Sky-blue Spotted Room

Situated between two rooms of great artistic significance, both for art history and their proposed scenic and decorative design, the “Room Painted with Celestial Patches” does not feature frescoes of particular note.

The striking landscapes with ruins found in the preceding room and the naturalistic abundance of the woodland scene in the adjacent corner room are entirely absent. Instead, it features only architectural framing within which painters were commissioned to create celestial fields imitating marble. The name “a macchia celeste,” which gives the room its title, likely refers, however, to its original decoration, which is thought to have been an actual planetarium, following a model quite common in European royal residences. This intended use of the room for a theme as potentially controversial as astronomy was likely abandoned in the years following the death of Bartolomeo III Arese, whose tastes probably did not align with those of the noble successors who owned the palace.