Rome restoration uncovers 16th-century murals hidden for centuries
At Villa Silvestri Rivaldi, on Rome’s Via dei Fori Imperiali, restorers are uncovering a major cache of 16th-century wall paintings. The work is revealing mythological scenes, battle imagery and imperial portraits in a building whose uses have changed repeatedly over time.
The villa, now partly hidden behind scaffolding, is easy to miss for visitors heading toward the Colosseum. Inside, however, researchers are gradually exposing a decorative program commissioned in the mid-16th century by Eurialo Silvestri and later painted over in the 17th century by nuns who objected to the nude pagan figures.
What is emerging ranges from fragments of armour and putti to complete scenes of gods and goddesses, zodiac signs, battles, cavalry and emperors. In the Hall of Divinities, the frescoes probably linked to Prospero Fontana, and perhaps earlier work under Perino del Vaga, show monumental figures in oranges, yellows and greens, with robes, weapons and armour carefully staged.
For painters, draughtsmen and anyone interested in how images are built, the site is revealing not only subject matter but process. It shows Renaissance workshop thinking in action: repeated layers, adjustments, concealment and recovery, plus the way a painted interior could be reshaped by later moral and religious choices.
A restoration still in progress
Work continues in the Hall of the Emperors, where battle scenes and portraits of Titus and Hadrian are appearing, while the Hall of Cupid and Psyche has yet to be properly investigated. The property was bought by the Lazio region in 2024 for €25m, and the team says the project will move slowly, with local residents also being involved in the research.
Source : The Art Newspaper