MAFFEI MARESCOTTI PALACE

PALAZZO MAFFEI MARESCOTTI

Via dei Cestari/Via della Pigna 13a

1580 Giacomo Della Porta (1533/1602) for Cardinal Marcantonio Maffei. The construction was interrupted unfinished in 1601 for the death of the client

It was bought in 1746 by the Marescotti family and transformed maybe​by Ferdinando Fuga (1699/1782)

FAÇADE ON VIA DELLA PIGNA 1865 by Antonio Sarti (1797/1880) for the Bank of the Papal States, which had bought the palace it in that same year

The head office of the bank relocated to the Vatican in 1906 and the building was used for the offices of the Vicariate until 1964

It is now home to Catholic organizations such as Azione Cattolica (Catholic Action)

CHAPEL

Ceiling and frieze painted in the fifteenth century

Seventeenth-century frescoes on the walls

GRAZIOLI PALACE

PALAZZO GRAZIOLI

Via del Plebiscito 102

1646/50 Camillo Arcucci (active from 1646/d. 1667) for the Gottifredi family, a renovation of the original Palazzo Gottifredi by Giacomo Della Porta (1533/1602)

At the beginning of the nineteenth century it belonged to the Ercolani family and it was the home of the ambassador of Austria and of the Infanta of Spain, Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Spain who died here in 1824

FAÇADE ON PIAZZA GRAZIOLI

1863/74 by Antonio Sarti (1797/1880) for the Grazioli family who had recently acquired nobility and had bought the palace in 1824

BALLROOM

“Pomp of the Grazioli family” by Prospero Patti

On the ledge in the corner with Via della Gatta there is a “Marble Cat” from the Iseo Campensis, the temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis which was nearby

A legend says that if one follows the look in the cat's eye, one would find a treasure, but of course no one has ever found anything

The building is leased to Silvio Berlusconi, the greatest destroyer of culture in Italy after World War Two

It is continuously but mistakenly being said that he was voted by the majority of Italians: the data of the Ministry of the Interior, on their official website, clearly state that 13.629.069 Italians voted for him in the elections of 2008. Computed on an electorate of 47,126,326, it constitute a percentage of 29%. Therefore the overwhelming majority of 71% of Italians have not voted for him

PALACE OF THE MANUFACTURE OF TOBACCO

PALAZZO DELLA MANIFATTURA DEI TABACCHI

Piazza Mastai

1859/63 Antonio Sarti (1797/1880) for Pius IX Mastai-Ferretti (1846/78)

Restored in 1927 by Pier Luigi Nervi (1891/1979) for the transformation of the building in the seat of the State Monopolies. A roof for the large room of the selection of tobacco was built

Renovated again in 1958 by Cesare Pascoletti (1898/1986) who demolished the original wings of the building

It is now the seat of the AMMINISTRAZIONE AUTONOMA DEI MONOPOLI DI STATO (Indipendent Administration of the State Monopolies) that, according to the official definition, “controls the public gaming sector in Italy through a constant check on the work of dealers and a targeted action against irregularities. It has in addition the faculty to control the production, distribution and sale of tobacco products and the collection and payment of taxes that burden it”

Just like the popes who speculated in the past on the deadly habit of tobacco, so today the Italian state profit handsomely from the same vice, albeit without monopoly, and gorges itself obscenely of the proceeds of gambling that causes havoc for many families

PALACE OF THE BRITISH EMBASSY

PALAZZO DELL'AMBASCIATA BRITANNICA

Via XX Settembre 80a

1968/71 Basil Spence (1907/76)

The previous Embassy building on this site was the Villa Bracciano of Don Marino Torlonia Duke of Bracciano, who had it rebuilt by Antonio Sarti (1797/1880) after purchasing it in 1825

After its acquisition by the British government in 1870, the Villa Bracciano housed both the residence of the ambassador and the offices of the Registry

On the night of October 31, 1946, the building was damaged so badly it had to be demolished as a result of an explosion caused by the Jewish terrorist group Irgun who wanted to pressure the British government to establish the state of Israel

The bomb killed two unfortunate passersby

ALBERINI PALACE

PALAZZO ALBERINI

Via del Banco di S. Spirito 12

Maybe begun in 1512 by Donato Bramante (1444/1514) with the ground floor

Continued in the years 1515/19 maybe by Giulio Pippi aka Giulio Romano (1499/1546) or Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael) (1483/1520) for Giulio Alberini and leased to the Florentine bankers Bonaccorso Rucellai and Bernardo da Verrazzano

Completed in 1521 by Pietro Rosselli (c.1474/after 1531)

It was later called PALAZZO CICCIAPORCI

Heavily restored for the Calderai family in 1866 by Antonio Sarti (1797/1880)

After a restoration of the Studio Gigli that lasted two years, in 2009 the palace became the HEADQUARTERS OF THE GUCCI FASHION HOUSE

HOTEL PLAZA

HOTEL PLAZA 

Via del Corso 126-128

1834 Antonio Sarti (1797/1880) for the banker Antonio Lozza of whom it was the private palace

In 1860 it became Albergo Roma

In 1907 it changed name to Bertolini's Splendid and in 1930 to Hotel Plaza with a hall refurbished by Armando Brasini (1879/1965)

The composer Pietro Mascagni spent the last years of his life and died here in 1945

HOTEL D'INGHILTERRA

HOTEL D'INGHILTERRA

Via Bocca di Leone 14

1842 Antonio Sarti (1797/1880) for the Torlonia family as a provisional residence, pending the restoration of their newly bought home nearby, in Via Condotti (Palazzo Nuñez Torlonia)

It was soon after used as a guest house to host guests of the Torlonia family, foreign artists and intellectuals

Later it became a regular hotel

ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS

ACCADEMIA DI BELLE ARTI

Via di Ripetta 220/221

1845 Pietro Camporese the Younger (1792/1873) as a residential building

Restored 1861 Antonio Sarti (1797/1880) for the Academy of Fine Arts with the addition of rooms designed specifically for the Free School of Painting of Nude Subjects