Museo nazionale Palazzo Altieri, Oriolo Romano
Facts and practical information
The Santacroce-Altieri Palace is a noble residence located in Oriolo Romano, a town in the province of Viterbo. Built in the years 1579-1585 by the Santacroce family, it was enlarged by the Altieri family in 1674, during the papacy of Clement X, the most prominent member of the family.
The palace has an adjoining walled park to which the owners could access via a private access consisting of a walkway. The facade is sober. The interior contains many frescoes: the seven images of Rome, stories from the Old Testament and landscapes depicting places belonging to the family at the time: Vicarello, Castello di Rota, Monterano, Viano and others. The palace also contains in the east wing the Gallery of the Popes, a collection of portraits of all the popes of the Catholic Church. The gallery served as a model for the portraits of the popes in St. Paul's Outside the Walls that were destroyed after the fire of 1823.
Art historian Costantino D'Orazio dedicated an episode of the program AR - Frammenti d'ARte to the palace.
Since December 2014, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities has managed it through the Lazio Museum Pole, which became the Regional Directorate of Museums in December 2019.
Lazio