Casa de Pilatos

What makes it special

The main courtyard holds the house together, and every route passes through it. Look closely at the tile panels on its walls, where the colours run from cobalt blue through olive green to ochre yellow. Above the galleries, twenty-four busts of Roman emperors and Spanish kings look out from round frames.

A large sculpture collection arrived from Naples around 1570, and its biggest pieces still stand in the four corners of the courtyard. At the centre, the fountain is crowned by the double face of Janus, the Roman god who looks both ways.

In the gilded room, look up at the coffered ceiling studded with gilded pine cones. Two Roman bas-reliefs from an Italian collection hang in the same room.

The chapel entrance keeps its painted wooden doors from the late 15th century. Each ground-floor room has an exact twin on the floor above.

Beyond the tiled rooms, the gardens are laid out in the Italian manner, with a path of Seville orange trees running through them.

Visiting

Stepping in from Plaza de Pilatos puts you straight into the main courtyard, so begin there and walk all four sides of its arcades before going further.

From the courtyard, the ground-floor rooms open one into the next, the gilded room among them. Then go out into the gardens and follow the orange-tree path to its end.

Upper-floor tours leave every 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the season. Ask at the desk for the next departure when you arrive, and fit the ground floor and gardens around it.

Tips

Eat before or after your visit, as there is no café or restaurant inside. In midsummer, bring water and wear light clothing, because the heat makes the rooms hard going.

Signs to the house are scarce in the surrounding lanes, so follow a map app to Plaza de Pilatos. Leave the car behind: parking nearby is hard to find.