The “Stanza della Ringhiera” opens onto two other rooms at either side. One goddess dedicated to the Night, the other to the Day. The ceiling paintings have been lost in part over the years; rainwater leaked through the roof in the past, literally washing away the tempera colours of Ciampelli’s beautiful allegories.

Ciampelli used the vault ceilings of the “Stanza della Virtù” to exalt the moral qualities of Cardinal Acquaviva, who commissioned the work. The centre of the vault is dominated by Pegasus, the winged horse of ancient mythology, and symbol of Fame, while the main larger sides of the ceiling portray two foreboding female figures sitting on thrones.

In 1613, the villa fell under the property of Prince Michele Peretti who – following the advice of his brother Cardinal A. Montalto – commissioned the decoration of the fifth room on the main floor to a painter from the Bologna school of the Carraccis, probably Antonio Carracci himself, nephew of the more renowned Annibale.

In 1737, Baldassare Erba Odescalchi commissioned the decoration of the new gallery to one of the most famous painters of the time: Giovanni Paolo Pannini. An overall glimpse of the entire artistic composition can give us an idea of what the painter intended while decorating this hall.

The gallery leads to four small drawing rooms, two on each side. The vaults of these rooms are covered in paintings by Pannini depicting scenes from the book of Genesis, four days of creation.

Inside the villa’s small chapel is a tombstone carrying the contents of a letter by Pope Gregory XIII, from 1580.