Rome with a French flavor: A Francophile itinerary in the Eternal City

Let me confess to you. It's true that Paris is my favorite city in the world, but my second favorite city is Rome, and in general, Italy is my favorite country after France (I even wrote my thesis, during my master's degree in international relations, on relations between various countries on the Italian peninsula and France and the Habsburgs between 1494-1648).

However, since 2013, when I founded the website “Francophiles Anonymous,” my constant preoccupation with France has led me to dedicate all my vacation days to it. This is how it happened that I had not visited Rome since 2008. To my great delight, this year, thanks to a professional conference held in the “Eternal City,” I had the opportunity to spend an entire weekend there.

When I started thinking about what I wanted to do in Rome during those days, I ran into a serious problem. Anyone who has ever visited Rome knows that the amount of beauty in this city is simply unimaginable. Every small church there could have become a major tourist attraction in any other European city, and every museum contains endless treasures.

As a result, at a certain point the human nervous system is unable to cope with all the load of beauty there and suffers from “art poisoning.” This is why I suggest that the mayor of Rome scatter 10-20 Protestant churches, of the most boring variety, throughout the city, so that the tourist can enter, sit on a wooden bench and stare at the white wall, until he feels ready to go out again to face the inconceivable beauty of the city.

So how do you deal with this kind of problem? I decided that the best way to go was to forego almost everything Rome had to offer, because there was no way I could handle all of this beauty in such a short time. Instead, I created a tour for myself of a limited number of attractions, most of them relatively small, with the commonality of their French connection.

The result is a quintessentially Francophile itinerary for all lovers of France. It's a two-day tour that you can fit into your vacation, featuring squares, churches, and museums, some well-known and some much less so (I would say even secret).

Before we begin with the itinerary, let me provide you with two important pieces of information, one practical and the other, seemingly very impractical, but one that will enhance your visit to Rome.

The hotel I stayed at in Rome

During my stay in Rome I stayed at the hotel Acca Hotel ViminaleThe hotel is excellently located (around a 15-minute walk to Piazza Venezia) and a five-minute walk to Piazza de la Repubblica, where you can take the metro to quite a few places.

All the rooms in this hotel seem to have been recently renovated and are decorated in a very classic style. The single room in the hotel was a bit small for my taste, but the double room I was upgraded to was excellent. The service was also great and really the only downside to this hotel is that there is no breakfast (they provide free hot drinks and cakes).

But that's not such a big problem either, because a two-minute walk away is the Taliani cafe (Via Genova 26), where you can enjoy great sandwiches, accompanied by fresh orange juice or one of the dozens of cakes they have. They could certainly give a French patisserie a run for its money, but the French still win :-).

Now that we're done with the "administrators," it's time to go on our trip.

Since there's no way you'll be able to see everything in one day (even if you just view the attractions from the outside), I divided it into two days, so that you can visit every place at your leisure (perhaps, if you decide to visit all the museums on the route, it might even be worth dividing the route into three days).

Sunday from Palazzo Ferenze to the Bonaparte Museum

Palazzo Farnese – the heart of French power

We will begin our journey at one of the most magnificent palaces in Rome, Palazzo Farnese, which today serves as the French Embassy in Italy. Its vast and impressive facade, whose upper part and famous cornice were designed by none other than Michelangelo (1475-1564), is impossible to miss.

The palace was built in the 16th century for the Farnese family, one of the most powerful and wealthy families of the Renaissance, which produced Pope Paul III (Paulus III 1468-1549). From the 17th century, the kings of France used to rent the palace to house their ambassadors, who were the Farnese family's guests of honor.

Note the coat of arms above the balcony. Make no mistake, this is the coat of arms of the Frenzy family and not of the kings of France (although both have the Fleur des Lys). I say this because quite a few people may be confused by the similarity of the coat of arms of the kings of France to that of the Frenzy family (just as quite a few people confuse the coat of arms of the Barberini family, which contains bees, with that of the Bonaparte family, simply because Napoleon I adopted the bee as a symbol).

