HUMBERT THEATER-HALL

TEATRO SALA UMBERTO
Via della Mercede 50

It opened in 1882 in the ground floor of an existing building at the behest of the architect Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911) who commissioned the decoration of the interior to Alessandro Bazzani

Expansion in 1890 by Giulio Podesti (1857/1909). At the time there were 650 seats

It was used for operettas, plays or concerts
The use as a theater for drama or music and as a theater for movies has alternated over the years: in 1913 it was transformed into a cinema by Attilio Spaccarelli (1890/1975)

In 1928 it became a theater for drama again and took the name of SALA UMBERTO in honor of King Umberto I (king of Italy 1878/1900)

From 1930 onwards it was again used as cinema until 1981 when the representations of drama came back again after the restoration
In 1991 it became a cinema again and, since 2002, it has been a theater for auteur comedy with a capacity of 485 seats

St. MARY IN THE CHAPEL

S. MARIA IN CAPPELLA

Piazza di S. Maria in Cappella

1090. It was originally known as S. Maria ad Pineam 

Maybe the name comes from a wrong interpretation of the words que appella in an old inscription

BELL TOWER of the twelfth century

It was restored in the late 1700s and then there was a radical restoration in the years 1880/92 by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911) who rebuilt the façade and restored the aisles

OSPEDALE DEI CRONICI (Hospital for Chronic Illnesses)

Attached to the church, founded in 1391, rebuilt in the years 1857/75 by Andrea Busiri Vici

MIGNANELLI PALACE

PALAZZO MIGNANELLI

Piazza Mignanelli 22

Second half of 1500s by the architect Moschetti, his only work in Rome

FAÇADE completed in 1887 by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911)

It is owned by the PROPAGANDA FIDE INSTITUTE (owned by the Vatican) and is leased to the fashion designer Valentino

DORIA PAMPHILJ PALACE (first part)

PALAZZO DORIA PAMPHILJ

Via del Corso 304

The first small palace was built in mid-fifteenth century for Cardinal Nicolò Acciapacci

Rebuilt in 1505/07 for the Cardinal Giovanni Fazio Santoro who was expelled by Pope Julius II Della Rovere (1503/13) in favor of his nephew, Francesco Maria I Della Rovere

It was bought in 1601 by Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini and expanded

It was brought as a dowry in 1647 by Olimpia Maidalchini to Camillo Pamphilj for whom it was enlarged in 1659 by Antonio Del Grande (about 1625/79) who also designed the TWO FAÇADES ON PIAZZA DEL COLLEGIO ROMANO

“The rhythm adopted is complex and discontinuous: to respect it, taking account of the interior spaces, Del Grande was forced to introduce false windows. The best results are achieved in the details, where, despite giving up substantial innovations, he gave proof of considerable subtleties of interpretation. The most interesting episode however, is the large vestibule, whose oval is divided by two pairs of free columns. (...) The arrangements of the vaults and of the free supports creates a fluid and indeterminate space: the staircase, grafting the vestibule with an oval smaller space, leaves intact the levitation effect, which has no direct precedent in the Roman architecture of the seventeenth century” (Manfredo Tafuri - Biographical Dictionary of Italian Treccani)

FAÇADE ON VIA DEL CORSO 1731/34 masterpiece by Gabriele Valvassori (1683/1761)

“He designed an unprecedented solution for the front main composition. Notwithstanding the Borromini matrix, the undisputed leading role played by the windows, the varied and imaginative forms they take, the wise rhythmic score, the attention to details, make the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj unique in eighteenth-century Roman palace style” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

WING AND FAÇADE ON VIA DEL PLEBISCITO 1739/44 and noble staircase 1748/49 by Paolo Ameli (1739/49)

Latest additions were in 1846 until the end of 1800 including the FAÇADES ON VICOLO DORIA E VIA DELLA GATTA by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911)

PALACE OF MINERVA

PALAZZO DELLA MINERVA

Piazza della Minerva 42

1280/1330 as a convent for the Dominican friars

Rebuilt in 1559 Guidetto Guidetti (about 1498/1564) for Vincenzo Giustiniani general of the Dominicans

Expanded in 1656 by Paolo Marucelli (1594/1649)

It was a seat of the Congregazione del S. Uffizio (Congregation of the Sacred Office), which met here every week and celebrated trials including the one of Galileo Galilei in 1633

