (1452-1523), who were famous Italian condottieri in the fifteenth and sixteenth century (Fabrizio was also Marcantonio’s grandfather). One of the bridges gives access to the Pio Pavillion, which comprises a number of rooms used by Colonna family cardinals between the sixteenth and eighteenth century. Cardinal Ascanio Colonna, cardinal Girolamo Colonna – already mentioned above – and their relative cardinal Girolamo II Colonna (1708-1763) were responsible for fitting out the rooms. However, the Pio Pavillion is currently dedicated to Sveva Vittoria Colonna (1910-1999), who was married to the Spanish prince Don Alfonso Falcò Principe Pio. The most conspicuous decorations are the seventeenth-century French tapestries, acquired long ago by Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna. They show us important events from the life of Alexander the Great. The last room has a view of the courtyard of the Palazzo Colonna.

Galleria Colonna

It was now time to return to the long gallery, where peace and quiet had been somewhat restored. The gallery is all about the naval battle of Lepanto and the heroic role played by Marcantonio II Colonna during the fighting. The story of the battle has been told before on this website. In 1571, a combined Christian fleet met the fleet of the Ottoman Empire near Lepanto in the Gulf of Patras. It was one of the largest naval battles in history, which saw 212 vessels of the Holy League pitted against 251 ships of the Ottoman Navy. After hours of fierce fighting, the forces of the Holy League won a decisive victory over their opponents. The Turkish admiral Sufi Ali Pasha was killed, as were thousands of his soldiers and sailors. Casualties on the Christian side were considerable as well, but no one could doubt that it was a victory for the Christian maritime powers. Marcantonio Colonna had led the papal fleet contingent and upon his return to Rome he was given a triumph like a victorious Roman commander.

A beautiful ceiling fresco at the beginning of the gallery depicts the introduction of Marcantonio to the Virgin Mary. The fresco was painted between 1698 and 1700 by Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari (1654-1727). Marcantonio is holding a club and is led by a man wearing a lion skin. Is he by any chance Hercules? If so, then we are looking at a remarkably pagan element in an otherwise devoutly Christian fresco. On the other side of the gallery, in the so-called Hall of the Landscapes, we find a ceiling fresco with an allegory of the battle of Lepanto. This fresco was painted by Luca Giordano (1634-1705) and Sebastiano Ricci (1659-1734). The gallery is truly filled to the brim with statues, mirrors, chandeliers and paintings. Not a single spot has been left uncovered. Among the paintings we find, for obvious reasons, a portrait of Marcantonio, painted by Scipione Pulzone (ca. 1540-1598). Works that also catch the eye are the colourful paintings of the Florentines Bronzino (1503-1572) and Michele di Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio (1503-1577). From the northern regions are works by a Dutch follower of Caravaggio and by the Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640).

The two most remarkable items in the gallery are a cannonball and a cabinet. The cannonball has become stuck in a staircase. It is a reminder of an unfortunate incident that took place in the nineteenth century. In 1849 French troops under general Oudinot had come to the aid of Pope Pius IX against the self-proclaimed Roman Republic. The French bombarded the city, including the Quirinal Hill, and also accidentally hit the Palazzo Colonna. This was rather ironic, as the Colonna family had – notwithstanding their earlier vendetta against Bonifatius VIII – been faithful papal allies for centuries. The cabinet in the Hall of the Landscapes was made in the seventeenth century by the brothers Franz and Dominicus Steinhart. It has been embellished with ivory decorations featuring scenes from the Bible. However, the central scene is a relief with the Last Judgment by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel.

Other rooms

In the Hall of the Apotheosis of Martinus V we find Carracci’s Beaneater from ca. 1583. The work has become world-famous, but on the day that I visited the Palazzo Colonna everyone seemed to ignore it. This enabled me to study the painting at leisure. The Australian art critic Robert Hughes was right when he called it a masterpiece. Hughes draws attention to the sharp contrast between Carracci’s classical frescoes in the Palazzo Farnese in Rome and the unpolished Beaneater. He called the latter work a “much earlier and more social-realist portrait of a worker tucking into his lunch of beans and onions, while clutching a bread roll and returning your gaze with a glare of feral possessiveness, mouth open, frayed straw hat on”.[1] In the hall named after him there is obviously also a portrait of Pope Martinus V. It is a copy from the sixteenth century of a (lost?) portrait that Pisanello (ca. 1395-1455) made of the pope. Martinus had summoned the painter to Rome to decorate the cathedral of San Giovanni in Laterano. Judging by the portrait of the very corpulent pope we may conclude that his diet consisted of more than just beans and onions.

In the other rooms we find more beautiful paintings and tapestries. The paintings were made by, among others, Rubens, Guercino and Pietro da Cortona, while the tapestries once again come from France. A special work is a painting of the Florentine master Sandro Botticelli (ca. 1445-1510) and his workshop that depicts the apostle Saint James the Great. The museum moreover highlighted a work by the Flemish painter Antoon van Dyck (1599-1641) that features Mars and Venus. Why exactly this specific work was singled out I do not know. Perhaps it had recently been restored.

The apartments of princess Isabelle are also worth a visit. The various rooms still look like they did in 1984, the year that the princess died aged 95. The situation has, as it were, been frozen. Isabelle had an immense collection of paintings by the Dutch painter of landscapes Caspar van Wittel (1653-1736), 37 in total according to the museum. We see several vedute (panoramas) of Rome, Naples and Venice. Another interesting work is an altarpiece by the painter Cosmè Tura (ca. 1430-1495) from Ferrara. His Polittico Roverella from ca. 1470-1474 has unfortunately been sawn into pieces, and several of these pieces have been lost. Others ended up in museums in Europe and the United States. The Palazzo Colonna possesses a side panel featuring the man who commissioned the polyptych from Cosmè Tura, Niccolò Roverella. The saints in the painting are Saint Paul the Apostle and the seventh-century Syrian saint Maurelius of Voghenza.

Website of the Galleria Colonnna: Home – Colonna Palace

Note

[1] Robert Hughes, The Seven Lives of Rome, p. 276.