Villa Farnesina Nordfassade

This photograph depicts the U-shaped Renaissance villa with its ground-floor loggia featuring five prominent arches. A decorative terra-cotta frieze of cherubs and garlands runs along the top of the structure, which overlooks a manicured garden with a central stone fountain. The architecture reflects the 16th-century style of a suburban retreat intended for humanist leisure.

Commissioned by the banker Agostino Chigi, the Villa Farnesina was a primary site for the Renaissance revival of Neoplatonism and classical mysteries. It houses Raphael's frescoes of Galatea and the myth of Cupid and Psyche, which are deeply informed by the esoteric and astrological interests of the Chigi circle.