In the GALILEAN ROOM the sentence was read and it was here that he abjured his heliocentric ideas immediately after to avoid the death sentence. The famous phrase yet it moves seems not to have any historical foundation

Restructured in 1860 by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911) for Pius IX Mastai-Ferretti (1846/78) who transformed it into the Pontifical College of South America

After 1870, with the adjoining BIBLIOTECA CASANATENSE (Casanatense Library) it was property of the Italian State and it became the headquarters of the Ministry of Education, of Scientific Research and Technology and of the Post Office

Today it houses offices of Members of Parliament

PALACE OF THE APOSTOLIC DATES GIVERS

PALAZZO DELLA DATARIA APOSTOLICA

Via della Dataria 94

End of the sixteenth century for Cardinal Orazio Maffei

1615 renovated for Paul V Borghese (1605/21) when it became the seat of the Dataria Apostolica (Apostolic Date Givers) the office of the Curia who had the task of affixing the date on papal documents

1860/61 rebuilt by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911) for Pius IX Mastai-Ferretti (1846/78)

It was an important center of power with exceptional financial importance: this is where handouts were conceded and where benefits and ecclesiastical roles were assigned

In 1652 the sub-datario Mascambruno, sentenced to death on charges of having forged the signature of Innocent X Pamphilj (1644/55) on some documents, before being beheaded, was conducted in front of the Palazzo della Dataria and here his right hand was cut

The institution was abolished in 1968 by Paul VI Montini (1963/78)

Since 1973 is home to ANSA the main Italian news agency and the fifth in the world

COLONNA PALACE (first part)

PALAZZO COLONNA

Piazza dei Santi Apostoli 66

About 1420/25 for Martin V Colonna (1417/31) the first pope to return permanently to Rome after the exile in Avignon

The palace was the papal seat from 1420 until 1431

It was built over a preexisting castle of the counts Tuscolani dating back to before the year 1000, in turn built on the ruins of the TEMPLE OF SERAPIS, the largest temple in Rome with the Temple of Venus and Rome

Expanded with the GALLERIA COLONNA from about 1650 by Antonio Del Grande (about 1625/79) and then after 1671 by Girolamo Fontana (1668/1701) (nephew of Carlo Fontana)

Partly rebuilt in 1730 by Nicola Michetti (about 1675/1758) who designed the FAÇADES ON PIAZZA Ss. APOSTOLI and PIAZZA IV NOVEMBRE and by Paolo Posi (1708/76) who designed the BACK OF THE PALACE with the BRIDGES that join it with Villa Colonna

Changes to the façade on Via IV Novembre 1879 by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911)

It has belonged to the Colonna family for twenty-three generations

FORMER COFFEE-HAUS

Small Wax Museum with, on the second floor, ROOM WITH OCTAGONAL VAULT and fresco “Fable of Cupid and Psyche” by Antonio Mancini (1852/1930)

ANTONELLI PALACE

PALAZZO ANTONELLI

Largo Magnanapoli 158

Built in the sixteenth century. The exact date and the name of the architect are unknown

Renovated 1854/69 by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911) for Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli, who never actually lived here, preferring his other palace on Via di Monserrato now known as Palazzo Capponi Antonelli

It was used to store the valuable and rare collection of sixteenth century precious stones owned by the family

It was also renovated in 1875 for the opening of Via Nazionale when the garden ended up being wiped out

Now there are offices of the Bank of Italy, which owns the property

At the end of the atrium there is a section of the Servian Wall dating back to 378 BC with an arch of tufa blocks forming part of a room for ballistic catapults

VIA BRUXELLES APARTMENT HOUSE

PALAZZINA DI VIA BRUXELLES

Via Bruxelles 47

1934/35 Andrea Busiri Vici (1903/89), grand-son of the namesake architect Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911)

Interesting architecture with airy terraces in continuous bands

Five-storey building with eleven apartments

The family dynasty of architects Busiri Vici was notable for the enormous amount of work done in Rome and for an attachment to the traditional language of architecture, also due to a type of clients generally not eager to particular stylistic adventures

“This building is perhaps the project where the 'detachment from the times' typical of the Busiri Vicis appears to be less present: its stylistic characters converse in fact fully with the Roman architectural production of the thirties. (...) The typological scheme is organized in so as to eliminate the usual internal small courtyards: the two sets of stairs are in fact well-ventilated and illuminated directly from the covered terraces placed on both sides” (Piero Ostilio Rossi)

HOTEL FLORA

HOTEL FLORA

Via Vittorio Veneto 191

1905/07 Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911) for the wealthy German-Russian Krumngel

In the years 1943/44 it was the headquarters of the Nazi high command

Among the distinguished guests: Prince Maximilian of Bavaria, Richard Nixon, Paul Getty, Christian Barnard, Joan Crawford, Cassius Clay and Federico Fellini

CHURCH OF THE INFANT JESUS

CHIESA DEL BAMBINO GESÙ

Via Urbana 160

1731/36 begun by Carlo Buratti (active from 1694/died after 1734) and completed after his death (1732) by Ferdinando Fuga (1699/1782) for Clement XII Corsini (1730/40) and for the Congregation of the Oblates Nurses of the Holy Child Jesus founded in 1671

Magnificent example of eighteenth-century artistic taste

"Fuga's intervention is recognizable in the attic, crowned with a broken pediment and the cross between two torches. (...) the dome divided into eight segments is by Fuga (...). To Fuga are also attributed the presbytery and perhaps even the design of the elegant balustrade. These addictions introduce a refined contrast between the rational rigor of the architectural form and the looseness decorative of details" (Sandra Suatoni)

Restoration and interior decorations 1882 by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911)

There had been a previous project in the years 1708/10 by the great Alessandro Specchi who had begun working on the convent in 1913 designing the church central in the façade and not to the right as it is now

In the vestibule to the right

CHAPEL OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST

1856 juvenile work by Virginio Vespignani (1808/82) who later would contribute to decorations and refurbishing of many and important Roman churches

"Wooden statue of Jesus of Nazareth" early 1700s

In the niches "Statues of the four Evangelists" Stefano Galletti (1832/1905) pupil of Pietro Tenerani

In the spandrels "Prophets"

In the dome and vaults "Little angels bearing instruments of the Passion"

On the right "The Kiss of Judas" in 1855 and on the left "Flagellation" 1856 all painted by Francesco Grandi (1831/91) a pupil of Tommaso Minardi

"Grandi uses in the Kiss of Judas strong contrasts of light and shadow denoting a breach of the purists modules of his first training towards neo-Baroque" (Sandra Suatoni)

ON THE RIGHT - ALTAR OF St. AUGUSTINE

"St. Augustine triumphs over heresy" 1736 by Domenico Maria Muratori (1661/1742)

"The Emilian Muratori, along with other fellow painters from the same area (Giacomo Zoboli, Aureliano Milani), represented in the eighteenth century Rome a tradition of Bolognese culture, less successful than the prevailing style of the Maratta followers or 'barocchetto' (late baroque) style. This work belongs to the last period of his activity in large part guided by the recovery of the seventeenth-century representative models of Reni and especially Domenichino" (Sandra Suatoni)

MAIN ALTAR

"Adoration of the Shepherds" by an anonymous nineteenth-century artist (maybe G.B. Gagliardi nephew of Pietro Gagliardi) replacing the canvas of the same subject by Marco Benefial, considered one of his masterpieces, removed in 1883 and now kept in a room of the annexed kindergarten

In the vault "Baby Jesus" and in the spandrels of the dome "Four angels with scrolls" G.B. Gagliardi

ON THE LEFT - ALTAR OF S. ANDREA CORSINI

"Apparition of the Virgin to S. Andrea Corsini" 1783 by Giacomo Zoboli (1681/1767) from Modena for Cardinal Neri Corsini

CONVENT

Begun 1713 by Alessandro Specchi (1668/1729), In 1717 Carlo Buratti took over

Completed 1856/58 by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911). The Via Cavour wing was completed in the years 1885/93

The priest PIETRO PAPPAGALLO was the spiritual father of the Oblate Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus here during the Second World War. He gave help and protection to soldiers, partisans and Jews sought by the Nazis and was killed at the Fosse Ardeatine March 24, 1944

His story was revived in the 1945 movie "Roma città aperta" (Rome, open city) by Roberto Rossellini who gave Don Pietro Pappagallo's role to Aldo Fabrizi. Only the scene of his death differs from his history having been inspired by that of Don Giuseppe Morosini shot at Fort Boccea

In 1998 the President of the Republic Ciampi awarded him the gold medal for civil valor. In 2000 John Paul II included him among the martyrs of the church of the twentieth century

A plaque commemorates him to the right of the façade of the church