C A T A L O G U E G U I D E D T O U R S The Vatican Museums Duration: 3 hours You will be met by our guide at the main entrance of the Vatican Museums and then once inside you will begin your tour of the spectacular and rich papal collections. First you will visit the splendid Cortile della Pigna and you will go on to the Cortile Ottagono where in 1503 Pope Julius II displayed the Vatican's first collection of Greek and Roman statues: the Apollo del Belvedere and the Laocoön. Here you will also admire Canova's marvelous sculptures of Perseo and Creugas and Damoxène and in the Sala delle Muse the famous Belvedere Torso. Then you will be taken to the rich Pinacoteca Vaticana where you can admire masteprices such as Trittico Stefaneschi by Giotto, the frescoes by Melozzo da Forlì, the Trasfigurazione by Raphael, the San Girolamo by Leonardo, the Madonna col Bambino e santi by Titian, the Deposizione by Caravaggio. Next you will visit the Galleria dei Candelabri, the Galleria degli Arazzi and the Galleria delle Carte Geografiche and finally you will see Raphael's Rooms, the Sistine Chapel and the Borgia Apartment. Ancient Rome: Colosseum, Forum and Palatine Duration: 3 hours You will be met by our guide in front of the Colosseum, the biggest and most famous Amphitheatre in the world. Here, during the time of the Roman Empire, more than 50.000 spectators watched the famous battles of the Gladiators. After that you will be taken down to the Roman Forum and while you are walking you can admire the most important monuments of Ancient Rome such as the Arch of Septimius Severus, the Arch of Titus, the Trajan’s Market, the Curia, Temples and Basilicas. Then our guide will tell you about the Arch of Constantine and you will take a walk up to Rome’s most famous hill, the Palatine. It is said that here Romulus, the legendary first king of Rome, founded the Eternal City. Castel Sant'Angelo Duration: 2 hours You will be met by our guide outside the main door of the Castle and then you will be taken through one of most famous monuments in the ancient Rome. It was built by Emperor Hadrian in 130 A.D. as his and the Antonini’s mausoleum. It was then transformed by Emperor Aurelian made it into a fortress. During the Renaissance, the castle became the Pope’s residence and it was transformed into luxurious apartments and then much later on it was used as barracks and a military prison. Within the Castle you can visit the Chamber of the Urns which houses the ashes of Hadrian’s family. You can also visit the ancient prison cells, the weapons collection, various paintings and sculptures. On the 4th floor you can visit the papal apartments with frescoes by Giulio Romano, Perin del Vaga and the other artists from Raphael’s school. On the 5th floor you can see the Bronze Angel Statue and enjoy a wonderful view of Rome from the terrace. The Appian way Duration: 3 hours Our guide will introduce you to the fascinating Appian Way which is the most beautiful of all the roads leading to Rome. It was built in 312 B.C. by the Consul Appius Claudius, who opened the first part from Porta San Sebastiano to Capua: then in 190 B.C. this road was constructed to the seaport of Brindisi, where two marbles columns mark the end of the road. First you will visit the little Church of Domine Quo Vadis built in the 9th century where, it is said that, Christ appeared before St. Peter while was escaping from persecution by Nero. Your next stop will be the famous catacombs which there were a place of refuge of the early Christians: catacombs of St. Callixtus, the first cemetery of Rome’s Christian community and burial place of 16 Popes in the 3rd century or catacombs of St. Sebastian. Then you will continue your walk along the Appian Way and you will see monumental tombs like that of Cecilia Metella and Romolo Mausoleum. The Appian Way can be explored on foot or by bike. For the bikers, possibility to extend the visit until the Parks of the Acqueducts. Borghese Gallery Duration: 2 hours The Borghese Gallery houses one of the most beautiful classic art collections in the world and it is located in the famous Villa Borghese, the most beautiful park in Rome. It was built for Cardinal Scipione Borghese who was Pope Paul V’s favourite nephew. In 1608 the Cardinal employed the famous architect Flaminio Ponzio to build the Villa for his rich art collection. Other architects like Giovanni Vasanzio and Girolamo Rainaldi were involved in the creation of the park and its buildings. The Cardinal made it a cultural center as well as a beautiful natural environment including a zoological garden and many exotic plants. On the ground floor of the Gallery you can see masterpieces such as Bernini and Canova’s famous