On this 3-hour tour led by professional guide you’ll discover the beauty of Villa Farnesina. Built in the early 16th century, this is one of the most harmonious examples of Italian Renaissance style. The sober, spacious layout of the villa, designed by the architect Baldassarre Peruzzi, is the perfect setting for its rich interior decoration, featuring frescoes by masters such as Raphael, Sebastiano del Piombo, Giovanni Antonio Bazzi and Peruzzi himself. After a troubled history and many changes of ownership, the villa now bears the name of the Farnese family, who acquired it in 1579 in violation of the binding legal conditions imposed by its original owner. It should have been named after Agostino Chigi, a highly ambitious patron of the arts. Chigi was born in Sienna in 1466 and commissioned the villa as the tangible sign of his own personality, decorating it sumptuously and living in it until his death in 1520. In 1927, centuries later, the villa was acquired by the Italian state, which used it to house the Italian Academy and in 1944 gave it to the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, housed in the nearby Palazzo Corsini.