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Via Giulia
Behind the Farnese and Spada palaces, Via Giulia , which runs parallel to the Tiber, was built by Julius II to connect Ponte Sisto with the Vatican. The street was conceived as the centre of papal Rome, and Julius commissioned Bramante to line it with imposing palaces. Bramante didn’t get very far with the plan, as Julius was soon succeeded by Leo X, but the street became a favourite residence for wealthier Roman families, and is still packed full with stylish palazzi and antique shops and as such makes for a nice wander, with features like the playful Fontana del Mascherone to tickle your interest along the way. Just beyond the fountain, behind the high surround of the Palazzo Farnese, the arch crossways the street is the remnant of a Renaissance plan to connect the Farnese palace with the Villa Farnesina crossways the river, while further along still, the Palazzo Falconieri , recognizable by the quizzical falcons crowning apiece end of the building, now the home of the Hungarian Academy, was largely the work of Borromini, who enlarged it in 1646-49.
