Rome: Discovering Masters and Mysteries, Half Day Private Tour

Meeting point in front the hotel

Built by Cardinal Girolamo Capodiferro on pre-existing buildings owned by the family, it was completed in the Jubilee of 1550. On the first floor of the Palace, in a seventeenth-century wing, is the Spada Gallery which, within four rooms, houses a famous collection of baroque paintings, created during the seventeenth century by cardinals Bernardino and Fabrizio Spada.
The finesse of the collection, which is still presented as a 17th century picture gallery, gives this place a unique charm, accentuated by a characteristic "minor" and reserved dimension.
In richly decorated rooms still furnished with important examples of Baroque furniture, in the Gallery you can admire masterpieces by Guido Reni and Guercino, Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi, Titian, Parmigianino and Jan Brueghel, as well as a precious selection of the international protagonists of Caravaggio's painting, such as Valentin de Boulogne, Trophime Bigot, Pieter Van Laer and Hendrick Van Somer.

Founded in the 7th century on the remains of a temple, probably dedicated to Minerva Chalcidica, the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva was rebuilt in Gothic style in the 13th century.

During the Renaissance the façade was rearranged and substantial internal work was carried out. On the right side of the facade, there are some plaques commemorating the Tiber floods from 1598 to 1870.
The interior is divided into three naves, with cross vaults resting on pillars, whose marble covering and pictorial ornamentation are due to the restoration carried out in 1850, which deprived the monument of its original appearance.
In the right transept, there is the Carafa Chapel with rich fresco decoration, the work of Filippino Lippi (1488-93), which culminates above the altar with the Annunciation, in which the commissioner of the chapel, Cardinal Oliviero Carafa, is also portrayed. In the presbytery, there is the statue of the risen Christ, a work by Michelangelo.

Santa Maria del Popolo is one of the most significant buildings of the Roman Renaissance, not only for its architectural features, but also for the paintings and sculptures it houses.
The church arose in the fifteenth century from a small chapel, built by will of Pope Paschal II at the expense of the Roman people, from whom it takes its name, and was enriched and modified over the centuries by the hands of talented architects and artists, including Raphael , Bernini, Lorenzetto and Caravaggio.
The three-nave interior, in the shape of a Latin cross with cross vaults, preserves numerous works of art and funerary monuments.
Among these, the most important is the Chigi Chapel, the second on the left, built to a design by Raphael for the banker Agostino Chigi starting from 1513, and finished only between 1652 and 1656, with the intervention of Gian Lorenzo Bernini for will of Pope Alexander VII Chigi.

Monumental and elegant square, at the summit where via del Babuino, via di Ripetta and via del Corso meet, the three main arteries of the historic center of Rome.
The urbanization of the area began in the second half of the sixteenth century, with the creation of a first fountain: the Trullo fountain.
During the 17th century, the two twin churches were built, Santa Maria in Montesanto, also known as the "Church of the Artists", and Santa Maria dei Miracoli.
On the opposite side of the square stands the splendid Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo, dating back to the fifteenth century, enriched and modified over the centuries by the intervention of numerous architects and artists.
Inside it preserves extraordinary masterpieces: the Chigi Chapel, built based on a design by Raphael in 1513, finished between 1652 and 1656 with the intervention of Gian Lorenzo Bernini; the Cerasi Chapel, which houses the Crucifixion of Saint Peter and the Conversion of Saint Paul, works by Caravaggio.