The Casino di Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi, better known as Villa Aurora, is home to the 25th work in Caravaggio 2025 – the Rome exhibition.

Caravaggio’s mural painting at the Casino Ludovisi, on the occasion of the exhibition “Caravaggio 25” currently underway at Palazzo Barberini in Rome, will be exceptionally open to the public by reservation on Saturdays and Sundays from March 29th to July 6th.

A historic Rome villa with the world’s only known ceiling painting by Caravaggio will open its doors exclusively to visitors of the blockbuster show dedicated to the Baroque genius. From Saturday, March 29th until Sunday, July 6th, visitors to the Caravaggio exhibition at Palazzo Barberini will also have the unique opportunity to admire the Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto murals in Villa Aurora. Caravaggio depicted, in a dizzying perspective, “Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto”, the three divinities who divided the universe: the underworld to Pluto, the sea to Neptune, and the sky to Jupiter. In the alchemical allegories of the search for ultimate wisdom, three divinities were traditionally associated with the three phases of this ascent towards truth and essence, from the underground Pluto to the infinite spaces of Jupiter’s sky.

The allegorical scene, commissioned in the late 16th century by Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte for his alchemy laboratory, was subsequently covered over and was only rediscovered in 1968.

The mural, which measures 2.75 metres wide and is located in a small room on the first floor, depicts Jupiter reaching out to move the celestial sphere where the sun revolves around the Earth.

Jupiter, accompanied by an eagle, represents sulphur and air; Neptune, with a hippocamp, stands for mercury and water; and Pluto, with the three-headed dog Cerberus, represents salt and Earth.

In addition to seeing the Caravaggio ceiling painting, visitors can admire a lavish fresco created by the Italian Baroque painter Guercino in 1621 of the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, which gives the building its name. The young Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi, nephew of Pope Gregory XV, purchased the Casino from Del Monte in 1621 (as part of the large Villa Ludovisi he was building) and found himself with a Caravaggio in his home. He was no less a patron of further works intended to embellish this building of entertainment and cultural delight. For example, he commissioned Guercino to fresco the “Aurora” on the ground floor (flanked by the “Allegory of Day” and the “Allegory of Night”). In an adjacent room, he called upon Domenichino, Paul Brill, Giovan Battista Viola, and, once again, Guercino to fresco marvellous ideal landscapes on each of the four walls. Towering above them, on the ceiling, was an ethereal dance of putti, painted by Antonio Circignani, known as Pomarancio. A casino of delights and beauties can now be enjoyed on Saturdays and Sundays with a ticket to the exhibition at Palazzo Barberini and upon reservation.

Subject to prior reservation, ticket holders of the Caravaggio exhibition can visit Villa Aurora on Saturdays and Sundays and take special guided tours for groups of up to 20 people.

Visits to the villa on Via Lombardia 46 (off Via Veneto) cost €12 and occur on Saturdays and Sundays at 10.00, 11.00, 12.00, 13.00, 15.00, 16.00, and 17.00.