Il cardinale Alessandro decise, intorno al 1579, di aggiungere ai Giardini Bassi un grande parco molto più vasto, diviso in quattro ripiani, dove poter rilassarsi ed intrattenere ancor di più i suoi ospiti. Salendo una serie di scale che partono dai Giardini Bassi e percorrendo dei magnifici viali alberati, si giunge al primo ripiano dove si trova la grande fontana circolare “del Giglio”. Da due padiglioni parte una duplice scala che conduce al secondo ripiano; nel mezzo è posta una Catena di Delfini in peperino nella quale scorre acqua. Su questo ripiano si trova la fontana detta “dei Fiumi”, composta da due giganti che gettano acqua in un grande bicchiere che poi, traboccando, cade per finire in una grande vasca sottostante. Con due scale semicircolari si arriva al terzo ripiano, adibito a giardino, circondato da alte Cariatidi e composto da riquadri di siepi con piccole fontane in peperino. Nel centro sorge la Palazzina, realizzata tra il 1584 e il 1586, il suo progetto viene attribuito al Garzoni. L’elegante edificio si compone di due piani; nel piano terra vi sono cinque camere ed una loggia, mentre nel piano rialzato vi sono quattro stanze con due logge e nello spazio intermedio fra le sale vi è una piccola cappella. Le stanze sono affrescate soltanto nella volta con scene mitologiche e grottesche. Attraverso una doppia scala cordonata, composta da Tritoni in peperino che gettano acqua in piccole vaschette, si accede all’ultimo ripiano. Questo è composto da una vasta platea abbellita con ninfe cavalcanti animali marini e Tritoni che gettano acqua in tazze di peperino. Al centro della piazza si trova un’elegante fontana in marmo con intorno una pavimentazione in mosaico raffigurante gli stemmi dei Farnese. Percorrendo un lungo viale si giunge ad una grande porta chiamata Porta dei Gigli, superata la quale, si accede alla strada che conduce alla Cassia Cimina.
Probabilmente edificato intorno alla metà del XVI secolo dalla famiglia Laurenzi, venne ristrutturato nella prima metà del XVII secolo dalla famiglia dei conti Sebastiani.
Appartenevano a questa famiglia il pittore di origine maceratese Giuseppe Bastiani (1569-1638) ed il Servo di Dio Mons. Girolamo Sebastiani, Vescovo Carmelitano (1623-1689).
Nel 1803 vi soggiornò il re di Sardegna Carlo Emanuele IV di Savoia.
Venne edificato nella prima metà del XVI secolo dalla famiglia Moscheni, ricchi commercianti bergamaschi, e ristrutturato nella seconda metà dello stesso secolo.
L’eleganza del portale d’ingresso e delle linee della facciata, denotano una probabile progettazione vignolesca.
Venne edificato nella seconda metà del XVI secolo da Ercole Mariani, prelato domestico e maestro di casa del card. Alessandro Farnese.
Il progetto di questo palazzo si deve all’architetto Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola (1507-1573), come risulta dal contratto di appalto per i lavori risalente al 1571.
After World War II Palazzo Farnese was chosen as a summer residence of the President of the Republic, Luigi Einaudi. This resulted in a series of works and improvements to the whole area. Between 1953 and 1956 a master plan for Caprarola was created which resulted in urban development and the preservation of the monumental complex of Palazzo Farnese. The town expanded westward past the ditch of Pylos with the building of the great Bridge of Heroes and Strada Nova. The latter is now known as the Avenue of the Republic, the modern outer ring that connects the town to the Cassia Cimina.
The palace belonged to the noble Pettelli family, whose members were counts. They held a number of important positions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In 1725 the exiled King James III and Queen Clementina of England stayed there. As a reminder of their visit there is an inscription above the entrance of the door and one on the two stone columns found inside the door. The ashlar portal (stone door surround) is also of interest.
A defensive fortress once stood on the current site of Palazzo Fusaro. It had been built in the XIII by the powerful family of the Prefects of Vico, who already owned a house near lake Vico. The fortress underwent numerous transformations until the radical change in the second half of the sixteenth century during the construction of the Via Diretta. The creation of the road divided the fortified complex into two blocks: one on the side of the Fornella district and the other towards Piazza Sicilia. The latter part, the most significant, was transformed into the current palace and was used as a Chancellery by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, whose coat of arms we can see carved above the main entrance. Towards the end of the eighteenth century the Bourbons, who succeeded the Farnese, sold it to the Frizzotti family who ran a pharmacy, which remained active even when the Palazzo passed to the Fusaro family. The facade has a fine ashlar portal (stone door surround) and a loggia with pillars in the attic. Inside are ancient traces of a spiral staircase in the tower, a kitchen, two pit latrines and a vast underground cellar.
