SHOTS AT PALAZZO FARNESE IN CAPRAROLA

In the many photographic journeys that I have had the honor of undertaking, I found myself in a fairytale place located in the Viterbo area, precisely in Caprarola.
Here stands one of the famous palaces, examples of Mannerist period dwellings since 1530, the beauty of this immense work lies both in its interior and in the huge garden that extends behind the building.

The photo's GPS says it was located here

A castle that marks a change in the architecture of the sixteenth century as it was conceived as a new luxury residence. A place that hosted the most powerful men of the time, a venue for political meetings and confrontations.
Palazzo Farnese was so beautiful that in the mid-1920s it was immortalized by photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston, one of the first female photographers in history. The shots are exhibited at the Library of Congress in Washington.

The Palace, located on the highest part of the town, was conceived as a fortress by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (the future Pope Paul III), who commissioned the project to the architect Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, but the works stopped because the cardinal became pope Paul III. After 25 years they resumed and completed this jewel.

One of the great works inside that you could watch for hours without getting tired is certainly the Scala Regia for which he used the noble stone of the land of the Etruscans. A play of light and shadow amplified by frescoes that give a superior artistic sense to a staircase that rotates around 30 columns, through which, according to legend, the cardinal used to ride on horseback to reach the noble floor.

The view of the tall gardens I must say is wonderful, precisely because the Italian-style gardens, decorated with fountains, labyrinth hedges (some of which sculpted by Pietro Bernini) are designed to be admired from above. They had the function of large Persian carpets to be admired from the windows even as a continuation of the interior decorations, a work that is basically carried out even now.

Most of the works carved in this open-air museum have communicated to me a dreamlike sense, of a dream mixed with reality, a story told by the many faces scattered everywhere, fountains of all kinds that as in a Shakespeare's work with the fall of the darkness comes to life and begins to roam the gardens, playing and dancing until dawn.

For those who love "rich" art, such a place should not be missing among the stops between the villages of Lazio right in the center of Italy, recommended!