The Ninfeo del Bramante, in the middle of a garden in Valle della Soglia – Genazzano, was commissioned by the Colonna Family to the renowned architect at the beginning of the sixteenth century.
They possessed many properties in this area, where a ditch, il Fossato, ran alongside the public road from Genazzano to Paliano. The garden included the Nymphaeum and a lake, divided by four large steps into three water levels. The first by the small bridge over the ditch, upstream from the Nymphaeum, the second and third near the Nymphaeum sides, and the fourth in correspondence of the existing dam south of the Nymphaeum, defined, in documents, Muro Lungo.
Today’s Nymphaeum consists of a casino with a three-bay façade overlooking the valley and two absidated short sides. Behind the portico, on a raised floor, stand three parallel rectangular rooms with cross vaults, their walls enriched by circular and rectangular niches.
Bramante Nymphaeum in Genazzano – Facebook @prlocogenazzano
North of the absidated central room, there is an octagonal one with diagonally arranged large niches, seats to rest in the cool shade sheltered from waterjets, and a circular water basin in the centre. Power supply had to be guaranteed by a nearby source. On the sides there are two square rooms with two more rooms behind them.
The grandeur and magnificence of this imposing building, combining reminiscences of the Ancient Rome with the aspirations of Renaissance Classicism, consists in experiencing the magical atmosphere of a remote watercourse in the greenery, an harmonious interaction between man and nature, in the aristocratic line of thinking from the Renaissance.