The Villa Farnesina is located in via della Lungara in Rome, in the heart of Trastevere. It is one of the most noble and harmonious buildings of the Italian Renaissance, commissioned by Agostino Chigi to the architect Baldassarre Peruzzi, and frescoed with paintings inspired by classical myths by Raffaello Sanzio, Sebastiano del Piombo, Giovanni da Udine, Giovanni Bazzi known as Sodoma, Giulio Romano and Giovan Francesco Penni. The villa is now the representative seat of the Accademia dei Lincei. It was built from 1506 to 1512 by the young Baldassarre Peruzzi for the very wealthy Sienese banker Agostino Chigi, a great patron and prominent figure in early 16th century Rome, who had amassed a large fortune from the proceeds of the sale of the Tolfa alum and who enjoyed the protection of Pope Julius II. Villa Farnesina, which at the time was simply called Villa Chigi, was the first suburban noble villa in Rome and had a great prominence from the beginning, soon being cited and imitated. With the death of Chigi, in 1520, the villa declined and was depleted of furnishings and works of art. In 1580 it was purchased by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese and thus had its current name.