1714/24 Alessandro Specchi (1668/1729) for Livio De Carolis
bourgeois scion of a wealthy family of merchants of grain who wanted to build
his palace next to those of the patrician families
The
exorbitant cost of the construction contributed to the ruin of the family who
was forced to put the building up for auction
It passed
in 1750 to the Jesuits who gave it to rent to famous people
It was from
1769 the French Embassy and with Cardinal François-Joachim de Bernis it was the
site of parties and beautiful banquets that gave to the French cardinal the
popular nickname of King of Rome
Later it
belonged to the Simonetti and Boncompagni Ludovisi families
In 1833 the
attic was added and the cornice was modified
The
building belongs since 1908 to the BANCA DI ROMA and it was enlarged and
adapted by Pio Piacentini (1846/1928). He
covered the courtyard that became the hall of the bank and changed some of the
rooms in Art Nouveau style
Wonderful SPIRAL STAIRCASE by Alessandro Specchi
considered one of the wonders of Rome
On the
external left end side “Speaking Statue of a Porter” one of the six of Rome, to which anonymous
messages were posted
It dates
back to the time of Gregory XIII Boncompagni (1572/85) although it is
erroneously attributed by popular tradition to Michelangelo Buonarroti
In the
courtyard there is a cannonball fired by the French in 1849 embedded in the
second floor
The lower
stretch of Via del Collegio Romano was named after Alessandro Specchi only in
1980, an incredible delay in making a toponymic tribute to the gigantic but
unfortunately underestimated Roman architect
“Citing the
close-by Palazzo d'Aste of which it repeats the decorative windows and the
corner solution, perhaps at the suggestion of the client who wanted a house
clearly inspired by the traditional type of mansion” (Paolo Portoghesi)
Rooms of
the first floor with ceilings painted by some of the best painters working in
Rome in the early eighteenth century:
GALLERY
Now used as
a library
“Triptych
Bacchus, Venus and Ceres” by Giuseppe Chiari (1654/1727)
“Diana and
her Companions” by Benedetto Luti (1666/1724)
“Chariot of
Apollo with Aurora and Muses” by Luigi Garzi
(1638/1721)
HALL
OF MINERVA
“Allegory
of caste Love with passionate Love represented by Minerva who takes away Youth
from Venus and give it to Hercules symbol of strength and virtue” and “Venus
and Vulcan” by Francesco Trevisani (1656/1746)
from Istria
“At age 21
he moved to Rome. Here he studied the works of Carraci, was inspired by
Correggio and attended the circle of Carlo Maratta. He had a good success as
the representative of Venetian Rococo style. He produced altarpieces with very
pathetic tones, but he was also appreciated as a very precise portrait painter
and for his vast landscape scenes, which are the background of historical or
mythological events” (Consorzio La Venaria Reale - www.lavenaria.it)
“Allegory
of the arts and wisdom” by Sebastiano Conca
(1680/1764)
“Aurora” by Andrea Procaccini (1671/1734)
More paintings by Domenico Maria
Muratori (1661/1742), Ludovico Mazzanti
(1686/1775) and Giovanni Odazzi (1663/1731)
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