Odescalchi Castle, Bracciano

Administrative and representative center of the important families who owned it, the Castle narrates its six centuries of history through ancient weapons, furnishings and paintings, books and manuscripts, decorations and frescoes.

Open to the public since 1952 by the will of Prince Livio IV Odescalchi, today the Castle of Bracciano is a dynamic reality that combines its museum vocation with intense activity in organizing events.

The rooms of the Odescalchi Castle of Bracciano house a rich collection of art objects gathered by Prince Baldassarre Odescalchi from the second half of the nineteenth century. A lover of the arts and a refined connoisseur, he was close to the international and progressive cultural environment that animated post-unification Rome. The interest in decorative arts, which led the prince to promote and support the foundation of the Artistic Industrial Museum of Rome, also manifested in the massive acquisition campaign aimed at restoring the Castle’s furnishings dispersed during the French domination. The precious collection of ceramics bears witness to the attention paid to Italian maiolica, particularly sixteenth-century, which characterized the nineteenth century. The busts of the twelve Caesars, the rare 16th-century hourglass, the 18th-century Sicilian wrought iron bed, together with many other objects, complete the collections of the Castle gathered by Prince Baldassarre with the aim of making his historic residence a true Museum, where objects were able to dialogue with the architecture that hosts them, evoking for the visitor the taste, customs, and splendor of an ancient 15th-century castle.