Caetani Palace

The building is located in via delle Botteghe Oscure, near Piazza Venezia. It was built in the sixteenth century by the will of Alessandro Mattei by the architect Nanni di Baccio Bigio in the Insula Mattei in Sant'Angelo district. The building, characterized by a simple facade, is on three floors and has a large and elegant courtyard. The powerful Mattei family had it decorated by important artists of the time such as Taddeo and Federico Zuccari, Cristoforo Roncalli who painted the Chapel on the main floor and, together with the Flemish painter Paul Bril, the Living Room, in which wonderful landscapes and mythological figures are represented.

Sold by the Mattei to various owners, in 1776 the Palace was purchased for the sum of 39,500 scudi by Francesco Caetani who had it renovated by the painter Antonio Cavallucci, author of most of the eighteenth-century decoration. Both the collection of paintings and the important furnishings are of great value. Among the first, of particular interest are the three portraits of Onorato VI, for which the young intellectual Caetani managed to engage the greatest artists of the time: Pompeo Batoni, Raffaello Mengs and Angelica Kauffmann.

The Palace is currently the seat of the Caetani Foundation.

Foto credits: Courtesy of Camillo Caetani Foundation official site