Villa Madama - Construction

Construction

Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, cousin of the reigning pontiff Leo X, ordered the villa built on a prominent site against the lowermost slopes of Monte Mario, on the edge of Rome. The plan was designed by Raphael, who then left the execution (started in 1518) to his disciples, one of the most brilliant teams ever assembled on a site: Antonio da Sangallo the Younger produced the final plans and supervised the actual construction. The decorations are by Giulio Romano and Baldassare Peruzzi, both prime architects in their own right; Giovanni da Udine did stucco bas-reliefs imitating work found in Nero's recently-rediscovered Domus Aurea; Giovan Francesco Penni ("il Fattore") and the Florentine sculptor Baccio Bandinelli worked there too.

Aside from the Raphael loggia, the villa's greatest artistic element is the salone painted by Giulio Romano, with its magnificent vaulted ceiling. Raphael died at the age of 37 in 1520, with work at the villa far from completed. But after Giulio de' Medici became the second Medici pope, as Clement VII in 1523, work resumed in 1524-1525 and the villa was soon completed.