This ticket grants access to the Galleria Spada, a historic palace built from 1548 by Cardinal Girolamo Capodiferro on pre-existing family properties. In the following century, the palace passed to Cardinal Bernardino Spada, who initiated an extensive thirty-year renovation programme that transformed the complex, giving it a refined and more elegant appearance.
On the second floor, within a seventeenth-century wing, you'll discover the Spada Gallery housing an exceptional collection of Baroque paintings assembled during the 1600s by Cardinals Bernardino and Fabrizio Spada. The richly decorated rooms, still furnished with examples of Baroque furniture, display works by renowned artists including Guido Reni, Guercino, Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi, Titian, Parmigianino and Jan Brueghel.
The collection also features a valuable selection of international Caravaggesque painters, such as Valentin de Boulogne, Trophime Bigot, Pieter Van Laer and Hendrick Van Somer, representing the widespread influence of Caravaggio's revolutionary style across Europe.
Your visit includes access to the Secret Garden, home to one of Rome's most spectacular Baroque creations — the Illusionistic Colonnade designed in 1653 by the architectural genius Francesco Borromini, known for its remarkable forced perspective.
