The Farnese Costume Museum of Gradoli, established in 1998, is housed on the main floor and the top floor of Palazzo Farnese, restored between 1970 and 1980. Palazzo Farnese in Gradoli, commissioned by Cardinal Alessandro – future Pope Paul III – to Antonio da Sangallo the Younger in 1517, represents one of the earliest examples of a humanistic residence, a testimony to the new aristocratic ethic of living during the Renaissance. A peculiar typological model of the noble residence where the architectural articulation and the complex decoration made up of frescoes, terracotta floors, and coffered wooden ceilings represent the culmination of a new existential philosophy. The decorative system is not an end in itself but becomes more complex in symbolic and wise meanings functional to the exaltation of the Farnese family. The refined decoration of the palace, largely restored for full enjoyment, is the work of a great master of Raphael’s culture closely related to the styles of Baldassarre Peruzzi. The Museum also displays a rich collection of ceramics, coming from the excavations of the palace itself, and reproductions of costumes from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, copies of those worn by Farnese characters in the various painted cycles of family splendor.
Information about the Farnese Costume Museum
Luigi Palombini, 2
01010 Gradoli (Viterbo)
0761456082
bibliotecagradoli@beactive.it
https://www.comune.gradoli.vt.it
Source: MIBACT
