Experience history and culture in Vatican's VIP residences: Castel Sant'Angelo and Villa Farnesina

Escape the tourist traps: Immerse yourself in the timeless beauty of the frescoes at Villa Farnesina and the unmatched panoramic views of Castel Sant'Angelo.

At Castel Sant'Angelo, you'll experience history like never before with our local guide. The building has been standing for almost two thousand years and it's a stunning example of the different periods of Roman history.

It started out as a mausoleum (a really big tomb) for the emperor Hadrian. It's a huge cylindrical structure that was built to show how great the philosopher emperor was. Within the heart of the mausoleum, in its most inaccessible core, his ashes lay. So little of him remained, yet all the more would men have to toil to make his memory immense. The mausoleum did its part admirably.

Walk through the heart of Castel Sant'Angelo with our knowledgeable local guide. Explore the depths of the mausoleum and discover the secrets hidden within its walls. Journey to the Courtyard of the Angel, the center of the fortress during its military use, and stand where Rome's history was made.

Ascend further to the magnificent papal apartments, built by the popes atop the original structure, with a portico running along the entire circumference and stunning views. Reach the summit, the Terrace of the Angel, where Rome converses with the clouds, and the 360° sunsets are endless, perfect, and unmissable. 

As you enter Villa Farnesina, you will feel like one of the guests at a Renaissance banquet, one of those cold winter days in 1509 when Michelangelo had been working on the Sistine Chapel for a few months and his friend, Pope Julius II, who was paying for the work, had not yet received permission from the master to take a look.

During the evenings of that cold winter at Villa Farnesina, the most exclusive and talked-about parties of the time are held, featuring luxurious dinners, gala attire, exquisite dishes, vintage wine, accompanied by music and dance. All of this is offered by the owner of the Villa, Agostino Chigi, the wealthiest banker in Europe.

At that time, the banker had already begun a relationship with Francesca Ordeaschi, also known as Imperia, a courtesan of great beauty and culture, and was very influential in 16th century Rome. With our local expert, you will be able to focus on the life of Imperia and the intrinsic ambiguity of courtesans, considered both women of easy virtue (cultured and high-class prostitutes?!) and women of remarkable beauty and intelligence admired and respected for their talent as skilled conversationalists and muses of great artists.

As for the relationship between Agostino and Imperia, we know that it was a true love story, and not only because they had a daughter, Lucrezia, born in 1511, only a year before Imperia died at the age of only 26. But her premature death left Agostino, who was 46 at the time, in deep pain, as evidenced by multiple sources from the time.

It was a great love because the banker wanted it to last forever in the magnificent frescoes of the Villa that you will admire: the sea nymph Galatea of Greek myths, represented in Raphael's masterpiece "The Triumph of Galatea", has the face, hair, grace, and beauty of Imperia, as well as in another fresco of the villa.

Your experience of the large fresco of Cupid and Psyche that covers the ceiling of the main hall will be equally intense and evocative. It is an extraordinarily luxurious and exuberant Renaissance masterpiece. Its impressive size (6m x 4m) seems to almost open up the ceiling, transporting us into the turbulent events of the relationship between Psyche, a beautiful mortal girl, and the god Cupid, obviously immortal. Their story culminates in the sumptuous wedding banquet of Cupid and Psyche, attended by all the gods, with a table inevitably dripping with wonders.