Villa Farnesina Historical Timeline

Last updated on September 29, 2026

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Built in four years for a banker, decorated by the best painters alive, and later owned by kings, an ambassador and finally a scientific academy.

Chronology

1506–1510 — Baldassare Peruzzi, a Sienese artist and pupil of Bramante, perhaps aided by Giuliano da Sangallo, designs and erects the villa for Agostino Chigi, a rich Sienese banker and treasurer of Pope Julius II. Structural impact: a U-shaped plan with a five-bay loggia between the arms, entered through the open north-facing loggia. What you see today: the whole building, which was never substantially rebuilt.
1510s — Chigi commissions the fresco decoration from Raphael, Sebastiano del Piombo, Giulio Romano and Il Sodoma, on themes inspired by the Stanze of Angelo Poliziano, a key member of the circle of Lorenzo de' Medici. Structural impact: none to the fabric; everything to the interior. What you see today: the frescoes, in situ, in the rooms they were painted for.
16th century — a bridge over the Tiber is planned, to link the villa to the Chigi holdings across the river. It is never completed. Structural impact: the villa stays on its own bank. What you see today: a suburban villa that reads as detached from the city, which is what it was meant to be.
18th century — the villa passes to the Bourbons of Naples. Structural impact: ownership changes, the fabric does not. What you see today: the reason the frescoes survived — it stayed a prestige property rather than becoming a working building.
1861 — it passes to the Spanish Ambassador in Rome, Bermudez de Castro, Duke of Ripalta. Structural impact: none of consequence. What you see today: a villa that changed hands between people wealthy enough to leave it alone.
20th century — the villa becomes the property of the Italian state and takes in the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, a long-standing Roman academy of sciences. Structural impact: a private pleasure villa becomes an institutional seat with public rooms. What you see today: the reason the opening hours read like an academy's — mornings only, closed Sundays.
until 2007 — the villa also houses the Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe, the Department of Drawings and Prints of the Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica. Structural impact: the collection moves out. What you see today: rooms given back to the frescoes.
16 February 2026 — new opening hours and tariffs come into force. Structural impact: none. What you see today: the current 9.00–14.00 weekday pattern and the second-Sunday opening, both dated from this change.

Verified against Wikipedia, September 2026.

External Resources

Sources & verification Covers the sourced claims on this page.

Checked against Wikipedia — The Villa Farnesina is a Renaissance suburban villa in the Via della Lungara in the district of Trastevere in Rome, built between 1506 and 1510 for Agostino Chigi, the Pope's wealthy Sienese banker, as a novel type of suburban villa subsidiary to his main Palazzo Chigi in the city, and is especially famous for the rich frescos by Raphael and other High Renaissance artists that remain in situ; it is now owned by the Italian state and the principal rooms can be visited, The villa was built for Agostino Chigi, a rich Sienese banker and the treasurer of Pope Julius II, and between 1506 and 1510 the Sienese artist and pupil of Bramante Baldassare Peruzzi, aided perhaps by Giuliano da Sangallo, designed and erected it; the novelty of the design can be discerned from its differences from a typical urban palazzo, since Renaissance palaces typically faced onto a street and were decorated versions of defensive castles, rectangular blocks with rusticated ground floors enclosing a courtyard, whereas this villa was intended to be an airy structure, The villa has a five-bay loggia between the arms and the main entrance was through the north facing loggia which was open, and Chigi also commissioned the fresco decoration of the villa by artists such as Raphael, Sebastiano del Piombo, Giulio Romano and Il Sodoma, on themes inspired by the Stanze of the poet Angelo Poliziano, a key member of the circle of Lorenzo de' Medici, A bridge over the Tiber was planned but never completed; the villa later belonged to the Bourbons of Naples and in 1861 to the Spanish Ambassador in Rome, Bermudez de Castro, Duke of Ripalta; and today, owned by the Italian State, it accommodates the Accademia dei Lincei, a long-standing and renowned Roman academy of sciences, having until 2007 also housed the Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe of the Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica (September 2026).
Checked against Villa Farnesina — Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei — Under the hours in force from 16 February 2026 the Villa Farnesina is open from Monday to Saturday 9.00 to 14.00 with last entry at 13.15 and is closed on Sundays, with an extraordinary opening on the second Sunday of each month from 9.00 to 17.00 with last entry at 16.15 (September 2026).

Villa Farnesina Historical Timeline

Chronology

External Resources

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