This palace was the center of power for legendary diplomats such as Cardinal de Bernis (François-Joachim de Pierre de Bernis 1715-1794), who managed European affairs from here, held such lavish balls that he earned the nickname “King of Rome,” and turned the place into the most important cultural salon in the city.

And here comes the spicy story. In 1911, France purchased the palace, but in 1936, the government of Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) decided to “buy” it back. The result was an amazing agreement: Italy owns the palace, but it leases it to France for a period of 99 years for the symbolic sum of one euro per year, on the condition that France takes care of its full maintenance.

Today you can visit Palazzo Ferenze, but you must book tickets in advance. Using this link, so unfortunately I couldn't visit inside. But fortunately, not far from Palazzo Ferenze there was a nice food market (open Monday-Saturday between 07:00-14:00), so at least I got to enjoy everything the vendors had to sell there.

Palace address: Piazza Farnese 67

Opening days and hours:

• Monday: Tours at 15:00 PM, 16:00 PM, and 17:00 PM (in Italian). At 17:00 PM, there is a tour that includes the cellars.
• Tuesday: Tours at 16:00 PM and 17:00 PM (in English). At 17:00 PM there is a tour that includes the cellars (in English).
• Wednesday: Tours at 16:00 PM and 17:00 PM (in Italian).
• Thursday: Tours at 16:00 PM and 17:00 PM (in French). At 17:00 PM there is a tour that includes the cellars (in French).
• Friday: Tours at 16:00 PM and 17:00 PM. At 17:00 PM, there is a special tour that includes the École française de Rome and the library.
• Saturday and Sunday: The place is closed to visitors (except for groups by special arrangement).

San Luigi dei Francesi – Caravaggio, Tombs and Secrets

A short walk from Palazzo Farnese, hidden away is the true pearl of France in Rome: the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, the national church of France in the city since 1589. From the front, its identity is unmistakable: statues of the kings and saints of France, including Charles the Great, Saint Louis IX (1214-1270) and Jeanne de Valois (1464-1505), greet visitors.

The church was founded in 1518 and completed with the generous help of Queen Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589). Inside, you'll find breathtaking Baroque splendor, but the highlight, the reason millions of tourists come here, is in a small, dark chapel on the left – the Contarelli Chapel.

“The Calling of Matthew,” with the revolutionary beam of light cutting through the darkness; “The Martyrdom of Matthew,” a violent and dynamic scene; and “Matthew and the Angel” above the altar.

But the truly fascinating story is about the painting you don’t see. Caravaggio painted an early version of “Matthew and the Angel” that was rejected outright by the commissioners. Why? Because he painted the saint as an illiterate peasant, with dirty feet and a confused expression, with the angel, who looked too sensual, holding his hand and guiding him through his writing. It was too stark realism for the church. The original painting was lost, but the story remains as a testament to a genius’s struggle against the establishment.

The resting place of the greats of France

San Luigi is not only a museum, but also the final resting place of great Frenchmen. Here is buried the heart of Cardinal de Bernis, the same “King of Rome” we met at Palazzo Farnese.

Here also lie the bones of one of the greatest landscape painters of all time, Claude Gellée, dit Le Lorrain (1600-1682), which were transferred here at the initiative of Adolphe Thiers (1797-1877).

And in one corner you will find a particularly moving tombstone, that of Pauline de Beaumont (1768-1803), the lover of the great writer and diplomat François-René de Chateaubriand (1768-1848). She died in Rome, and he, heartbroken, designed her tomb himself.

Address: Piazza di S. Luigi de' Francesi
Opening days and hours: Open every day from 10:00 to 12:30 and from 15:00 to 19:00. Closed on Thursday afternoon, as I discovered myself, which forced me to go back there the next day.

