Palazzo Mattei

Palazzo Mattei di Giove also known as Palazzo Antici Mattei or Palazzo Mattei ai Funari, is located in via Michelangelo Caetani, in the Sant'Angelo district. Built by Carlo Maderno between 1598 and 1611 for Asdrubale Mattei, Duke of Jupiter, on the occasion of his second marriage to Costanza Gonzaga (1595), the palace is the last in order of time of the five Mattei palaces, which form a single architectural complex, the so-called "Isola dei Mattei", between via Caetani, via delle Botteghe Oscure, Piazza and via Paganica, Piazza Mattei and via dei Funari. The brick and travertine building is spread over three floors around two courtyards with a double entrance through two portals. The interior, in stark contrast to the sobriety of the exterior, presents a research for perspective effects and a notable richness of decorations: statues, busts, sarcophagi and architectural fragments from archaeological excavations, which are collected there and which merge with the Baroque stuccoes that frame them in a perfect unity of pictorial conception. The first of the two courtyards, in Carlo Maderno's project, had to fulfill the purpose of containing this collection. The staircase leading to the second floor is also adorned with ancient sculptures: the staircase has four flights, and is decorated with stuccos by Donato Mazzi (1606-1611) and Roman sarcophagi, among the most beautiful in the Mattei collections. On the first floor of the building there are rooms frescoed by different artists: Francesco Albani (Jacob's Dream), Domenichino (Jacob and Rachel at the fountain), Pomarancio (Stories of Joseph the Jew), Giovanni Lanfranco (Joseph and Putifarre's wife, 1615 ), Pietro Paolo Bonzi, Pietro da Cortona and Paul Bril (in the gallery, Stories of Solomon and the Queen of Saba), Antonio Carracci, Gaspare Celio, Cristoforo Greppi, Francesco Nappi, Giacomo Triga and others.

On the top floor of the building is the study where Giacomo Leopardi lived.