Rome has many beautiful museums. But there’s one, just a few minutes from the Pizza di Spagna, that’s well worth a visit and yet is often shunned by tourists. Good for the locals, you might say. Because it allows you to better appreciate the works on display, to avoid the clutter of the Vatican Museum, and to visit at your own pace.
This museum is the Galleria Barberini.
PRACTICAL INFORMATIONS
- Opening hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday (closed on Mondays)
- Admission: €15 full price |€2 European citizens aged 18 to 25. Free admission for residents of Rome, under 18s and on the 1st Sunday of the month. Your ticket also gives you access to the Galleria Corsini within 20 days of first entry.
- Address: Galleria Barberini, Piazza Barberini, 5 | 00187 Rome, Italy
There is a checkroom, but only for small backpacks & handbags. If you have a suitcase or bag over 50L it’s not possible to store it here.
WHAT CAN YOU SEE IN THE GALLERIA BARBERINI
If I had only one advice to share with you. Look up.
Look up, because the further you go into the museum, the more you’ll be dazzled both by the works on display and by the setting in which they’re presented. Some of the rooms in the Gallerie Barberini are works of art in themselves. Not surprising for the city of Rome. But I don’t want to say too much, because when you’ll visit this museum, you’ll understand why.
In short, the Gallerie exhibits many works from the Italian Renaissance. The Italian Renaissance (14th-16th c.) was a period of cultural, artistic and scientific renewal, marked by the rediscovery of ancient myths, realist perspective techniques and a need to represent the individual or oneself. The gallery displays several themes, including :
REALISM IN THE REPRESENTATION OF BIBLICAL RELIGIOUS SCENES
Renaissance artists, influenced by humanism, wanted to show biblical figures (such as Christ, the Virgin Mary, or the saints) in a very realistic way, endowing them with human features.
MYTHOLOGICAL AND CLASSICAL THEMES OF GRECO-ROMAN ANTIQUITY
The story of David and Goliath tells how the young shepherd David, armed only with a slingshot, defeats the Philistine giant Goliath, who was challenging the army of Israel. David, strengthened by his faith in God, triumphs over the giant by throwing a stone at his forehead.
REPRESENTATION OF INDIVIDUAL & IDEALIZED BEAUTY
La Fornarina or Portrait of a Young Woman, Raphael, 16th century.
It is said to represent Raphael’s mistress at the end of his life, Margherita Lutti, daughter of a Trastevere baker, hence her nickname Fornarina (baker’s woman, wife)
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FRESCOE OF THE MUSEUM
The museum’s most impressive work has to be the fresco on the ceiling of the Gallerie’s vast reception room, the Triumph of Divine Providence. It took Francesco Bracciolini 7 years to depict a hundred characters in this whirling rhythm. The perspective is highly realistic, and you could lose yourself for hours in the complex interweaving of themes and sub-themes the artist has depicted. The center of the fresco depicts the Divina Providentia, enthroned on clouds against a luminous sky, around which the entire composition is organized. And this frescoes is, in itself, the reason why you should visit the Galleria Barberini.
What is your favorite museum in Rome ?