While millions flock to Rome's iconic Colosseum and Sistine Chapel each year, only a privileged few ever step inside the gilded confines of the Colonna Palace, one of the city's most exclusive sites. This private home-museum occupies an entire city block in the heart of the capital, yet remains largely hidden in plain sight.
Its custodians maintain a cloistered approach, safeguarding an extraordinary collection of baroque paintings, sculptures, busts, and tapestries, including the impressive 76-metre Great Hall, from widespread public access. Entry is strictly limited to small groups of ten, guided by art historians, for a few hours on Friday and Saturday mornings.
“We cannot have mass tourism. It is not the wish,” said Elisabetta Cecchini, a restorer at the palace, adding that the reason any visitors are allowed is because art dies in the absence of public appreciation. “It is not intended as a museum to be commodified.”
The family’s sitting prince, Don Prospero Colonna, still resides there, granting infrequent approval to hold events like the release of Pope John Paul II’s book in 2005 and the 2018 Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition of Catholic fashion, attended by designer Donna Versace and Vogue magazine’s Anna Wintour. Both marked rare instances of journalists gaining admission.
Claudio Strinati, a former superintendent of Rome's museums, supports the palace’s relative seclusion, calling it “indubitably one of humanity's greatest artistic heritages” and one the family has a duty to protect. “These were not conceived as tourist attractions,” he said. “Rather, they are made for those who have a certain understanding of history.”
Since the 12th century, the palace has belonged to the Colonnas, part of the “black nobility” — Roman families who remained loyal to the Pope when the Italian army took the city in 1870. They hung black banners outside their palaces to show mourning while holding fast to their masterpieces. Princess Isabella Colonna saved the family treasures during the Nazi invasion by ordering all artworks walled up in a wing; the soldiers failed to find them.
