Palazzo Barberini: Two Staircases, Two Rivals
Why is it significant?
Walk through the gates and up the long drive towards the palace, and notice its strange shape. Instead of a closed block around a courtyard, like every other Roman palace, it opens out towards you, two wings embracing a central facade of arches stacked like a theatre.
Key Facts
| Place | Palazzo Barberini: Two Staircases, Two Rivals |
|---|---|
| Address | Via delle Quattro Fontane 13, 00184 Roma RM, Italy |
| Geo Coordinates | 41.90350, 12.49010 |
| Part of Walk | Rivals on the Quirinal: Bernini vs Borromini in Baroque Rome |
| Generated | Generated |
Walk through the gates and up the long drive towards the palace, and notice its strange shape. Instead of a closed block around a courtyard, like every other Roman palace, it opens out towards you, two wings embracing a central facade of arches stacked like a theatre.
Pope Urban the Eighth bought this site for his family in 1625, and the work began under the old master Carlo Maderno. Maderno brought along a young assistant, a distant relative from the shores of Lake Lugano, who had started as a stonecutter on Saint Peter's. That was Francesco Borromini. When Maderno died in 1629, the pope gave the job to his golden boy, Bernini. And Borromini, who knew the project better than anyone, found himself working under a man of almost exactly his own age, a sculptor who had never trained as an architect.
You can see the result in the two staircases. On the left, Bernini's: a grand square stairwell, broad and stately, made for processions of cardinals. On the right, Borromini's: an oval spiral that winds upwards in pairs of columns, light and elegant, almost like a seashell. Two men, two temperaments, facing each other across the same building. Many architects still prefer the one on the right.
Upstairs, in the great hall, look up. Pietro da Cortona spent most of the 1630s painting the ceiling, the Triumph of Divine Providence, and in the middle of all that swirling sky, giant Barberini bees fly in a laurel wreath, held up by the Virtues. It is one of the most overwhelming ceilings of the baroque, painted to say one thing: God himself chose this family.
After a few years, the partnership between the rivals broke down for good. Borromini felt Bernini took credit and money for his ideas, and never forgave him. Today the palace houses a national gallery of old masters, including Raphael's portrait known as La Fornarina. Now walk up to the crossroads at the top of the street, where four fountains sit in the corners and a tiny church sits on one of them.