The gardens designed by Vignola and completed in 1583, finalised the transformation of the fortress into the villa and, like secret gardens, are enclosed by a high wall. At the back of the Palace there are two gardens that are accessed from the ‘piano nobile’. The Winter and the Summer Gardens can be reached via bridges, originally mobile, spanning the moat. In the Winter garden there is the spectacular Fountain of the Tartars, while in the Summer garden you can find the Fountain of the Satyrs. Both gardens are neatly divided into 16 panels by hedges. Of particular interest are the four granite statues of Hore which, placed at the end of the bridges that connect the gardens to the palace, act as sundials.
Palazzo Gherardi, at far end of the Via Diretta near the Palazzo Farnese, is today the Town Hall. It was built at the request of Matthias Gherardi from San Cascin. In 1535 he was appointed as the Master General of the Papal post office by Pope Paul III, a position he held until 1575 and for which he may be called the founder of the modern Papal post office. Gherardi oversaw the construction of the Palazzo Farnese and around 1573 began to build a home for himself and his son Marcello in the style of Vignola. The work was completed in 1580. In 1602 the building was purchased by the Brotherhood of the Cross and Discipline and it was turned into a monastery. The transformation of the palace into a monastery was completed in 1611 and it was dedicated to SS. Agostino and Rocco. After 1870 it was confiscated by the Italian State and became the town hall. The Palace, after undergoing many renovations, retains only a rough outline of its original structure. An original feature is the remarkable ashlar portal (stone door surround) with the town’s coat of arms and the façade embellished with various coats of arms and memorial stones.
The medieval appearance of Palazzo Riario is due to the fact that it was built as a castle by the Anguillara in 1370. In 1504 it was bought by the Riario family and restored as a mansion. Towards the middle of the sixteenth century, following the construction of the Via Diretta, it underwent further changes. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Palazzo was converted into private homes. The ancient castle rose up on the rock and was equipped with corner towers, of which two square and one round have been incorporated into the building. It has seven floors, three of which are below the street level of the Via Diretta. The windows of the main floors all have lintels with the inscription “Alessandro Riario, Cardinale e Auditore Apostolico.”. In 1771 the building was damaged when the bell tower of the Church of St. Michael the Archangel collapsed. The façade displays a plaque, which recalls that in 1878 a steam olive oil mill called “The Progress” stood on the site.
Palazzo Restituti is on the ancient Via Diretta and reflects the late Renaissance style. The work on the building, constructed from pre-existing medieval houses, started between 1574 and 1575, probably a project of Vignola. The ashlar portal (stone door surround) and the facade are attributed to Giacomo del Duca, who was active in Caprarola between 1584 and 1586. The completion of the work dates back, as can be seen by the epigraph above the door, to 1586. The building still has the coat of arms of the commissioning families, Lattanzio and Pompey Restituti, whose members held prominent public positions from 1556.
The hospital was built between 1495 and 1497 on the initiative of the Brotherhood of the Cross and Discipline with the help of the Riario family. Constructed on the site of a pre-existing church dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, the hospital was, in turn, dedicated to the same saint. It was built on two floors, with two large rooms, one for men on the first floor and one for women on the second. The staff consisted of two chaplains, a surgeon, a nurse for men and one for women. During the urban renewal by Vignola and the construction of Palazzo Farnese, alterations were also made to the hospital as is made evident by the payment, in 1572, of about 1000 crowns to the foreman “Scarpapede”. After Vignola’s death, work was entrusted to Giovanni Antonio Garzoni, who modified the subdivision of the rooms and replaced the spiral staircase with a ramp. Whilst assisting the sick, the hospital also ran a pawnbroker’s and a kindergarten. The Brotherhood was only dissolved in 1979. After the restoration work carried out in the 1990s, the building was intended to be a nursing home for the elderly. Inside, it has well-preserved wall paintings like the one depicting the Holy Family and St. John the Baptist as a child. In the living room there are two valuable frescoes from the late sixteenth century: the Crucifixion and the Pietà, similar to the one painted by Federico Zuccari in a chapel of Palazzo Farnese.
Via Filippo Nicolai, previously known as Via Diritta, is the main road that runs through the urban centre of Caprarola. Designed by Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola, the road was built between 1557 and 1564 during the construction of Palazzo Farnese. The village spreads out to the right and left of the road which ends in the square where the Palazzo stands. Via Diritta is about 680 meters long. Its construction involved the raising of the level of the road, the building of major bridges and new stately homes and the renovation of existing homes. To allow access to the new elevated road, several subways and hilly streets were also built, some with staircases. The new buildings overlooking Via Diritta gradually increase in quality as they approach the Palazzo, an indication that the more affluent preferred the houses near the Palace.
