Occasioni farnesiane
april – june 2024

The latest tradition of studies at the Farnese Palace in Caprarola

First cycle of meetings

Beginning on the afternoon of Saturday, April 20, in the halls of the Palazzo Farnese in Caprarola (VT), a series of ten meetings, open to the public, designed to disseminate new research underway on the Farnese and their articulated cultural universe, kicks off.

Entitled “Farnese Occasions,” this first cycle of lectures scheduled from April to June will feature a series of specialists in historical, art-historical and architectural subjects who will discuss the most recent acquisitions in the field of Farnese studies. It will begin with reflections on the space of the suburban villa in the Renaissance age proposed by Marco Musmeci. Daniele Lombardi will then lead us to the table of Paul III Farnese to present the figure of Sante Lancerio, “sommelier” of the papal court as well as author of a remarkable writing on Italian wines published only in the 19th century.

Elisabetta Giffi will present her volume on the pictorial activity of such a great protagonist of Caprarola’s building sites as Federico Zuccari, while Enrico Parlato will broaden his gaze to the entire program of family self-representation-from emblems to historical facts-that the Farnese family developed in the decoration of the palace.

Elisabetta Giffi will present her volume on the pictorial activity of a great protagonist of Caprarola’s building sites such as Federico Zuccari, while Enrico Parlato will broaden his gaze to the entire program of family self-representation-from emblems to historical facts-that the Farnese family developed in the decoration of the Palace. Roberto Ricci’s talk will be devoted to the 18th-century vision of the same palace in Georg Gaspar de Prenner’s splendid engravings for Cardinal Troiano Acquaviva d’Aragona. Anne Christine Faitrop-Porta will present the point of view of illustrious Parisian travelers of the early 20th century: from André Maurel’s account to Marcel Proust’s real dream of a stay in Caprarola.
He will bring us back to the living and present reality of Palazzo Farnese Marina Cogotti, with an overview of the Great Garden observed in its complex historical tracery while a complete restoration of the park is underway. Still of the Palace will Luciano Passini reason, but in a long-term perspective that will even go so far as to consider the seasons following the Farnese property.

The series of meetings will end in the first half of June with two presentations of volumes recently given to the presses: Patrizia Rosini will talk about her book on Giulia Farnese, published about a decade after the edition of documentary materials on the life of the Bella; Bruno Adorni and Carlo Mambriani will discuss the collection of studies they assembled and edited on the vast topic of Farnese architecture from the auroral age of Pope Paul III until the epilogue of Elizabeth Queen of Spain.

Conceived with a view to high dissemination aimed at the entire citizenry, this cycle of “Farnese Occasions” stems from a scientific collaboration agreement made in 2023 between the Lazio Regional Museums Directorate, through regional director Stefano Petrocchi and the official in charge of Palazzo Farnese Adele Trani, and a number of professors from the University of Tuscia involved in two PRIN projects on the world of the Farnese in the age of Cardinal Alexander funded by the PNRR and the Ministry of University and Research: Paolo Marini, Fausto Nicolai, Enrico Parlato, Paolo Procaccioli and Pietro Giulio Riga.

All info on the website of the Lazio Regional Directorate of Museums.

Viterbo, 12th april, 2024