Stopover: The Mosaic of Identities of Old France

Before we continue, a small stop that reveals a secret about the character of old France. Saint-Louis is the church of “France”, but nearby are two smaller churches: Saint-Nicolas-des-Lorrains and Saint-Yves-des-Bretons. Alongside these churches there is another church not far from Saint-Louis and although it is not “French” one of the greatest French painters of the 17th century is buried there and is therefore definitely worth a visit.

Each of these churches is a 5-10 minute walk from the Church of San Luigi, so I recommend that you read about each of these churches and decide whether you want to visit all of them or just some of them.

Saint-Nicolas-des-Lorrains

This fascinating church is located near Piazza Navona in Rome, and is a historical symbol of the Lorraine community. During the Renaissance, Lorraine residents living in Rome belonged to the French “Community of Saint Louis,” but in 1589 they decided to establish an independent brotherhood of believers to distinguish themselves from the French.

The church's connection to France is complex and fraught with upheavals: it was founded from the beginning out of a desire for independence and separation from French influence in Rome. The facade of the church still proudly displays a Latin inscription dedicating the building to the "nation of Lorraine" (natio Lotharingorum), and alongside it are the symbols of the nobility of the region's dukes, reminiscent of its independent past.

However, history changed the picture when the Duchy of Lorraine was officially annexed to France in 1766. As a result, the church effectively became part of the French heritage of the city, and it is still considered one of the “French churches” of Rome and has even been renovated in recent years under an agreement with the French Ministry of Culture.

Address: Largo Febo 9

Saint Yves-des-Bretons

The church's roots date back to the mid-15th century, when the Breton Cardinal Alain de Coëtivy (1407-1474) worked with Pope Nicholas V (and sought confirmation from Pope Calixtus III in 1455) to grant the Breton community in Rome a ruined medieval church called "Saint Andrea de Mortaris" (which originally belonged to the marble masons' guild).

At that time, Duchy of Brittany It was still an independent state, and the church, along with a hostel and hospital built alongside it, served as a national religious center for pilgrims from Brittany who came to the city. The church was dedicated to Saint Ivo (Ives), the patron saint of Brittany and of lawyers.

The Church's connection to France is intertwined with the loss of Brittany's independence and its annexation to France (a move that became official in 1532). In 1582, for political reasons, King Henry III of France pressured Pope Gregory XIII to unite the Brotherhood of Saint-Ivo and all its properties into the community of the French national church in Rome, Saint-Louis de France. This move of "predatory nationalism" effectively deprived the Bretons of their independence and separate representation in the city and forced them to assimilate into French institutions, even if the Church maintained its Semitic and historical ties to Brittany.

In 1875, after a series of floods that damaged the church, it was completely destroyed, and in its place a new, smaller church was built (in a slightly different location) and completed in 1890 to the plans of the architect Luca Crimini. Crimini designed the building in the Neo-Renaissance style, and incorporated into the facade of the new church an original 15th-century terracotta medallion from the famous Della Robbia workshop, which was housed in the old church, and to which the figures of Saint Ivo and Saint Bernard were later added.

San Lorenzo in Lucina

The church's roots date back to the 4th and 5th centuries AD, when Pope Sixtus III established a basilica and transformed it into a place of public worship. In the 17th century, the church underwent significant architectural and artistic changes. In 1606, Pope Paul V entrusted it to an order called the Craciolini, who began a major reconstruction and renovation project that brought the church into the Baroque style.

The French connection of the church is clearly reflected in its artistic and human heritage. During the 17th century, Rome attracted many French artists, and San Lorenzo in Lucina was an important place of collaboration for some of them. The renowned French painter Simon Vouet (1590-1654), influenced by Caravaggio, left an impressive mark on the church when he completed around 1624 the decoration of the chapel dedicated to Saint Francis, including frescoes and two pictorial canvases depicting the life of the saint.

