Caprarola

Caprarola, a true urban late-Renaissance masterpiece. The town, long and narrow, is split in the middle by Via Nicolai, which has as its vanishing point the raised monumental and scenic, Palazzo Farnese. To its side, other splendid buildings tell the story of the grand family that lived here. In the 1500's Caprarola was acquired by the Farnese family, who commissioned the construction of their palazzo first to Antonio da Sangallo il Giovane and then to Jacomo Barozzio, called "il Vignola", who, besides being an excellent architect, was also the enlightened treatise writer capable of passing time with his perspective theories. He redesigned all of the center, raising Via Nicolai and laying the first design of the already-existing buildings. It derived a very long telescopic perspective in relation to the level of importance the building had to the city architecture.
At first sight, Palazzo Farnese seems to have a square design, but if you go around it, you'll discover that it is a pentagon. It is a mix of military and civil architecture; of its five floors, on the piano nobile can be visited. You reach it via the spiral staircase with 30 Doric columns, all completely frescoed. It seems that Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, lazy by nature, climbed these stairs saddled on a white horse, a kind of animal elevator! Inside you will find the lounge with frescoes by Federico Zuccari that illustrate the original myths of Vico Lake; the Trenta council hall painted by Vignola with two columns with such perspective precision that they don't seem real; the two apartments of Cardinal Alessandro, one summer and one winter; the Mappamondo hall where there is a reproduction of a map of all that had been discovered in the 16th century.
It is also possible to visit the gardens, divided into highs and lows, a masterpiece by Jacopo Del Duca and Girolamo Rainaldi.