Rocky foundations: this corner of the 1500s Renaissance palace built by the powerful Orsini family at Bomarzo, Lazio, Italy, follows the contours of huge volcanic boulders on its hilltop site. Below the Palazzo, Vicino Orsini created the bizarre Parco del Mostri (Park of the Monsters), grotesque Mannerist sculpture in a terraced garden later dedicated to his wife, Giulia Farnese.
Bomarzo, Lazio, Italy: moulded to the rocks … this corner of the Renaissance palace once owned by the powerful Orsini family, converted in the 1500s from a medieval castle, seems to grow out of giant hilltop boulders of volcanic rock 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 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 on the palace included sculptor and architect Francesco Moschino and followers of the Baroque painter Pietro da Cortona. Vicino sought to convey his love for his wife, Giulia Farnese, when he created a terraced garden, The Villa of the Wonders, below the palace and he dedicated it to her memory after she died in the 1560s. The terraces host enigmatic larger-than-life Mannerist statues and other artworks by architect and painter Pirro Ligorio (c. 1512-1583). They include the Orcus or Ogre face with a walk-in open 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. In 1836, it passed to the Borghese family, but 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 many visitors from all over the world. It is also known as Bosco dei Mostri (Grove of the Monsters) and Sacro Bosco (Sacred Woods).
Size: 2811px × 4232px
Location: Bomarzo, Lazio, Italy
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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