Renaissance Scarlet Ladies Tour: Caravaggio’s and Borgia’s women

This storytelling walking tour revolves around 7 historical women who lived in Renaissance Rome.
In a day and age where women didn’t have access to education, the Renaissance Scarlet Ladies managed to become the Best Educated Women in Europe.
They were dancers, great singers, or poets, and this gave them the chance to emerge from poverty.
Nowadays we still find them in some of the most famous canvases painted by Caravaggio and Raphael. This is the only tour of its kind, the only one that delves deep into the Women’s side of History. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear their stories and find out how colorful their lives could be. During our tour together, we visit some churches which were their burial place. We see their XVI-century original homes but, more importantly, for the story of each woman, we show you all the visuals where we can still admire the Renaissance Courtesans.

The tour begins with a massive statue that in 1477 was named after a famous Courtesan. The statue nowadays is indeed known as “Lady Lucrezia”. This XV century woman who lived an incredibly colorful life, is the first story of this storytelling tour

We make a stop in the courtyard of the Doria Pamphilj, to talk about our second woman named Anna Bianchini, who modeled many times for a famous italian painter known as Caravaggio.

Anna was indeed Caravaggio’s first model and also the one who modeled for him most of the times

We enter a this magnificent church which is full of important and beautiful artworks and tell we tell the story of the most successful courtesan in all of Europe, back in the early XVI Century

Sant’Agostino church is another fantastic site included in this storytelling walking tour. This church is historically related to women, there’s so many stories about the women in here and plus, there is the original “Virgin Mary and the Pilgrims” canvas painted by Caravaggio

On this storytelling walking tour, we walk amongst original XVI and XV century building that back in the day, were owned by Courtesans. This is the Best Way to bing the stories to Life, since we are really able to eye-witness what their daily life was really like

Are you a Borgia Family fan? oh well, you will love the story of Vannozza Cattanei, mother of Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia. Her story is incredible and usually is people’s favorite story in all of the tour.

Here in Piazza Farnese, right by the beautiful Palazzo designed by Michelangelo which is the French Embassy today, the tour ends with the sad story of Giulia Farnese. We don’t spoil anything but the finale of the tour is really moving…

• Wheelchair accessible
• Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
• Service animals allowed
• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
• Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels
• The itinerary of the tour is 95% accessible to wheelchairs. There’s only 2 churches which are hard to get in with a wheelchair but that doesn’t manage the content of the tour, since in that case we just tell the story outside of the church

• Season 2025
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• Guided tour

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Please be advised..

• This Tour is Provided by Storytelling Rome Tours & Walks.
• Tour Timezone & Starts at Europe/Rome.
• Mobile or paper ticket accepted.
• For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
• This Tour is Rated 5 Stars based on 49 valid reviews on VIATOR.
• Minimum 1 Travelers is required to book.
• Maximum 10 Travelers is accepted for booking.