Furthermore, over the years the church became the burial place of French figures who worked in Rome, including the painter and engraver Jean Turpin (in 1629) and the composer Albert Andreu (in 1804), which illustrates the deep connection of the French community to the building.

The absence of an official tomb lasted for over a hundred and fifty years, until between 1829 and 1832, the French ambassador in Rome, the writer François-René de Chateaubriand, decided to correct the historical injustice and erected an impressive memorial in the church. The monument includes Poussin’s bust and a relief depicting his famous work “The Shepherds in Arcadia” (Et in Arcadia ego), befitting the artist’s greatness.

Address: Piazza di San Lorenzo in Lucina 6

The Napoleonic Museum in Rome (Museo Napoleonico)

After you've finished visiting the churches related to France, you're welcome to walk for about fifteen minutes and reach the last stop of the day: the Napoleonic Museum.

Located on the ground floor of the historic Palazzo Primoli in the city center, not far from Piazza Navona and the Tiber River, the museum was founded in 1927, when Count Giuseppe Primoli – son of Count Pietro Primoli and Princess Carlotta Bonaparte – decided to bequeath to the Municipality of Rome his and his brother Luigi’s vast family collection of art and memorabilia.

Primoli's main goal was not only to glorify the conquests of the French Empire, but rather to present and document the deep historical connection between the Bonaparte family and the city of Rome, a connection that began following the French occupation of the city in 1808 (when Rome was declared a "free and imperial city") and continued when the family members found refuge there after the fall of the empire.

Unlike traditional historical museums, the place maintains a “house-museum” atmosphere that allows an intimate and private glimpse into the lives of emperors, kings, queens, and generals. The museum’s display spans 13 rooms and is divided into three main periods: the days of Napoleon’s First Empire, the “Roman” period after his fall, and the days of the Second Empire (1852-1870). Among the many exhibits are family portraits, marble statues, magnificent jewelry, aristocratic court clothes, luxurious furniture brought from Paris, and… a plaster cast of Pauline Bonaparte’s breast, which Antonio Canova cast for his statue of Venus Victorious, which we will see the next day.

Address: Piazza di Ponte Umberto I, 1

Opening days and hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00-17:15. Closed on Mondays.

Link to the museum website

Monday: From the Spanish Steps to Palazzo Bonaparte

If you are staying at the hotel I recommended, go to Piazza della Repubblica and from there take the metro (line A) to Spagna. Exit the metro and let's start our trip.

Trinita dei Monti – the French church at the top of the Spanish Steps

We will begin our tour today at the most famous and beautiful viewpoint in Rome, at the top of the Spanish Steps, in front of a church that everyone knows, but few know its French secret.

The Trinità dei Monti church, with its two symmetrical bell towers, is the undisputed symbol of Piazza di Spagna. But although the steps leading up to it are called “Spanish” (due to their proximity to the Spanish embassy), the church itself is entirely French, and its story is one of royal piety.

It was founded in 1494 by the French King Charles VIII (1470-1498). The king established it as a gift to the Order of Friars Minor of Saint François de Paule (1416-1507), in gratitude for the saintly monk's comforting of his father, King Louis XI (1423-1483), on his deathbed.

In the 17th century, the French diplomat Étienne Gueffier (1573-1660) decided to finance from his own pocket a magnificent staircase that would lead from the square down to the church on the hilltop. According to the original plan, the top of the stairs was supposed to be a statue of the young Louis XIV, but the Pope was adamantly opposed to placing a statue of a foreign king so tall in Rome. After quite a few arguments, the stairs were built without the statue of Louis XIV and, to add insult to injury, they called these stairs the “Spanish Steps” after the Spanish embassy located in the building below, rather than the French Steps…

Since then, the church has been considered the “Roman Church of the Kings of France” and is under the patronage of the French government. Inside, you will find a gallery of portraits of the kings of France, testifying to the deep connection. To stand here, at the top of the steps, and look out over Rome spread out below you, is to understand how French history, art and power were literally built into the city’s most breathtaking views.

