Villa Medici

Villa Medici Review

Purchased by Napoléon to create an academy where artists could hone their knowledge of Italian art and so put it to the (French) national good, the villa originally belonged to Cardinal Ferdinando Medici who also laid out the immaculate Renaissance garden to set off his sculpture collection. Garden tours are offered, allowing you to walk in the footsteps of Velázquez, Fragonard, and Ingres, who all worked here (which is now officially called the French Academy in Rome). As in their day all the explanations are strictly in French (or Italian), but the €8 guided tour is also the only way you can see the incredibly picturesque garden facade, which is studded with Mannerist and Rococo sculpted reliefs and overlooks a loggia with a beautiful fountain devoted to Mercury.