Appartamento Borgia

The Valencian Rodrigo de Borja, who was elected Pope at the death of Innocent VIII under the name of Alexander VI, links his name to this part of the Vatican rooms used during his pontificate (1492-1503).

The space corresponds to six rooms that the pontiff himself had restructured and decorated: the Room of the Sibyls and the Room of the Creed, in the Torre Borgia, the Room of the Liberal Arts, the Room of the Saints and the Room of the Mysteries, named as "secret chambers" in the diary of Johannes Burckhard, Alexander's master of ceremonies; and finally, the Hall of the Pontiffs, in the oldest wing.

The papal residence occupied the entire first level of the Apostolic Palace, and also included two small rooms accessible from the Liberal Arts Room, probably used as a bedroom and bathroom.

After the death of Alexander VI, Julius II, an enemy of the Borgia pope, abandoned the rooms and decided to move to the upper floor, known as the Raphael Rooms. At the end of the 19th century, Leo XIII opened these spaces to the public.

The pictorial decoration of the rooms reserved for private use was the work of the painter Bernardino de Betto, better known by the name of Pinturicchio. The Pope's family, himself, and occasional visitors served as models for the figures depicted. The vaults were decorated with stucco and gold. The rehabilitation was carried out between the autumn of 1492 and the beginning of 1494 and was the culminating work of Pinturicchio, who enjoyed the absolute confidence of the Pope.

In the time of Alexander VI they served as rooms for his son Caesar, and in them he must have given some of his publicized and scandalous banquets.

The Hall of the Sibyls, located in the Borgia tower, which the Pope had built to strengthen the Vatican's defensive apparatus, is decorated with sibyls accompanying prophets and apostles.

The small Creed Room, also inside the Borgia tower, was used for receptions. It is decorated with couples formed by the apostles and the prophets.

The Liberal Arts Room was designed as the pontiff's office and is full of coats of arms and family symbols. First of the secret rooms. Its decoration alludes to the arts or disciplines that formed the basis of medieval school education. The coats of arms of the Borgias are present in different places in the room. It was the study space and home of the private library. 

The Hall of the Saints has mythological representations and episodes from the lives of seven saints in the lunettes. The fresco of the Dispute of Saint Catherine of Alexandria is one of Pinturichio's masterpieces, where Lucrezia Borgia appears in the face of Saint Catherine. Above the door that leads to the Mysteries, in a representation of the Virgin with the Child, the historian Giorgio Vasari (16th century) pointed out the possibility that her features coincided with those of the beautiful Giulia Farnese, lover of the Dad.

One of the best portraits of Alexander VI is preserved in the Hall of Mysteries. The scene of the Resurrection draws the pontiff with his ceremonial cape, where the soldiers of the tomb could be three of his sons.

The Hall of the Pontiffs is the largest. Intended for official ceremonies, it was here that the Pope nearly lost his life after the roof collapsed in 1500.

Alexander VI died in a room adjacent to the Liberal Arts room on August 18, 1503.

The Appartamento Borgia is a true jewel of the time, transporting you to the heart of the Borgias and to the life of the Renaissance.