The city's noted collection of paintings from the 13th to the 18th century is installed in one of Rome's grandest palaces, the Palazzo Barberini. Both Bernini and Borromini worked on this massive building, but its overall plan was produced by Carlo Maderno. Pope Urban VIII had acquired the property and given it to a nephew, who was determined to build an edifice worthy of his generous uncle and the ever-more-powerful Barberini clan. You'll get an idea of the grandeur of the place as you visit the museum.

Entering the palace, you climb a broad marble staircase designed by Bernini. On the main floor (keep your ticket handy, because you'll have to show it again upstairs) you'll find several magnificent paintings, including Raphael's Fornarina, a luminous portrait of the artist's lover, cleaned and restored to reveal a jeweled ring and a bracelet on her upper arm bearing Raphael's name. A dramatic Caravaggio depicts a lovely young Judith wearing an expression of defiance and horror as she severs the head of Holofernes. There's a Holbein portrait of Henry VIII in the finery he donned for his wedding to Anne of Cleves in 1540, and two small but striking El Grecos. The showstopper here is the palace's Gran Salone, a vast ballroom whose ceiling was decorated in the 1630s by Pietro da Cortona. His Glorification of Urban VIII's Reign is a spectacular and surprisingly early example of the Baroque practice of glorifying patrons by depicting them on ceilings as part of the heavenly host. In this case, Pope Urban VIII appears as the agent of Divine Providence, who is being crowned by Immortality and escorted by a "bomber squadron" -- to quote art historian Sir Michael Levey -- of some huge Barberini bees, the heraldic symbol of the family. Upstairs you'll find an array of 17th- and 18th-century paintings, including some pretty little views of Rome by Vanvitelli, and four handsome Canalettos. Don't miss the stunning suite of rooms redecorated in 1728 for the marriage of a Barberini heiress to a scion of the Colonna family.