St. Peter's church in Montorio was built on one of the peaks of the Janiculum Hill, also known as the Mountain of Gold for the color of the earth found there. According to a late legend, which today is considered to be apocryphal, this was the site of Peter's crucifixion.
In 1480, Ferdinand and Isabella, the King and Queen of Spain who owned the land here, gave orders to start the building of a church on the remains of a monastery that went back to the 9th century. Bramante's famous Tempietto was also commissioned in fulfillment of a vow taken at the birth of their first child.
The great architect adopted a central plan for this building, making clear references to Christian martyrdom and pagan temples dedicated to heroic mythological figures. Doric columns were used to conjure up images of ancient Rome and the figure of the hero. These columns were trade marks of Vitruvius, a renowned Roman architect.
In the original design, the little temple with its curved lines was supposed to be completed with a round cloister; however, the cloister was never built. Today, a Franciscan monastery has surrounded the little temple, thus creating a square courtyard instead.
The Tempietto is one of the few buildings designed by Bramante that is still intact. It demonstrates how well the architect assimilated the concepts and canons from classical architecture while never merely imitating ancient buildings. His building, just like all the ancient temples, inspires a sensation of perfect harmony.

Villa Chigi is today known as Villa Farnesina. It was built between 1506 and 1510 for Agostino Chigi, one of the leading Romans of his time. He was a banker from Siena who came to Rome at the end of the 15th century, and through his political ability, obtained extraordinary power: he became financier to both Alexander VI and his son, Cesare Borgia, and later to their arch enemy Pope Julius II. In 1492, he bought a block of land, situated in Via della Lungara and backing onto the Tiber, from the Farnese family. He then commissioned Baldassare Peruzzi to create a place of both meditation and banquets, a place to lavish delights on the mind and the body, a request consistent with Renaissance ideals. The architect designed a building simple in form but whose decoration would create continuity between the building's interior and its surroundings. Raphael and Sebastiano del Piombo, as well as Peruzzi himself, worked on the decoration. This villa with its wonderfully harmonious, and classically-inspired proportions, inevitably became the archetype for all subsequent Renaissance villas.
There was a beautiful loggia, perhaps Raphael's design, overlooking the river but this was destroyed when the modern banks of the Tiber were constructed. The loggia was the scene of sumptuous banquets offered by Prince Chigi to the VIPs of those extraordinary years. The magnificent residence itself was allowed to fall into ruins by the Prince's heirs.
It then passed into the hands of the Farnese family, later to the Bourbon of Naples and in 1861 to the Spanish Ambassador. Today it is owned by the Italian State.

The collection, formed in the XVIII century, although composed from various sources mostly originating from the Corsini family (above all from the collection of cardinal Lorenzo), is unique in the sense that it is still intact today. It shows clearly the taste of Neri Corsini, nephew of the Pope Clement XII. In 1883 the Palace was sold to the Italian State with its collection, which thus formed the basis of the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica and only recently has been replaced in its original site.
Via della Lungara, 10
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