Galleria Spada

Overview

Tucked off a busy street near Campo de' Fiori, Palazzo Spada houses a brilliant, fascinating private art gallery. However, almost every single visitor comes here for one famous, mind-bending architectural magic trick hidden deep in the courtyard.

Highlights

• Borromini's Perspective Gallery: the masterpiece of the palazzo. Architect Francesco Borromini built a ornate, columned corridor that appears to be 35 metres (115 feet) long, ending in a massive life-sized statue. It is a massive optical illusion—the corridor is notably actually only 8 metres (26 feet) long, and the "massive" statue is less than three feet tall.
• The Trick: Borromini achieved this by sloping the floor upwards, dropping the ceiling downwards, and rapidly shrinking the massive columns as they go back, forcing the brain into miscalculating the massive distance.
• The Art Collection: The elegant Renaissance rooms contain a excellent, dense collection of massive 17th-century Baroque paintings hung edge-to-edge in the deep aristocratic style.

History

The wealthy, intellectual Cardinal Bernardino Spada fully commissioned the brilliant architect Borromini in 1632 to dangerously modify his massive palace. Borromini created the deceptive perspective gallery as a intellectual, moral Baroque joke— symbolizing that the deep grand illusions of massive worldly wealth and power are deceptive and fleeting.

Visitor Tips

• The Illusion: the best way to understand the massive trick is to watch a museum guide physically walk down the corridor—they appear to grow into a massive staggering giant as they reach the tiny statue.
• : 45–60 minutes.