Serre Barberini. The new café-restaurant in the gardens of Palazzo Barberini
05 June 2024 - 31 December 2030
Serre Barberini. The new café-restaurant opens in the gardens of Palazzo Barberini.
The new bar, café, and restaurant Serre Barberini inaugurates at Palazzo Barberini.
“The opening of Serre Barberini finally represents the opportunity to provide the museum with a service that was previously absent and to offer to visitors, local residents and tourists, a place to stop and gather in one of the most extraordinary locations in Rome, a secret Italian garden that we hope will become more known, admired, and frequented by the general public,” said Thomas Clement Salomon, director of the Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica.
The coffe shop, managed by Panda Catering Srl, is located within the museum’s 19th-century greenhouse, in the splendid setting of the Palazzo gardens. The greenhouse, presumably designed by architect Francesco Azzurri (1827-1901) and completed at the end of the 19th century during the 19th-century reorganization of the gardens, has undergone extensive restoration and repurposing work in recent months.
The overall project, thanks also to the choice of special glass and the use of photovoltaic panels, ensures the full energy sustainability of the environment, in addition to guaranteeing a pleasant temperature inside the almost entirely glass-enclosed location.
From the greenhouse it can be possible to appreciate the labyrinth garden, which is also accessible without visiting the museum. It is a precious green space in the heart of the city, featuring its curious cork house and the granite Egyptian stele of Amon-Ra, the Sun God, originating from the temple of Isis in Campo Marzio and still located here, along the avenue leading to Via XX Settembre.
In the 17th century, the garden was a magnificent theater of nature and art, inspired by the grandsons of Urban VIII, Cardinal Francesco, and Cardinal Antonio. As required by the magnificence of the Palazzo, the “palace of the sun,” and as suggested by the Barberini symbolism of bees, the garden was a metaphor for the new age, flourishing thanks to the Barberini family, and its layout followed precise rules of symmetry.
Practical information:
Serre Barberini
Open Tuesday to Sunday, from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM
Free entrance
Free Wi-Fi service