expression of humanist philosophy, comfortably situated
in the context of enlightened Catholic thinking of the era.
Cardinal Alessandro the Magnifico, the second, certainly
moved in a world both profound and profane. A visit to the
sequestered bath presided over by a mural of a youthful
unclothed Neptune is in marked contrast to the deeply
spiritual art depicting scenes from the Bible, although even
the latter are achieved with a degree of sensuality and joie
de vivre. In the aggregate, the entire artistic
aspiration of Caprarola is
exuberant, celebratory.
Julia
and
Guiseppe
embraced these aspects
of Caprarola, inviting
friends for weekends to the
villa, providing them with
sanctuary, albeit during
the unsettling social and
political atmosphere of Italy
in the 1920s.
In 1556, Cardinal Alessandro
Farnese
the
Magnifico
galvanized
the
design
and construction of the
astounding Villa we know
today, commissioning the
great Mannerist architect,
Giacomo Barozzi Vignola, a
master influenced heavily in
his youth by the architecture
of Michelangelo. Vignola would
HYLAND