This story took a modern and turbulent turn recently: in 2024, the French Court of Auditors (Cour des comptes) published a report claiming that because the stairs were built with French money, they actually belong to France. This claim sparked a diplomatic storm and outrage in Italy, with Italian politicians threatening to demand the return of Italian works of art in France.

Address: Piazza della Trinità dei Monti, 3

Opening days and hours:

Sunday 9:00–19:30
Monday 10:15–19:45
Tuesday 10:15–19:45
Wednesday 12:00–19:45
Thursday 10:15–19:45
Friday 10:15–19:45
Saturday 10:15–19:45

Villa Medici: Art, Cannons, and Turbulent Management

After visiting the church, head to Villa Medici, a magnificent building overlooking all of Rome. Since 1803, the villa has been home to the French Academy in Rome, a prestigious institution that hosts young and promising French artists.

The building was originally built around 1544 for Cardinal Giovanni Ricci of Montepulciano, and was designed by the architect Giovanni Lippi and his son Annibale Lippi. In 1576 the villa was purchased by Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici (1549-1609), later Grand Duke of Tuscany, who hired the architect Bartolomeo Amanati to enlarge and embellish it. Medici transformed the villa into a veritable palace-museum, designed to house his vast collection of works of art and antiquities, alongside a magnificent botanical garden spanning seven acres and adorned with famous fountains and statues.

And here we get the first French connection, as Ferdinando managed to marry his niece Marie de Medici to King Henry IV of France, thus making her the second Queen of France from the Medici family (the first being of course Catherine de Medici). However, the villa's deep French connection begins with an institution founded many decades before he moved there.

In 1666, at the initiative of King Louis XIV of France and his Minister of Finance Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the “Académie de France à Rome” was founded, with the aim of hosting and nurturing outstanding French artists and allowing them to learn from the masterpieces of Rome. The academy moved between several palaces in the city (including Palazzo Mancini), until in 1803 Napoleon Bonaparte decided to officially move it to its permanent residence in the Villa Medici.

The villa was chosen, among other things, because the relatively isolated and fortified-looking structure provided a sense of security for the French (after the harassment they had experienced in Rome), and because of the large interior spaces that allowed the Academy’s vast collection of plaster casts to be properly displayed. From the moment of the move, the Villa Medici became an undisputed center of French cultural and artistic excellence. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, it hosted as pensioners the winners of the prestigious “Prix de Rome”, among them giants of French culture such as classical composers Hector Berlioz and Claude Debussy.

In the second half of the 20th century, the French Academy at the Villa underwent significant reforms designed to adapt it to the modern era. In 1961, the French Minister of Culture André Malraux appointed the famous painter Balthus as director of the institution, a move that restored the Villa to its international prestige. After the events of May 1968, another reform was carried out (in 1971), which abolished the traditional “Prix de Rome” and opened the Villa to new disciplines such as art history, literature, photography, cinema and design. Today, the Villa Medici continues to function as a national public institution of the French Ministry of Culture, and serves at the same time as a home for artists and researchers, a vibrant cultural center and a historical heritage site open to visitors from all over the world.

Visit to Villa Medici

I visited the Villa Medici during my trip to Rome and really enjoyed not only the history but also the garden and the beauty I found in the villa and the buildings in the complex. I was quite lucky to get in there without booking tickets in advance, but I recommend that you don't rely on luck and book tickets through This link.

Address: Viale della Trinità dei Monti, 1

Opening days and hours: Open every day, except Tuesday, from 09:30 a.m. to 19:00 p.m. (last entry is at 18:30 p.m.).

Villa Borghese: The Naked Scandal of Poland Bonaparte

After we finish visiting the Villa Medici, we will continue on until we reach the park of Villa Borghese, inside which is the famous gallery, which houses a statue of the most colorful and scandalous figure in the Bonaparte family - Pauline Bonaparte (1780-1825).

