Villa Medici

The Villa Medici, in Rome

The Villa Medici shelters the French Academy in Rome, founded by Louis XIV, on the Pincio hill. The Rome audio-guided tour stops here to evoke this sumptuous Renaissance villa, a high place of French culture in Italy, endowed with magnificent gardens.

The French Academy and its gardens

You pass in front of the entrance of the French Academy in Rome, installed in the sumptuous Villa Medici. Founded in 1666 by King Louis XIV, this institution had the mission to welcome the most talented French artists, laureates of the famous Prix de Rome, so that they came to perfect themselves in contact with the ancient masterpieces and the Italian Renaissance. Painters, sculptors, architects, engravers then musicians and writers stayed there, among whom great names of French art. The villa itself is a magnificent Renaissance palace, built in the sixteenth century for a great family and acquired by the Medici, whose name it bears. Its garden-side façade is richly adorned with ancient bas-reliefs, and it is surrounded by splendid Italian-style gardens, with their alleys, their groves, their statues and their fountains, offering fine views over Rome. Still today an academy and a place of exhibitions, it perpetuates its cultural vocation. A Renaissance jewel and a high place of art, the Villa Medici is a fine stop of the discovery of Rome.

What to see

You admire the sumptuous Renaissance villa of the sixteenth century acquired by the Medici, which has sheltered since 1666 the French Academy founded by Louis XIV to welcome the laureates of the Prix de Rome, with a façade richly adorned with ancient bas-reliefs, surrounded by splendid Italian-style gardens offering fine views over Rome. The Villa Medici is a high place of art in Rome. It is a fine stop, to be explored on foot.

Practical information

The Villa Medici lies on the Pincio hill, near the Piazza di Spagna, in Rome, reachable on foot. The villa, its gardens and its exhibitions can be visited according to their own hours and conditions, which vary. It is best to check them before coming.

What is the Villa Medici in Rome?

A sumptuous Renaissance villa of the sixteenth century acquired by the Medici, which has sheltered since 1666 the French Academy founded by Louis XIV to welcome the laureates of the Prix de Rome; with a façade adorned with ancient bas-reliefs, it is surrounded by splendid Italian-style gardens offering fine views over the town.

Where is the Villa Medici in Rome?

On the Pincio hill, near the Piazza di Spagna, in Rome, in Italy.