The Palazzo Vidoni-Caffarelli is a palace at the intersections of Via del Sudario, Piazza Vidoni, and Corso Vittorio Emanuele in the rione Sant’Eustachio in Rome.

History

The

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

palace, whose design, for many years was attributed to

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...

, was almost certainly not his direct hand, but a design from one of his pupils, perhaps Lorenzo Lotti, called "il Lorenzetto". Built between 1515 and 1536 for Bernardino Caffarelli. From there, it became property of Cardinal Stopponi. In the 18th century, the building became property of cardinal Vidoni, who enlarged the building. In the early twentieth century it housed the German embassy, now it houses the Ministry of Public Functions.

Design

The building design harkens to a classic Renaissance design likely developed by

Bramante Donato Bramante ( , , ; 1444 – 11 April 1514), born as Donato di Pascuccio d'Antonio and also known as Bramante Lazzari, was an Italian architect and painter. He introduced Renaissance architecture to Milan and the High Renaissance style ...

in his design for the now destroyed

Palazzo Caprini Palazzo Caprini was a Renaissance palazzo in Rome, Italy, in the Borgo rione between Piazza Scossacavalli and via Alessandrina (also named Borgo Nuovo). It was designed by Donato Bramante around 1510, or a few years before. It was also known ...

, the home of Raphael. The home has successive layers where the degree of facade decoration matches the function of the interiors. The ground floor is rustic stone, almost fortress-like. The second floor, the piano nobile, is decorated with doric columns. The Palazzo Vidoni-Caffarelli conserves 16th-century frescoes in its ''Charles V'' hall that depict events in the life of the emperor. The author is unknown, but described as belonging to the

Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ita ...

school of

Perin del Vaga Perino (or Perin) del Vaga (nickname of Piero Bonaccorsi) (1501 – October 19, 1547) was an Italian painter and draughtsman of the Late Renaissance/Mannerism. Biography Perino was born near Florence. His father ruined himself by gambling, an ...

. The palace also contains some 18th-century frescoes attributed to

Nicola Lapiccola Nicola may refer to: People * Nicola (name), including a list of people with the given name or, less commonly, the surname **Nicola (artist) or Nicoleta Alexandru, singer who represented Romania at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest * Nicola people, ...

Bernardino Nocchi ] Bernardino or Giovanni Bernardino Nocchi (May 8, 1741 – January 27, 1812) was an Italian painter, mainly of sacred and historic subjects. Biography He was born in Lucca and trained there under Giuseppe Antonio Luchi until 1767. By 1769, Nocch ...

Tommaso Conca Tommaso Maria Conca (1734–1822), was an Italian painter and draftsman, active mostly in Rome. Biography Tommaso Conca was born in Gaeta, one of the youngest of some eleven siblings, to Giovanni Conca and Anna Laura Scarsella di Castro. His ...

Ludovico Mazzanti ''Judith and Holofernes'' 1740, Collection Motais de Narbonne Ludovico Mazzanti (5 December 1686, in Orvieto – 29 August 1775, in Viterbo) was an Italian painter. He was a follower of the school of Giovanni Battista Gaulli, known as Baciccio (d ...

. The interior has some Roman statues, including a statue of emperor Lucio Aurelio Vero, and a fountain derived from a Roman sarcofagus. It also contains a marble portal decoration of the Venetian lion of St Mark from a Croatian city.Official website

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vidoni-Caffarelli, Palace Houses completed in 1536 Renaissance architecture in Rome Palaces in Rome Rome R. VIII Sant'Eustachio 1536 establishments in the Papal States