Turning to the hill Palazzo Farnese stands on, you can see two flights of stairs and a large square below one of the most impressive buildings that has ever been built in Italy. Isolated but, at the same time, harmoniously integrated with the surrounding area, visually connected to the town and dominant over it, the Palace is framed by the Via Diretta which widens as it leads into the square in front of the main facade. The building was commissioned, in the 1520s, by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, the future Pope Paul III. Designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and Baldassare Peruzzi, it was conceived as a fortress of pentagonal shape, with scarp walls, huge corner bastions and a moat. Its construction was interrupted around 1534 by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese’s appointment as Pope. The resumption of work took place about twenty years later thanks to the eldest grandson of Pope Paul III, who was also Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. His intention was to make his grandfather’s fortress a sumptuous and magnificent residence, entrusting the design to Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola. In 1573, the year of the architect’s death, the building, considered his masterpiece, was nearly complete. Respecting the pentagonal base, the interior spaces are spread over five floors around a circular courtyard. The best painters of the day worked inside the sumptuous residence and, the themes of the frescoes were inspired by the scholar, Annibal Caro.
Opening times
8:30am to 7:30pm (last entry 6:45pm)
The park closes one hour before sunset.
Park hours detail
January: last entry 3pm (closing 4pm)
February: last admission 3:30pm (closing time 4:30pm)
March*: last entry 4pm (closing 5pm)
April through September: last admission 6pm (closing 7pm)
October*: last admission 5pm (closing time 6pm)
November and December: last admission 3pm (closing time 4pm)
*Until summer/solar time change.
Closed:Mondays
Jan. 1, Dec. 25 except for special openings on MiC project.
In case of inclement weather, the park remains closed.
Tickets:Full € 10.00
Full at closed park € 8.00
Reduced € 2.00 (EU citizens 18 to 25 years old)
Free (0 to 18 years old)
Additional concessions and free admission can be found on the Mic website.
Tickets can be purchased in cash at the museum ticket office.
The introduction of electronic payment is being completed.
According to Decree Law June 1, 2023, No. 61, Art. 14, extended by Decree Law Aug. 10, 2023, No. 105, Art. 10, from June 15 to Dec. 15, the indicated rates will be increased by 1 euro to support the flooded areas of Emilia Romagna.
Visits:Free visit. Presence of information panels in Italian and English.
Groups of maximum 35 people plus guide are allowed to enter. The use of radio guidance systems (whisper) is recommended and mandatory for groups over 25 people.
For Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, reservations are required for groups at the dedicated number +39 0761 646052, Monday to Friday from 9am to 7pm.
Length of visit:About 2 hours
Tips for your visit:It is recommended to arrange the visit taking into account the access times to the park.
Inside the gardens and monumental park, it is recommended to wear comfortable footwear suitable for paths with unevenness and unevenness.
It is possible to take photos without flash and without a tripod for personal use only.
Animals are prohibited except guide dogs for the blind and service dogs for people with disabilities.
There are vending machines for water, snacks and hot drinks at the ticket office.
How to get there:By car – from Rome: exit Cassia Veientana of the GRA. From the A1 highway: exit Magliano Sabina (for those coming from the south), exit Attigliano or Orte (for those coming from the north).
By bus – direct connections from Rome-Saxa Rubra or from Viterbo and surrounding areas.
Parking:There are free and paid parking lots in the immediate vicinity, as well as a multi-story parking lot at 99 Pietro Belli Street.
A bus and RV parking lot is located about 500 m from the museum.
Access:For visitors with reduced mobility, there is a dedicated entrance on Via San Rocco, which gives direct access to the Piano Nobile and the Winter Garden (please contact +39 0761 646052 before arrival).
This large rectangular building to the west of Palazzo Farnese, whose internal walls measure about 100 meters in length, 15 meters in width and 20 meters height, once housed the stables of the Palazzo. On the outside there is a monumental entrance oriented towards the Palazzo consisting of an Imperial staircase in the Baroque style. Completed in 1585 it was built to stable about 120 horses. It also had areas used as barns and garages for carriages, as well as housing for grooms and squires. During the twentieth century the former stables were used as the site of a summer holiday camp, but after careful restoration it has become a multipurpose centre for events and conferences, and is the headquarters of the State Institution for Hotel and Catering.
