BERGAMASCO, Il

The villa owes its fame not only to its architecture and location, but also to a particularly extensive decorative program of frescoes on the piano nobile. The decoration extends through a vestibule, the adjoining large salon (the Salone), two symmetrically adjoining side rooms, and two loggias which at that time opened toward the south.

The fresco decoration of the Salone and the loggias are attuned to each other: in the east (Loggia di Apollo), the chariot of the sun god Apollo in the ceiling fresco rides across the sky in the direction of the sunrise, while in the west (Loggia di Diana), the moon goddess Diana leads her team of horses.

Above the passage from the loggias into the Salone, there are two over-door paintings. In the Loggia di Apollo, one can see at this location an argument between Apollo and Cupid. Apollo - overconfident after having killed the python with arrows - mocks the little archer. Cupid obtains his revenge and proves his superior power by enflaming the god to love with a shot from his bow.

In the Loggia di Diana, the chaste Diana must protect herself against sensual longing as a lusty satyr tries to seize her. Anyone entering the Salone from the loggias is reminded by the images that even the noble Olympians were not safe from love’s onslaught.

The frescoes in the loggias were painted by two different artists. The Apollo and Cupid was executed by Giovan Battista Castello (called Il Bergamasco), who was also responsible for the decoration in the Salone, and Diana and Satyr by Luca Cambiaso. In the two contest scenes, the artists thus compete with each other.

In the middle of the sixteenth century a unique series of palaces and villas were built in Genoa, by which the great families of the oligarchy that ruled the city displayed their status. The prototype for the new Genoese villas was that of Luca Giustiniani, designed in 1548 by Galeazzo Alessi. By 1556 Tobia Pallavicino had begun construction of his own villa. The so-called Peschiera was in an elevated setting in the middle of a luxurious garden directly in front of the gates of the city. The villa owes its fame not only to its architecture and location, but also to a particularly extensive decorative program of frescoes on the piano nobile.

The walls of the Salone are decorated with a rich trompe-l’oeil architecture. The point of reference here is the Sala delle Prospettive that Peruzzi realised in the Villa Farnesina in Rome.

Above the painted architectural vistas is a lavish ceiling decoration, in which five large history painting depict episodes from Homer’s Odyssey. In variously divided and richly ornamented adiculae around the central image, are the five scenes, episodes from the story of Odysseus’s return home, which was decided in the council of the gods:

1. Council of the Gods (in the centre)

2. Odysseus and Nausicaa

3. Odysseus in the Stone-Throwing Contest at the Phaeacian Court

4. Odysseus and Minerva

5. Odysseus Slays the Suitors in His Palace at Ithaca

Arriving home, Odysseus is finally able, with the help of Minerva, to slay the suitors who have harassed his wife and threatened his family and property in his absence.

One of the four Odysseus scenes is particularly emphasized: Odysseus in the Stone-Throwing Contest at the Phaeacian Court is found directly below the central Council of the Gods and is related to the latter by an identical orientation

The scene on the vault of the church of San Matteo depicts The Calling of Saint Matthew.

The piscture shows a detail of the fresco decoration in the chapel of the palace.

Three walls of the Salone are decorated with a rich trompe-l’oeil architecture. The point of reference here is the Sala delle Prospettive that Peruzzi realised in the Villa Farnesina in Rome.

In the central panel on the vault a celestial scene opens up: on clouds, the assembly of the Olympian gods convenes. Minerva and Mercury gesticulate in a prominent central position, championing the fate of Odysseus. The composition of the fresco as well as numerous individual motifs are borrowed from Raphael’s frescoes in the Loggia dei Psiche in the Villa Farnesina.

Around the central fresco are grouped, in variously divided and richly ornamented adiculae, episodes from the story of Odysseus’s return home, which was decided in the council of the gods. The scenes are: Odysseus and Nausicaa; Odysseus in the Stone-Throwing Contest at the Phaeacian Court; Odysseus and Minerva; and Odysseus Slays the Suitors in His Palace at Ithaca.

Significantly damaged during the Second World War, the frescoes have been extensively restored.