The Palazzo Galleria Colonna is one of the grandest and oldest private palaces in Rome. Its construction begins in the fourteenth century at the request of the Colonna family, who have lived here continuously for eight centuries. The Colonna family traces its origins back to the 12th century to the town of Colonna, on the outskirts of Rome, from which the name is derived.
The construction of the different parts of the Palace stretched over five centuries and this caused the layering of different internal and external architectural styles that characterise it, reflecting the different eras.
From 1300 to 1500 the Palace looked like a true family fortress. Oddone Colonna, elected Pope on 11 November 1417 and taking the name of Martin V, used the Palace as a papal residence and lived here from 1420 to 1431, until the year of his death. In 1527, during the sacking of Rome by the troops of Emperor Charles V, the Palazzo
Colonna was one of the few palaces that was not burnt down, thanks to the family’s good relations with the Empire, providing a safe haven for more than three thousand Roman citizens.
In the 17th century, the Palace takes the form of a grandiose Baroque Palace thanks to the representatives of three generations of the family, including Philip I, Cardinal Girolamo I and Lorenzo Onofrio, who invited architects and artists of great renown and competence.
The consultants are Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Antonio del Grande, Carlo Fontana, Paolo Schor and many others.
A true masterpiece of the Roman Baroque is open to the public, the collection giving the opportunity to admire works of art created by the greatest Italian and foreign artists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Among them are Pinturicchio, Cosme Tura, Caracci, Guido Reni, Tintoretto, Salvator Rosa, Bronzino, Guercino, Veronese, Vanvitelli and many others.
Open on Saturdays only, closed in August
Museum opening hours: 09.00-13.15
Be open on Saturdays only.