Napoleon's beloved sister, Polonia, married Prince Camillo Borghese (1775-1832), one of the richest and most important nobles in Rome. This marriage was intended to legitimize the "newly-born" Bonaparte family among the old European aristocracy.

Shortly after her marriage, her husband commissioned a sculpture from the greatest artist of the time, Antonio Canova (1757-1822). The result was “Venus Victrix,” a masterpiece in which Polonia is depicted as the goddess of love, lying almost completely naked on a Roman couch.

The statue caused a huge scandal. A princess from a respected noble family, depicted completely naked – it was unthinkable. When Polin was asked how she agreed to pose like this, she replied dismissively with one of the most famous answers in art history: “Why not? The studio was heated.” Her husband, Prince Borghese, was so embarrassed that he kept the statue locked in a wooden box for years, allowing only a few to see it.

In this act, Poland not only demonstrated courage and sensuality. She used classical art, a symbol of cultural legitimacy, to establish her new status, while at the same time shocking conservative society with her modern French audacity. It was a brilliant personal and political statement.

Visit to the Borghese Gallery

If you can still visit Villa Medici without booking tickets in advance, then as I discovered firsthand, this is impossible at Villa Borghese. So if you want to save yourself the heartache I had when I tried to be spontaneous and buy a ticket on the spot, You must book a ticket in advance..

Address: Piazzale Napoleone I

Opening days and hours:

The gardens of Villa Borghese are open every day from sunrise to sunset.

The Borghese Gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday from 09:00 AM to 19:00 PM (last admission at 17:30 PM). The place is closed on Mondays.

Palazzo Bonaparte: Exile through the eyes of a mother

After visiting the daughter (Paulina Bonaparte), it was time to visit the mother and this is where we will end our trip. I am referring of course to Palazzo Bonaparte, which overlooks the famous Piazza Venezia, where she chose to live the rest of her life, after the final defeat of her son, Letizia Ramolino Bonaparte (1750-1836), the mother of Paulina and Napoleon, who was known as “Madame Mère”.

You can get there from Villa Borghese in two ways:

1. A half-hour walk along the famous Via del Corso.
2. Take line 160 from S. Paolo Del Brasile towards Montagnola (get off at the Plebiscito stop, which is right near the museum).

Letizia Remolino purchased the palace in 1818 and lived there until her death in 1836. The most famous and touching story is related to the green, covered corner balcony, known as the “bussolotto.” It is said that she used to sit there for hours, hidden from the public, and watch the bustling life of Rome pass by below.

Even after she became blind, she continued the custom, with her companion describing to her in detail the events taking place in the square. It is a powerful and human portrait of a woman who saw her son conquer Europe, and finally found herself watching the world through a small window in her Roman exile.

Today the palace serves as a museum for temporary exhibitions, and to my great joy, just when I was in Rome, there was a wonderful exhibition on the life of Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939). Mucha was a Czech artist, but he worked in Paris for quite a few years and some of his greatest works were created there, so as a Francophile who really loves the Belle Époque, I really enjoyed his exhibition.

Of course, I don't know what exhibition will be in Rome while you're there, but you'll probably be happy to hear that the museum is open every day and is therefore very accessible (tickets can be purchased at the museum box office).

Opening Hours:

Monday–Thursday: 09:00–19:30

Friday–Sunday: 09:00–21:00

Summary: Two great loves merging into one

Our journey following France in Rome is coming to an end. We have discovered that the French presence is not just a collection of buildings or works of art; it is a second thread woven deeply into the fabric of the city, an ongoing story of influence, rivalry, admiration and connection.

From the power of the cardinals, to the genius of the artists, to the personal dramas of the Bonaparte family, France shaped Rome as much as it influenced it. I hope this itinerary will give you a new perspective on your next visit to the Eternal City, and make you, like me, feel how our two great loves merge into one.

Set out, search for the secrets, and don't forget to tell me what else you discover.