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
