‘Michelangelo included a portrait of my ancestor, Vittoria Colonna, in the fresco of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel’
Sveva Colonna has quite a perspective on the history of Rome. Her family home, the Palazzo Massimo di Rignano, stands opposite the Capitoline Hill, where Julius Caesar spoke to the empire and introduced Cleopatra to the people.
The Colonnas’ own arrival in the Eternal City was recent only by contrast: they’ve been making their mark there for the past 900 years.
One of the most powerful dynasties in Italy, they can boast of Princes and poets, soldiers and saints, and on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo painted himself with Vittoria Colonna, his friend and muse, at his side.
PAST AND PRESENT IN ONE
Sveva can tell you all about the city she loves, from its legendary
