Is Palazzo Colonna the most beautiful palace in Rome?
How to choose between the palaces
Everyone who knows Rome’s palace galleries has a favourite, so this page sets out what each one offers rather than a numbered list.
Each palace is best judged on its own terms.
The largest-palace question, with all three measures
This one is answerable, and the reason it produces three different answers is that people are measuring three different things. Floor area, enclosed area within the walls, and floor area of a building somebody actually lives in are not the same quantity, so the title moves depending on which you pick.
| Palace | Measure | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Forbidden City | Enclosed area inside the walls — the Guinness World Records title | 728,000 m² |
| Louvre Palace | Floor area — the largest on that measure | 244,000 m² |
| Hofburg | Floor area | 240,000 m² |
| Winter Palace | Floor area | 233,345 m² |
| Istana Nurul Iman, Brunei | Floor area — the largest residential palace | 200,000 m² |
| Apostolic Palace | Floor area | 162,000 m² |
| Royal Palace of Madrid | Floor area | 135,000 m² |
| Versailles | Floor area | 63,154 m² |
Note what the bottom of that table does to the question. Versailles — the building most people would name first if you asked them for a big palace — is smaller by floor area than five others on the list, and about a quarter of the Louvre. Size is only one way to compare palaces.
Where this building sits: a palace of a different scale
Palazzo Colonna is a private city palace on a Roman street, between Piazza SS. Apostoli and Via della Pilotta, with a garden on the hill behind it reached by covered bridges over the road. It is not competing on square metres with anything above and its interest was never its size.
Good reasons to choose it, with the facts
If you are deciding between palaces on a short trip, decide on things with answers.
- What is in it. Carracci’s Beaneater, Bronzino, Tintoretto, Reni, Guercino, Rosa, Ghirlandaio and Dughet, with Pinturicchio and Brueghel in the apartments. The list, and which ticket reaches which.
- How long it has been one family’s. Since the 1200s, and they still live in part of it. The family.
- How the gallery was built. As a single room to be seen whole, which is a different experience from a suite of chambers. The Great Hall — the room itself and what is known about it.
- When you can get in. Eight hours a week, Friday and Saturday mornings. The hours.
That last one is the real differentiator and it is the opposite of a superlative. A building open two mornings a week is a building most visitors to Rome will never see the inside of, and that is a better reason to spend a Saturday on it than anybody’s adjective.
For a comparison: the Borghese ticket carries 3,595 ratings against this palace’s 898 — four times as many. That reflects how often each is booked through one platform. The worth-it page does the choice properly.
Read next
Frequently asked questions
What is the most beautiful palace in Rome?
That comes down to taste. Choose on what you can compare: what is inside, how long it has been one family’s, and when you can get in.
What is the largest palace on Earth?
It depends on the measure. By floor area the Louvre Palace at 244,000 m²; by the enclosed area inside its walls Guinness World Records gives it to the Forbidden City at 728,000 m²; the largest residential palace is Istana Nurul Iman in Brunei at 200,000 m².
How big is Palazzo Colonna compared with those?
It is a different kind of building. Palazzo Colonna is a private city palace on a Roman street, and its interest was never its size.