• Exceptional level of private access to spectacular palaces, villas, diplomatic residences & collections

• Rare opportunity to visit the Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel privately

• Our party will be received in several magnificent private palaces & villas including a final dinner in a Roman palace 

• Explore the unprecedented riches of Villa Borghese with works by Caravaggio & Bernini

• Visit based in the very comfortable 3* Superior Albergo del Senato located just by the Pantheon

If all roads lead to Rome, not all organised visits open the doors of Rome’s many private palaces and villas. This visit is an exception as it is almost entirely devoted to a series of specially arranged private visits. Its overriding theme will be to allow you to enjoy a remarkable level of access to a number of Roman addresses and their collections, whilst recreating the perspective of the Grand Traveller from an earlier, more privileged ceremonial world. Over many years we have built up an unrivalled series of introductions and contacts in the city, both sacred and secular. This allows us to organise what we believe to be the finest tour of its kind available and indeed, it is an opportunity which you are cordially invited to participate in as our guests. 

 Our visit will chart the transformation of Rome, the centrality of the papal court and the astonishing patronage the city enjoyed during the Renaissance and the flourishing of the city in the Baroque period as a succession of remarkable popes, cardinals, princes and the noble families they came from vied to outdo each other in architecture and the fine and decorative arts. All the great names of Renaissance and Baroque Rome will be encountered: Raphael, Michelangelo, Bramante, the Carracci, Cortona, Caravaggio, Bernini and Borromini.

Day 1: Sunday 23 February – We fly from Heathrow Terminal 5 to Rome Fiumicino Airport, Terminal 3 arriving late afternoon and transfer by into the city to our hotel, the 3* Superior Albergo del Senato. Later that evening we have our first group dinner in a local restaurant – wine, water and coffee are included with all group lunches and dinners.

Day 2: Monday 24 February – We begin at Andrea del Pozzo’s Jesuit church of Sant’Ignazio with its fine illusionistic ceiling. After a pause for coffee, we continue to Palazzo Doria Pamphili, where we shall find one of the finest art collections in private hands in Italy with works by Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, Bernini and Velázquez to name a few. After lunch (not included), we plan to visit the reception rooms of the Brazilian Embassy to Italy located in Piazza Navona’s Palazzo Pamphili. Its enviable location is matched by the astonishing gallery designed by Borromini and frescoed by Pietro da Cortona. We end our first day visiting the nearby San Luigi dei Francesi to see the famous Contarelli Chapel with the cycle of paintings by Caravaggio devoted to the life of St Matthew. This evening will be free.

Day 3: Tuesday 25 February – We spend the morning at two important private visits, both major Baroque Palaces in the city. Here, Caravaggio’s most important picture in private hands will be seen by special arrangement. Our second private visit of the day is at Palazzo Colonna, the most magnificent of all Roman palaces, where we shall visit both the State and the rarely seen private apartments. Its frescoed spaces display a vast array of pictures, decorative arts and furniture of astonishing quality. These culminate in the grandest of all grand galleries from eighteenth century Italy.  We pause for a group lunch nearby after which the remainder of the afternoon will be free for private explorations. In the late afternoon, we travel to the Vatican to spend the early evening in The Vatican Museums to see the Sistine Chapel and other highlights of the papal collections including Raphael’s Stanze. On our return to the hotel, the evening will be free.

Day 4: Wednesday 26 February – This morning we travel up to the Janiculum Hill to the magnificently sited church of S. Pietro in Montorio, rebuilt in the late fifteenth century to visit the Tempietto, Bramante’s small votive temple. Pausing for coffee, we visit by very special appointment the finest eighteenth-century villa complex in Rome widely acknowledged as containing the most important collection of Roman antiquities in private hands in Italy if not the world. After lunch, (not included) we continue to Palazzo Farnese. Now the French Embassy to Italy, it was begun by Pope Paul III and involving several architects, including Michelangelo. Its glory is the most important secular reception room in Italy, the famous Galleria, carried out by Annibale Carracci. We return to our hotel where the evening will be free.

Day 5: Thursday 27 February – We walk the short distance to visit the small Baroque church of San Giuliano dei Fiamminghi privately which contains of all things a fresco by William Kent! We continue on foot to visit a palace adjoining the Theatre of Marcellus to visit by special arrangement the diplomatic rooms of the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta’s Embassy to the Holy See. We then continue down to the ‘left bank’ of Rome to Trastevere to enjoy a group lunch, after which we privately visit the exquisite Villa Farnesina. Built for Agostino Chigi, the rich papal banker and treasurer, it contains some of the finest frescoes of the High Renaissance including works by Raphael and contemporaries. We return to the hotel for a free evening.

Day 6: Friday 28 February – We begin at Borromini’s Baroque masterpiece, the church of San Carlo alla Quattro Fontane,after which we walk the short distance to visit Palazzo Barberini, Pope Urban VIII’s great palace project, the highlight here is Cortona’s great ceiling fresco. Today we visit a major art gallery with works by Caravaggio, Raphael and Artemisia Gentileschi. Lunch (not included) and the afternoon remain free for private explorations. We meet in the early evening where we shall be the guests of a Roman Marquis at his noble family’s private sixteenth century palazzo, built by Giacamo Della Porta and containing frescoed interiors together with an important private collection of Roman and Florentine paintings. He will also host our final gala dinner in the family’s Meissen Room during a truly memorable evening. 

Day 7: Saturday 1 March – We end our week at the Villa Borghese which contains Rome’s finest art collection, including all of Bernini’s early sculptural masterpieces such as Apollo and Daphne and Pluto and Proserpina. It has marvellous paintings by Raphael, Titian and no less than six major paintings by Caravaggio. After some free time for lunch near our hotel (not included), we continue to the airport for our return flight to London Heathrow.

Price £3295  Without flights £3060 Deposit £400 Single Supplement £420 (Double Room for Sole Use)  £325 Single with Pantheon View (two rooms only)   £830 DSU with Pantheon View, subject to availability

Room Upgrades Pantheon View £250 per room (sharing), subject to availability

Hotel 6 nights with breakfast at the 3* Superior Hotel Albergo del Senato

Flights British Airways

            Outward:          BA560 Depart London Heathrow (Terminal 5) 1255 arrive Rome Fiumicino Terminal 3 1630

            Return:             BA559 Depart Rome Fiumicino Terminal 3 1725 arrive London Heathrow (Terminal 5) 1910

Price includes 2 dinners & 2 lunches with water, coffee & wine, all entrances, including private visits, all local transfers, entry fees, gratuities & city tax, the services of James Hill and local guides where applicable.

Not included Travel to/from Heathrow, 4 dinners and 3 lunches.