The ideal model of a suburban residence desired by Leo X (1513-1521), son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and continued by his cardinal cousin Giulio de' Medici, the future Clement VII (1523-1534), the 'vigna del papa', or papal residence, to be called Villa Madama, was conceived by Raphael on the slopes of Monte Mario in the grandest of terms, emulating the palaces of the Caesars and exceeding similar Medici villas in Florence or at Poggio a Caiano in its ostentation and magnificence. Raphael's premature death (1520) obliged his closest collaborators, Giulio Romano, Giovanni da Udine and Antonio Sangallo the Younger, to re-size and modify the monumental project, completed only in part.Villa Madama (today representative seat of the President of the Council and of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) is still one of the greatest masterpieces of Renaissance architectural decoration, despite the additions, reworkings and restoration effected by Piacentini in the early twentieth century.
With its ample loggia richly decorated in the 'antique' style and looking out onto the huge garden, it is an outstanding emblem of cultured patronage and of the splendour of the papal court in the early sixteenth century. The volume tells the complex tale of the historical-artistic events of the palace, and the essays are richly illustrated with new photographs by Massimo Listri.

Illustrated by: Massimo Listri