In 1569 the Brescian poet Lorenzo Gambara (c.1500-1586) published a verse description of the Farnese palace at Caprarola in 1000 hexameters with a dedication to his patron Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (1520-89), known to his contemporaries as Il Gran Cardinale.
This poem was thoroughly revised and considerably lengthened to 1500 lines and republished twelve years later in 1581 with the same dedication. Both versions of the poem are panegyrics on the Farnese family, and Cardinal Alessandro Farnese in particular, under the guise of a celebration of the family’s country retreat 58 kilometers north of Rome at Caprarola.
The poem describes in detail the decoration of the palace and the magnificent gardens, then under construction. The estate was also a working farm designed to provide produce to maintain the villa and the sumptuous lifestyle of its owner.
This illustrated lecture will explore this often ignored aspect of villa life in sixteenth-century Rome as seen through the eyes of a contemporary poet.
The lecture coincides with the release of the book Lorenzo Gambara’s Caprarola and On Poetic Composition.
Text, Translation and Commentary
Edited and translated by
Paul Gwynne and Patrick M. Owens