What It’s Like to Visit Casa Balla, Rome’s Futurist Gem

There are artist homes, and then there’s this. Casa Balla in Rome is what happens when someone turns their worldview into wallpaper, floor tiles, and door handles.

Rome isn’t exactly short on over-the-top interiors.

You’ve got Baroque churches exploding with gold, imperial ruins with enough marble to tile your whole apartment block, and palazzos filled with frescoes. But Casa Balla is something else entirely.

Hidden inside an ordinary 1930s apartment building near the Prati neighborhood, it’s the former home of Giacomo Balla, one of the loudest voices in Italian Futurism, and he treated his apartment the same way he treated his canvases: like a manifesto. Walls, furniture, doors, even the coat hooks—everything is part of the artwork.

The apartment only reopened to the public recently, and booking a visit takes some planning as there are limited slots, and it fills up fast. But once you’re inside, you understand why. It’s small but bold, immersive, and so strange that it instantly becomes one of the most memorable things you can do in Rome.

So here’s what it’s actually like to step inside.

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Getting In: Where Casa Balla Is and How to Book a Visit

It’s not easy to stumble across Casa Balla. It’s tucked behind a green metal gate on Via Oslavia 39B, in a quiet residential corner close to Piazzale Clodio, technically central, but definitely not in any tourist loop. There’s no sign, no ticket booth, no street-side hint that you’re about to enter one of the most surreal domestic spaces in Italy.

Visits are by reservation only, and availability is limited. The apartment is managed by MAXXI –Museum, and booking is done through their site: casaballa.maxxi.art. Tickets open in blocks, and tours run in small groups, often with a short waiting list. Don’t expect to book for tomorrow.

When it’s time for your visit, a MAXXI staff member will meet you outside the entrance gate. There are no signs, so if you’re unsure whether you’re in the right spot like I was, just wait—you are. The apartment is on the fourth floor, and while there is an elevator, it’s reserved for residents. If you have accessibility needs, it’s best to contact MAXXI in advance to make arrangements.

Tours are 45 minutes long and are led by guides (mine was sharp, passionate, and delightfully Roman). The space is dense with detail, and walking through it without context would be like trying to read a manifesto in the dark.

Stepping Inside: An Apartment Turned Artwork

The front door opens, and for a solid three seconds I have no idea what I’m looking at. It’s an apartment, technically, but it also feels like I’ve been dropped into a Futurist hallucination mid-scene. There’s no easing into it.

The place is small: four rooms, a corridor, a kitchen the size of a walk-in closet, and a bathroom that looks like it was decorated by someone high on geometry and primary colors. But every single surface is doing the most. The floor is painted. The ceilings are patterned. Even the light is loud.

The guide tells us Balla didn’t want to move here. He was forced out of his previous apartment in the Parioli district, which he considered his true masterpiece. This one, he approached like a challenge: a smaller, less prestigious space that he turned into a total work of art. And he didn’t do it alone. His wife Elisa and two daughters Luce and Elica lived here too, and they contributed constantly. He’d design, they’d paint. He’d sketch, they’d help build. This was a fully immersive family project that blurred every line between art, design, and daily life.

What to Look At (Besides Everything)

There’s no real “start” or “end” to Casa Balla, it’s more like walking through someone’s creative nervous system. Fortunately, the guides walk you through it, room by room, pointing out the logic hidden inside the overload, and a few pieces stand out in the chaos.

In the living room, one canvas kept pulling me in: Espansione Fiore n.17, painted around 1929. The guide explained it was originally meant to cover a space in the corridor where water pipes passed, a practical fix disguised as an explosion of form. It’s now hung in the living room, near the window. A square of geometric energy in red, blue, and green that looks like it’s folding in on itself, or blooming, or maybe both.

Right next to it are light sculptures that look like they were built from leftovers and imagination, some made of wire, others of folded colored paper. Balla called them luminatorie. They hang low, or stick out from walls at weird angles, some cast dramatic shadows, others just float.

The bathroom is one of the most photographed spaces in the house, but the photos don’t do it justice. It’s painted from floor to ceiling in primary colors and when you’re inside, even the mirror seems to reflect in code.

In the bedrooms, things shift. You start to feel the people behind the design. Elica’s room is loud, warm-toned, full of angular furniture and strong diagonals. Luce’s room is quieter, more contained, with pastel blues, cleaner lines, more vertical movement. The rooms are basically character studies.

And the corridor itself, lined with drawings, studies, sketches, clothing—some by Balla, others by his daughters Luce and Elica. None of it is behind glass. It feels lived-in. Like the conversation is still happening.

Why You Should Visit Casa Balla

Giacomo Balla was a pivotal figure in the Italian Futurist movement for his exploration of light, movement, and speed in art. Unlike some of his contemporaries, Balla’s work often leaned towards the whimsical and lyrical, emphasizing the sensations of modern life without glorifying machinery or violence Casa Balla stands as a testament to this artistic philosophy. It’s an embodiment of Futurist ideals, where art and family life seamlessly intertwine, and every element reflects Balla’s commitment to integrating that concept into daily existence.​

The significance of preserving and visiting artist homes like Casa Balla lies in their ability to offer very intimate insights into the creators’ lives and processes and experience the environments that inspired their work. And in a city like Rome that is steeped in historical grandeur, Casa Balla stands out as something refreshingly different—still off the radar for most, and one of the few places where you can genuinely say you’ve seen something no one else has.

It’s a true hidden gem for anyone who cares about art, design, or just seeing how far a home can be pushed when it becomes a manifesto.

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