Palazzi of Rome is a comprehensive
photographic documentation of Roman villas and palaces. It does not only
present images of the grand houses of the popes and the nobles of the
city, but also set them in their historical framework. The brilliant
photographs capture the atmosphere of the buildings in their full
grandeur and exquisiteness. They lead readers past magnificently
decorated façades and guide them through festively decorated halls and
artfully arranged gardens. The text makes clear just how closely the
history of the famed dynasties - the Borgheses, Farneses, Colonnas,
Corsinis and other old families - is intertwined with their ancestral
seats, and how for centuries the higher Roman nobility designed their
palaces in the City of Cities as fitting reflections of their own glory.
This competition for the most magnificent residence led to the
construction of many of the city’s most famous buildings, including the
palaces on the Capitol, the Palazzo Farnese, the Villa Borghese, the
Quirinal and others, which still today are among the unmistakable
hallmarks of the incomparable city of Rome.
Massimo Listri
lives in Florence, where he works with renowned art journals. He has
contributed to numerous photographic volumes about Italy, other European
countries, and other continents.