The cardinal’s “secret studiolo”

In 1564 Cardinal Giovanni Ricci da Montepulciano bought a plot of land occupied in ancient times by the Horti Luculliani, and commissioned the architect Nanni di Baccio Bigio to build a residential palace. Subsequently, Ferdinando de’ Medici, who was appointed cardinal by Pope Pius IV and moved to Rome in 1576, bought the whole property.

The ambitious project to transform the residence into a palace conceived as a museum was entrusted to Bartolomeo Ammannati, while the Florentine artist Jacopo Zucchi was commissioned to decorate the rooms of the building according to a complex cosmological and political scheme celebrating the Medici dynasty. In keeping with the vogue of the time, Davide Fortini also laid out a park with spectacular effects and an abundance of rare and precious plant species, with a web of avenues embellished with artworks and a belvedere, the Parnassus, which offered a breath-taking view of Rome. On the other hand, the side giving onto the suburb was “perched” high up and defended by the Aurelian Walls, the towers and walkways of which were used by the property.

It was in one of these towers, far from indiscreet eyes and society life, that Ferdinando established his studiolo. Here, the cardinal devoted himself to his passion for botany, zoology, alchemy and much else besides… The story has it, in fact, that the studiolo was used by the cardinal to secretly meet up with his lovers, who were spirited in through a hidden entrance.

This small pavilion was frescoed by Jacopo Zucchi between 1576 and 1577. The smaller room, known as the Room of Aurora, was decorated, according to the taste of the age, with allegorical motifs, grotesques and interesting views of the Villa Medici itself, in a mix of reality, fantasy, symbology and architecture. But the true creativity can be appreciated in the main room, renamed the Room of the Birds, where a pergola and an aviary seem to immerse visitors in a multitude of birds, animals of every kind and rare plant species – a full-blown compendium of the flora and fauna of the time, where dogrose, poppies, jujubes and quinces were a habitat for pelicans, hoopoes, kites, owls, bees, martens and cockerels.

All this beauty ran the risk of disappearing for good when, in 1803, Napoleon transferred the French Academy to Villa Medici, turning over the pavilion to a sculpture studio and concealing the frescoes beneath a layer of whitewash. A recent restoration has brought this marvel to light, enabling us to feel the same emotions experienced by the rare guests to the studiolo in the 16th century.