Via Giulia Renaissance Palaces

The Basilica of San Giovanni Battista dei Fiorentini is distinguished by a slender brick and stucco dome that Romans have long nicknamed the sucked sugared almond. This church sits near a bend in the Tiber River at the end of Via Giulia,…

Palazzo Sacchetti, formerly known as Palazzo Ricci, is a Renaissance residence on Via Giulia defined by its austere brick facade and a towering marble portal topped by a balcony with fine bronze balustrades. Antonio da Sangallo the…

The Carceri Nuove, or New Jails, is marked by a heavy, rusticated stone portal on Via Giulia, centered beneath an inscription that records its completion in sixteen fifty-five. Built of brick with travertine accents, the building’s facade…

Palazzo Falconieri stands on Via Giulia, defined by two colossal Baroque herms at the ends of its façade. Each of these sculptures features a female bust that terminates upward in the head of a falcon, a direct heraldic reference to the…

The Church of Santa Maria dell’Orazione e Morte is marked by carved stone skulls and winged hourglasses that frame the entrance on Via Giulia. Built in seventeen thirty-four by the architect Ferdinando Fuga, the church served as the base…

The Arco dei Farnesi spans Via Giulia as a solitary stone arch, often decorated with trailing vines. It serves as the only remnant of a grand, private bridge project commissioned by Pope Paul the Third for his family, the Farnese. The Pope…

The Fontana del Mascherone is defined by a large, wide-eyed marble mask attached to a wall on Via Giulia, near the back of Palazzo Farnese. The fountain features the mask as its centerpiece, with water flowing from the carving’s mouth into…

The Galleria Spada is housed within the sixteenth-century Palazzo Spada, a building easily identified by the elaborate Mannerist stucco decorations covering its facade and the statues of Roman figures set into niches along its front.…