Galleria Spada, Art museum in Capodiferro Palace, Rome, Italy
Galleria Spada is an art museum inside Palazzo Capodiferro in Rome, displaying paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries across four exhibition rooms. The works are arranged on two floors and surrounded by richly decorated ceilings, stucco ornaments, and gilded frames that form a unified whole with the paintings themselves.
The Spada family assembled the collection from the 1630s onward and renovated the palace to display it properly. The Italian state purchased it in 1927 and opened it to the public as a national institution.
The collection reflects the taste of a Roman cardinal dynasty that chose works for personal enjoyment rather than official purposes. Many paintings still hang in the rooms they were originally intended for, offering a direct glimpse into how aristocratic families lived.
The museum opens from Wednesday to Monday and sits near Campo de' Fiori in the city center. The rooms are small and fill up quickly, so a morning visit or a trip outside peak season works best.
The famous colonnade by Borromini measures only 9 meters but appears four times longer through optical trickery. The floor rises slightly and the columns taper, enhancing the illusion of depth and surprising every visitor who walks toward it.
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