Rome, Italy

Villa Lante

al Gianicolo

The Renaissance beauty of Villa Lante on the Gianicolo

As mentioned elsewhere in our other articles, Rome is an immense city and inside it there are structures of different types that attract for their beauty.

Among these, there are also villas, ancient houses intended for very rich and wealthy people.
The villas are small stars shining with their beauty in that blanket of buildings that is today’s Rome and, among these shining stars there is also the villa we will talk about today: Villa Lante al Gianicolo (or, more simply, Villa Lante).

Villa Lante was built in the Renaissance period and bears the signature of the Raffaello school.

This beautiful villa passed from hand to hand over the centuries until, in 1950, it was bought by Finland who founded the Institutum Romanum Finlandiae in 1954.

In this article we will tell you about this beautiful villa, its history and the artistic beauties it contains.

The history of Villa Lante (in short)

The history of Villa Lante seems to have a very bizarre beginning. The story of this building tells the that, one day, in a letter, Bishop Baldassarre Turini, complained about the heat of summer Rome, declaring that he had bought two hectares of land on the Janiculum to build a villa.

According to written records, the construction of the villa was entrusted to Giulio Romano (a pupil of Raffaello). He wanted to create a classic style work in which art and architecture merged to form a single picture.

As mentioned, the villa passed through the different eras of history passing from hand to hand: from the Turini family, in fact, it passed to the Lante family, then to the Borghese family, to the founder of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, up to Finland which bought it to found the Institutum Romanum Finlandiae, thanks to which it underwent the first restorations both to the structure and to the frescoes and stuccos that have allowed Villa Lante to reach the present day in all its beauty.

Why visit Villa Lante al Gianicolo?

Villa Lante is a beautiful Renaissance villa despite its architectural simplicity. In fact, the typical Medici model (a cube with a pyramidal roof) was used for the construction of this villa.

As mentioned, the project was by Giulio Romano, a pupil of the Raffaello school. This alone is reason enough to visit the villa: to admire how this architect took the Medici model of Florence and brought it to Rome, fusing it in a personal way with the classical Doric and Ionic styles.

But it is not only the architectural style created by Giulio Romano for Villa Lante that is the reason to visit this magnificent villa in Trastevere.

Let’s not forget, in fact, that Villa Lante was born as a residence of a high prelate of the church of Rome, a bishop, and that this residence was later owned by rich people. The nobles and the rich, therefore, have always had a passion for opulence and this is also true for Villa Lante, where we can admire various works of art inside its rooms.

A visit to Villa Lante will amaze the eyes of every visitor who will be delighted to see the decorations of the barrel vault of the vestibule, the frescoes in the hall (“Le Imprese” by Baldassarre Turini and his protectors) and the other decorations of this immense room, the painting “Allegory of Italy” by Valentin de Boulogne, the stucco decorations on the ceiling of the loggia and the grotesque-frescoed mirror vaults of the side rooms.

How to visit Villa Lante

Being the seat of an institute, Villa Lante cannot always be visited as a common museum but a visit to this beautiful Roman villa must be booked at the institute through the appropriate channels.

Before booking a visit to Villa Lante, however, it must be borne in mind that this place is closed on certain days of the year and, to be precise:

  • New Year (January 1)
  • Epiphany (January 6)
  • Liberation Day (April 25)
  • Republic Day (June 2)
  • June 29
  • Ferragosto (15 August)
  • All Saints (November 1)
  • Feast of the Immaculate Conception (8 December)
  • Christmas Eve and Christmas (14th and 15th December)
  • Santo Stefano (December 26)
  • Easter (varies from year to year)
  • Finnish Independence Day (December 6)

How to get to Villa Lante

To get to Villa Lante, the suggested means of transport are two:

  • bus 870 getting off in Corso Vittorio Emanuele II
  • bus 115 getting off in Corso Vittorio Emanuele II or in via Morosini

Here is all the necessary information you were surely looking for about Villa Lante. I hope this article of ours has convinced you to visit this beautiful villa.

You will not regret it, you’ll see!

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Villa Lante al Gianicolo