Renaissance Women Walking Tour: Caravaggio's Courtesans & Borgias

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Free cancellationExcellent quality

1/31

Duration3h

GroupUp to 18

LanguagesEN

Mobile ticketAccepted

Seven women who rewrote Renaissance history, told where they actually lived

This three-hour walking tour through Renaissance Rome traces the lives of seven women—courtesans, muses, and political players—immortalized in paintings by Caravaggio and Raphael. You visit five landmarks including Basilica di Sant'Agostino, where Caravaggio's "Virgin Mary and the Pilgrims" hangs, and walk through the neighborhoods where these women lived in the 15th and 16th centuries. A live English-speaking guide leads the route, which is 95% wheelchair accessible, with the option to stop at a snack bar halfway through (cost separate).

Step-by-step itinerary

Explore Renaissance Scarlet Ladies

See Lady Lucrezia statue
Visit Doria Pamphilj courtyard
Enter Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva
Explore Sant'Agostino church
Walk past courtesans' historic buildings
Hear story of Vannozza Cattanei at Campo de' Fiori
End tour at Piazza Farnese

The Experience

The tour starts at a statue named after Lucrezia, a 15th-century courtesan whose colorful life opens the day. From there you move through the courtyard of Palazzo Pamphilj to learn about Anna Bianchini, Caravaggio's first model and his most frequent one. The guide takes you inside Basilica di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva to tell the story of Europe's most successful courtesan of the early 16th century, then into Basilica di Sant'Agostino, where you stand in front of the original Caravaggio canvas and hear the stories woven through the church itself.

Walking the streets of the neighborhood, you pass 15th and 16th-century buildings that courtesans once owned—the guide uses these real structures to show what daily life actually looked like for these women. At Campo de' Fiori, you hear about Vannozza Cattanei, mother of Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia, whose story is often the tour's most memorable moment. The route ends at Piazza Farnese, beside the Palazzo designed by Michelangelo (now the French Embassy), where the guide tells the final story of Giulia Farnese.

These weren't footnotes in history—they were trendsetters, intellectuals, poets, and in some cases royal game-changers whose ambitions and scandals shaped the politics and art of Renaissance Europe. The guide connects each woman to the paintings and palaces around you, so the stories stay rooted in the places where they actually happened.

What’s included

Guided walking tour led by a live English-speaking guide.
entry to five Renaissance landmarks including Basilica di Sant'Agostino, Basilica di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, and Palazzo Pamphilj.
stories of seven women connected to Caravaggio and Raphael paintings.
a walk through 15th and 16th-century neighborhoods where these women lived.

Good to know

Easy physical levelWheelchair accessibleStroller friendlyPets welcomePublic transport nearbyNot for back problemsInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Storytelling Rome Tours & Walks

Is this one for you?Book this tour if you want Renaissance history told through the women who shaped it, not the usual male-centered narrative—the guide connects each woman to the actual buildings and paintings around you, so the stories come alive in the places where they happened.