sculptures and on the first floor you can admire works of art by Antonello da Messina, Giovanni Bellini, Raffaello, Tiziano, Correggio, Caravaggio. Palazzo Barberini National Gallery of Ancient Art Duration: 2 hours Our guide will take you through one of the most important and beautiful buildings of Roman nobility. Palazzo Barberini was built in 1625 for Pope Urbano VIII by Carlo Maderno and was completed by Bernini in 1633. Borromini, as a young man, designed the spiral staircase. Once inside you can admire frescoes on the ceiling of the grand salon. The Triumph of Divine Providence was painted by Pietro da Cortona between 1633 and 1639 in honour of the papal family. Then you will visit the Gallery of Ancient Art where there are more than 1500 important artworks from the 12th and 17th centuries. They belonged to Roman noble families such as Chigi and Barberini. Here you will see La Fornarina by Raphael, the Judith Beheading Holofernes by Caravaggio and many other paintings by Andrea del Sarto, Beccafumi, Sodoma, Bronzino, Lorenzo Lotto, Tintoretto, Tiziano, El Greco, Guido Reni, Domenichino, Guercino, Lanfranco, Poussin, Pietro da Cortona. Colonna Gallery Duration: 2 hours A true jewel of the Roman Baroque, the Galleria Colonna was commissioned in the mid 1600s by Cardinal Girolamo I Colonna and his nephew Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna. It was inaugurated by Lorenzo Onofrio’s son, Philip II, in 1700. The original project is by the architect Antonio del Grande; it was then integrated by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Paolo Schor and Carlo Fontana in the last decade of the 1600s. From the very beginning, the Gallery was conceived as a large boardroom, which was to celebrate the victory of the Christian fleet over the Turks the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. The commander of the Papal fleet, Marcantonio II Colonna, is depicted numerous times throughout the vault of the Great Hall of the Gallery and in the Room of the Battle Column. The fresco on the vault above the Room of the Battle Column is by Giuseppe Chiari and depicts the presentation of Marcantonio to the Virgin Mary in heaven. The room takes its name from the column of red marble on a pedestal in the center of the room, which recalls the family coat of arms. The carvings represent ancient roman military scenes. Among the many works of art in the Room of the Battle Column, we’d like to point out the beautiful painting by Bronzino depicting Venus,Cupid and a Satyr. Of particular interest are the three large paintings by Michele di Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio representing Night, above the Bronzino, and, on the opposite wall, Aurora, whit Venus and Cupid. On the short flight of stairs, going down to the Great Hall, you will find a cannon ball, which arrived in 1849, during the period of the Roman Republic. It was shot by the French army from the Janiculum Hill, under the orders of General Oudinot, who arrived at Porta San Pancrazio to help Pope Pius IX from the Republican insurgents, including Mazzini, Armellini and Saffi, who occupied the center of Rome for a few months. Going on to visit the Great Hall, we’d like to point out the four large mirrors painted by Mario dei Fiori, Giovanni Stanchi and Carlo Maratta, along with the impressive series of masterpiece paintings by Guercino, Salvator Rosa, Jacopo Tintoretto, Francesco Salviati, Guido Reni, Giovanni Lanfranco and many others. After passing the two majestic columns coated with yellow Siena marble, you are now in the Room of the Landscapes, which takes its name from the numerous paintings of rural subjects by Gaspard Dughet. The vault, depicting an allegory of the Battle of Lepanto, was painted in the late 1600s by Sebastiano Ricci. Villa Farnesina Duration: 2 hours The Villa Farnesina is situated on Via della Lungara, opposite the Corsini Palace. The Sienese banker, Agostino Chigi, named "Magnificent" by his contemporaries, acquired the villa, which had been completed in 1509 by Baldassarre Peruzzi, a Sienese architect of great renown. The villa, a wonderful example of Renaissance art, was decorated by such famous painters as Raffaello, Sebastiano del Piombo, Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (called Sodoma), Giulio Romano and Peruzzi himself, and it was furnished with such magnificence that it aroused general admiration. In the rooms of the Villa high prelates, noblemen, poets, men of letters and artists used to meet; comedies were performed there and sumptuous banquets were held. After Agostino Chigi's death, the villa was bought by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (from whom the Villa takes its name).