Villa Farnesina - Villa in Renaissance style in the Trastevere district. The building was built for Agostino Chigi, a wealthy banker from Siena and treasurer of Pope Julius II. The project villa in 1506-1510 he worked as a master of the Sienese Baldassare Peruzzi, a pupil of Bramante. He also directed the construction work. The design of this country villa is very different from the design of typical urban palazzo. The latter, as a rule, are facing facade to the street and looked like castles - rectangular blocks of the first floor, lined with stone, and a patio. Villa Farnesina also had to be spacious summer residence of architect gave it a U-shape with a loggia with five spans between the side wings. Originally, the main entrance to the building is through the loggia, which was open, but today it is glazed, and visitors can get in on the south side.

Scenery Villa Farnesina was entrusted to artists such as Raphael, Sebastiano del Piombo, Giulio Romano and Ile Sodom. When creating its frescoes are inspired by the works of the poet Poliziano. On the ground floor frescoes by Raphael, and balconies you can see the image of the classic myth of Cupid and Psyche - this work is reminiscent of the "Birth of Venus" by Botticelli. Attraction is also a loggia painted vault, which shows the positions of the planets on the zodiacal signs on the birthday of Agostino Chigi - November 29, 1466.

The main hall on the second floor of the villa is decorated with frescoes by Peruzzi in the style of trompe l'oeil (technique for creating the optical illusion of three-dimensional space) - it seems that can be seen through the windows of the loggia city and the surrounding land. However, the illusion of three-dimensional space is created only if you look at the picture from a certain point. In the next room Ile Sodom depicted scenes from the life of Alexander the Great.

The villa became the property of the Farnese family in 1577. In the same 16th century Michelangelo proposed to connect the Palazzo Farnese on the other side of the Tiber, where he worked, to the villa via a bridge. Work on the construction of the bridge even been started, but never brought to fruition - only a few arches on the side of the Palazzo Farnese, which faces the Via Giulia. Later, the villa belonged to the Naples branch of the Bourbon dynasty, and in the middle of the 19th century - the Spanish ambassador in Rome.

Today, Villa Farnesina is owned by the Italian Government, it houses the National Academy dei Lincei, and the Roman Hall of engravings and prints. The main room of the villa, including a loggia open to the public.