Palazzo della Cancelleria

Lonely Planet review

As impressive an example of Renaissance architecture as you'll find in Rome, this huge palazzo was built for Cardinal Raffaele Riario between 1483 and 1513. Something of a rogue by all accounts, Riario is said to have financed up to a third of the palace with gambling winnings.

However, his luck couldn't hold and when he was caught plotting against the powerful Florentine Medici clan, his days as the palazzo's owner were numbered. As soon as Giovanni de' Medici became Pope Leo X, the Vatican promptly confiscated it from him and transformed it into the Papal Chancellery. It is still Vatican property.

It's thought that Bramante designed the double loggia in the magnificent interior courtyard. Recent excavations beneath the palace have revealed ruins of a 4th-century Christian church, the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Damaso, which was incorporated into the building. The palace and its ruins are open only by appointment.