The Hall of Perspectives

The vast hall on the first floor, where Agostino Chigi held his wedding banquet on 28 August 1519, is one of the earliest examples of perspective in painting. It takes its name from the decoration by Baldassarre Peruzzi, who in 1519 frescoed the walls with open perspective views featuring faux colonnades overlooking urban and rural landscapes.

It represents the ideal continuation of the loggias on the ground floor; through the faux loggia, one can see landscape views: hilltop villages, glimpses of the countryside, and in the background, against the bright sky, the city (the Church of Santo Spirito, a Romanesque basilica, and the Porta Settimiana gate).

During the restoration work, a sarcastic inscription in German and Gothic script was discovered between the columns, recording the passage of the Landsknechts: “1528 – why should I, the writer, not laugh: the Landsknechts made the Pope run”.

Figures of deities are painted in the niches above the doors and windows. Under the coffered ceiling runs a frieze with mythological scenes, also by Peruzzi and his workshop, and on the north wall stands a large fireplace with Vulcan’s forge.