The palace was to set a new trend in European architecture, was to be a representative residence of the Barberini family – an ideal place for the celebration of art and culture. At the order of Pope Urban VIII, in 1625 his nephew and nepot Francesco Barberini bought in 1625, a modest villa in a broad park on Quirinale Hill, from the Sforza family, in order to enlarge and embellish it in the following years. This task was completed by the most outstanding architects of the seicento period: the already old and experienced Carlo Maderno along with his relative and aide Francesco Barberini, while after the death of Maderno in 1629, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who was assisted by Borromini (but only until 1631).

Ultimately a monumental building in the shape of the letter H was created, consisting of a central oval part, which was flanked by two expanded wings with two equally important façades – one from the street, the other from the garden. The three-story high main façade (from the street) was segmented in a very unusual way with arcades of huge windows. These in turn, similarly as in ancient buildings, were divided with pilasters of three orders – Doric, Ionian and Corinthian.

Currently the palace can be admired in a smaller from, since both the theatre building, which was part of it, as well as the courtyard (Cortile della Cavallerizza) which was built by Pietro da Cortona, the portico and stables, disappeared during the construction of the present-day via Barberini. One of the most interesting elements of the structure is the spiral staircase, illuminated by a top light and enriched with double columns, found in the right wing of the building, which today leads to a numismatic museum and which was the work of Borromini. On the other hand, in the left wing there is a rivaling staircase on the plan of a square, this time made by Bernini. But this is just the beginning. The driveway arranged from the via dell Quattro Fontane leads us into a monumental atrium with the statues of Roman gods placed in the niches. We can access it from a rather shabby-looking garden, which only in a small part, displays the beauty of the broad, two-level park which used to stretch out around the palace, covered with rows of bushes and exotic plants. The garden arrangements and thus the Barberini residence, stretched south all the way to the via Pia (present-day XX Settembre) and east all the way to the Salita di San Nicola da Tolentino.

After entering the representative rooms on the first floor (piano nobile) we are faced with stretching on with no end residential chambers, in the past designated for the Barberini family members – Cardinal Francesco Barberini, Cardinal Antonio Barberini and their brother Taddeo along with his wife. They were decorated with frescoes of such Barberini protégées as Andrea Sacchi, Giovanni Francesco Romanelli, Andrea Camassei, and Giuseppe Chiari. However, the true pride and joy of the family were the paintings of the ceiling in the representative salon (Salon Grande) leading out directly onto the garden, which were finished by the favored by the family, aforementioned Pietro da Cortona. Their theme is The Triumph of Divine Providence, but in all actuality the apotheosis of the Barberini family, which under the aegis of Pope Urban VIII, held autocratic power over the city and the State of the Church. This fresco created a new dimension of illusionist painting, became the inspiration for generations of creators and is most likely one of those works, which must definitely be seen in Rome. It brings closer the spirit of the seicento period, but also of the Baroque art, of which da Cortona’s fresco is the most excellent example. Another fresco, although less spectacular in its decorative dimension is found in another room of the piano nobile. There we will see the Triumph of Divine Wisdom (1630) – a painting vision this time by Andrea Sacchi. Generally, it is interpreted as a lecture on the theory of heliocentrism, which was widely discussed at the time, also in the salons of the Barberinis, even with Galileo, before he – accused of heresy – faced the Sacred Congregation of the Roman Inquisition.

In the right wing of the palace the painting decorations are less spectacular, and some of them bear titles referring to ancient object, which were exhibited and admired here in the past (Sala della Statue, Sala dei Marmi). On the top floor, an imposing library was located, numbering 60 thousand volumes and 10 thousand manuscripts.

During the peak of its greatness the palace was filled with music – it was here that Giulio Rospigliosi’s   opera Saint Alexis (Sant’Alessio) had its premiere in 1634, and here that throngs came to see the theatre spectacles and open-air plays organized by the Barberini brothers. They were enriched by fireworks shows and fancy scenography, with added special effects, which were often the work of Gian Lorenzo Bernini himself. It was also here that Anna Colonna, the wife of Taddeo Barberini, organized the most admired in the city balls and soirees, while on summer evenings the cardinals constructed a kind of a stadium where games could be played. After this period of family prosperity, in 1644, meaning at the moment of the death of Pope Urban VIII, the palace was abandoned. After the return from forced emigration, which all the papal nephews had to  endure, one of them, Francesco lived here until his death in 1679. Descendants of the family were not attracted by the representative and monumental rooms of the residence. Subsequent centuries brought about the sale of some of the works of art.

Recently, it has become possible to visit the private apartments of Cornelia Constance Barberini on the third floor, created in the XVII century and inhabited by the family all the way until 1955. These are not representative rooms, but a  series of cozy rooms and small salons, which still today maintain their not only Rococo decorations, but also original furnishings. The main family line died out in 1738, while the estates as well as surname were transferred to the Colonna family and later Saccheti. The surname persevered. Today it is proudly carried by Prince Benedetto Francesco Barberini born at the beginning of the 1960s.

In 1949 the palace became the property of the Italian state, while soon afterwards the same fate befell the painting collection. Currently it is part of an imposing art gallery of medieval and modern painting – see: Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini.