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 SPAIN

PALAZZO DI SPAGNA

Piazza di Spagna 44

Formerly known as Palazzo Monaldeschi and rented to the Spanish ambassadors

From 1647 is the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See

It was transformed in 1647/55 by Antonio Del Grande (about 1625/79). Maybe he used drawings by Francesco Borromini (1599/1667) to whom a project had been requested in the first place

Borromini couldn’t follow up his project because he was busy doing other works

It was renovated in 1815 by the Spaniard Antonio Celles (1775/1835) who rebuilt the façade

The palace has given its name to the square (Piazza di Spagna) and even to the Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti, Spanish Steps in the English translation, although it would have been more correct to call it French Steps because the staircase was commissioned and paid for by the king of France, Louis XV who so had the square connected to the French church of Trinità dei Monti

ENTRANCE STAIRCASE

Fresco “The keys of Granada” 1898 by A. Ballester

CHAPEL

Vault “Gods of Olympus” by Marco Benefial (1684/1764)

IN THE ROOMS

Extraordinary sculptures “Damned Soul” and “Blessed Soul” 1620 works by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680)

Paintings by Pier Leone Ghezzi (1674/1755), Felice Giani (1758/1823), Liborio Coccetti (1739/1816), Vicente Lopez (1772/1850) and Mario Nuzzi aka Mario de' Fiori (1603/73)

COLONNA PALACE - COLONNA GALLERY (third part)

GALLERIA COLONNA

The collection was put together from 1650 by Cardinal Girolamo I Colonna (his grandfather was Marcantonio II Colonna the victor of Lepanto)

It was continued from 1666 by his nephew Grand Constable Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna and by his son Filippo II Colonna, who inaugurated the gallery in 1703

The building of the gallery was begun in 1654 by Antonio Del Grande (about 1625/79)

A document written by Antonio Del Grande mentions a collaboration with Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680) but the active presence here of the great genius of Baroque art is not otherwise documented

Continued in the years 1693/1703 by Girolamo Fontana (1668/1701)

“It is the most spectacular work designed by Antonio Del Grande in the palace, which was gradually assuming the form of a huge complex with several courtyards, for which only in the eighteenth century, with the intervention first of Nicola Michetti, and then of Paolo Posi, there will be attempts to impose uniformity. The gallery (...) will be finished by Girolamo Fontana, but the wide body, divided into three spaces by two pairs of free Corinthian columns, demonstrates the ability of Del Grande to interpret courtly themes avoiding any rhetorical excess” (Manfredo Tafuri - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

The 210 paintings dating from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century and the about 150 sculptures mostly ancient are shown to the public for one morning a week since the seventeenth century

STAIRS

“Isabella Colonna Salviati” by Pompeo Batoni (1708/87)

Antechamber

“St. Julian Hospitaller” maybe by Pietro Bonaccorsi aka Perin del Vaga (1501/47)

“Christ Crowned with Thorns” by Francesco Trevisani (1656/1746)

“Vision of St. Jerome” by Pier Francesco Mola (1612/66)

“Time steals away beauty” by Giuseppe Cesari aka Cavalier d'Arpino (1568/1640)

“He stands out thanks to a sensibility, become rare, for noble tranquility and grandeur. In contrast to the broken lines of the Zuccaris' school, he loves long lines that runs uninterrupted, with a distinctly melancholy ductus. In line with this approach, in him the modeling of bodies and of drapery does not show, as in his predecessors, the absolute tension toward a strong plastic fullness, but instead something consciously superficial. (...) Even in chiaroscuro, however treated with great care, he does not seek, as it happened for example in the school of Barocci, a surprising effect in patches, but he puts larger areas of well shaded tones alongside each other. Thanks to these qualities, Cavalier d'Arpino's works have an aristocratic touch” (Hermann Voss)

NEW PRISONS

CARCERI NUOVE

Via Giulia 52

1652/55 Antonio Del Grande (about 1625/71) for Innocent X Pamphili (1644/55)

The prison was named "new" to distinguish it from the "old" prisons at Tor di Nona, Savella Court and Borgo

It was used as a prison until 1883 when the prison of Regina Coeli took over. It was then only used for temporary custody and, until 1931, as a prison for minors

Today is home to DIA Anti-Mafia the specially trained investigation department against organized crime

This new prison had a more human and even deliberately reformatory setting with large and healthy rooms and separation between prisoners who were repeat offenders, and less guilty ones. It was a decisive step towards the personal separation carried out in the Institute St. Michael in 1703

It used to house in dignity up to 600 inmates between men and women: enough for a city like Rome with a total population of about 120.000 inhabitants in 1650