Galleria Spada is a small art gallery crowded into a few rooms in the decorative Palazzo Spada.
Palazzo Spada is one of Rome’s few palaces which presents a pretty face to the world: most keep all the fancy stuff for their hidden courtyards and halls. Built in 1540, the palace came into the possession of Cardinal Spada, who gave it its present name, in the seventeenth century.
The artworks on display here come from the Cardinal’s art collection, and include many sixteenth and seventeenth-century paintings as well as some fine Roman sculptures. Artists include Guido Reni, Titian, Jan Breughel the Elder, Guercino and Artemisia Gentileschi. Crammed into a few rooms on the first floor, the paintings crowd the walls – luckily they are numbered, with useful multi-lingual notes in each room to help the visitor.
As well as the artworks, visitors can also admire the palazzo’s greatest architectural feature: Borromini’s famous Galleria prospettica, an attractive and entertaining trompe l’oeil arcade which appears several times longer than it actually is.
Galleria Spada is located on Piazza Capo di Ferro, close to Campo de’ Fiori in the Centro Storico. It’s within walking distance of all the other Centro Storico sights, and is best reached on foot or by bus/tram (to Largo Argentina). Opening hours are 8.30am-7.30pm. Closed on Mondays.
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