Perspective on palatial living: barred windows climb staircase tower up restored walls of Palazzo Orsini at Bomarzo, Lazio, Italy, turned into grand Renaissance palace by former soldier of fortune, Duke Vicino Orsini. Below it, he created the terraced Villa of the Wonders, filled with bizarre Mannerist artworks and now known as Parco del Mostri (Park of the Monsters).
Bomarzo, Lazio, Italy: barred windows climb a staircase tower projecting from the restored facade of the Palazzo Orsini di Bomarzo, a hilltop Renaissance palace once owned by the powerful Orsini family and converted over several 1500s decades from the medieval castle above this small town north-west of Rome and north-east of Viterbo, the provincial capital. The new palace’s first wing was designed by Sienese architect and painter Baldassare Peruzzi (1481-1536). Work continued for several decades, mostly for the condottiere (mercenary captain), intellectual and humanist arts patron, Pier Francesco Orsini (1523-1583), Duke of Bomarzo, known in his lifetime as Vicino Orsini. Other architects and artists who worked here included sculptor Francesco Moschino and followers of Baroque painter Pietro da Cortona. Vicino expressed his love for his wife, Giulia Farnese, when he created a terraced garden, The Villa of the Wonders, below the palace and then dedicated it to her memory after her death in the 1560s. The terraces host enigmatic larger-than-life mythological statues and grotesque Mannerist artworks by architect and painter Pirro Ligorio (c. 1512-1583). They include the Orcus or Ogre face with a walk-in mouth, wrestling giants, Hannibal’s war elephants and the Casa Storta or Twisted House, built to lean backwards and with sloping floors. The Orsini family sold the palace in 1645 to Duke Ippolito Lante delle Rovere and in 1836, it passed to the Borghese family. It now belongs to the Bomarzo municipality, which has its offices in Vicino Orsini’s Gallery apartment. The so-called Park of the Monsters or Parco del Mostri attracts visitors from all over the world. It is also known as Bosco dei Mostri (Grove of the Monsters) and Sacro Bosco (Sacred Wood).
Size: 2848px × 4288px
Location: Bomarzo, Lazio, Italy
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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