TEMPLE OF THE SUN

TEMPIO DEL SOLE
Piazza S. Silvestro/Via del Corso

Built for Aurelian (270/275) between the current Piazza S. Silvestro and Via del Corso
Nothing is left to be seen

Nearby there were:
CASTRA URBANA
Barracks for about 1,500 soldiers with the job of keeping public order under the command of the Praefectus Urbi. Their number was increased to about 2,000 at the end of the first century AD

FORUM SUARIUM
Market of pork meat

Sts. AMBROSE AND CHARLES ON THE CORSO

SS. AMBROGIO E CARLO AL CORSO
Via del Corso 437

It replaced S. Nicola de Tofo national Church of the Lombards since 1471

Work began in 1612 with Onorio Longhi (1568/1619), after the canonization of St. Charles Borromeo in 1610, and continued from 1619, the year of the death of Onorio Longhi, until 1640 with his son Martino Longhi the Younger (1602/60)
Works finished in the years 1668/69 with Pietro Berrettini aka Pietro da Cortona (1597/1669) who designed the apse, the dome and the stuccos in the interior

FAÇADE
1682/84 G.B. Menicucci and Fra Mario da Canepina from a project of Cardinal Luigi Omodei
The construction of the church took therefore 72 years

In the PIAZZA AUGUSTO IMPERATORE behind the church, at the sides of the APSE, gigantic statues “St. Ambrose” by Arturo Dazzi (1881/1966) and “St. Charles Borromeo” by Attilio Selva (1888/1970)

The church is not aligned with Via del Corso because it followed the alignment of the ancient church of St. Nicholas: it originally faced a small square and buildings that used to separate the church from the Via Lata (now Via del Corso)

“The apse was not created to be seen in an open space, which followed the demolition implemented in 1936/40 for the isolation of the Mausoleum of Augustus, but it once stood with its dome at the bottom among the small streets and alleys typical of the urban fabric of Roman Baroque” (Simonetta Ceccarelli)

Seat of the Confraternity of the Lombard Nation

STUCCOS by Cosimo Fancelli (1620/88) and his brother Giacomo Antonio Fancelli (1619/71), designed by Pietro da Cortona

CENTRAL NAVE “The Fall of the Rebel Angels” 1677/79, PENDENTIVES “Evangelists” 1671/72, VAULT, TRANSEPT and PRESBITERY “Glory of St. Charles” 1677, APSE “St. Charles and the plague” all works by Giacinto Brandi (1621/91)

NICHES OF THE NAVES AND OF THE DEAMBULATORY
“Ten plaster statues of saints” 1677/82 masterpiece by Francesco Cavallini (known since 1672/1703)

“These statues were the largest commission of this clever decorator; they are of unequal value and overall show a close affinity with the style of the turbulent Ercole Antonio Raggi. Cavallini did not learn, however, neither from Raggi nor from Ferrata: he was a disciple of Cosimo Fancelli the most important brother of Giacomo Antonio” (Rudolf Wittkower)

“Monochrome and fake stucco” 1677/80 by Paolo Brozzi

CEILINGS OF THE NAVES AND OF THE DEAMBULATORY
ELEVEN FRESCOS painted in the years 1678/81

From right:
“Temperance” by Paolo Albertoni (about 1670/after 1695)
“Justice, Peace, Law and Truth” by Girolamo Troppa (1630/after 1710)
“Religion, Fortress, Purity and Chastity” by G.B. Beinaschi (1638/88)
“Devotion” by Carlo Ascensi
“Humility, Prayer, Perfection and Fortitude” by G.B. Boncuore
“Glory of Angels” by Luigi Garzi (1638/1721) a pupil of Andrea Sacchi, later influenced by Carlo Maratta
It is behind the altar in the opposite direction to the others because it had to be visible through the arch closed later by the painting by Maratta
“Vigilance” by Ludovico Gimignani (1643/97)
“Patience, Tolerance and Discretion” by Fabrizio Chiari (about 1615/95)
“Faith” by Luigi Garzi (1638/1721)
“Charity” by Francesco Rosa (known since 1674/d. 1687)
“Hope and Truth” by Pio Paolini

1^st CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT
“Christ and Sts. Ambrose and Charles” maybe by Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli aka Morazzone (1573/1626)

2^nd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE VIRGIN MARY AUXILIUM CHRISTIANORUM (Help of Christians)
Altar piece with the same of the chapel painted in the nineteenth century

3^rd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE HOLY FAMILY
On the left “Madonna with St. Francis” by Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli aka Morazzone

RIGHT TRANSEPT - ALTAR OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
1769 maybe by Paolo Posi (1708/76) with a copy in mosaic of the altar piece “Immaculate Conception” by Carlo Maratta in the Cybo Chapel in S. Maria del Popolo
On the side statues: on the left “David” by André Jean Lebrun and on the right “Judith” by Pietro Pacilli (1716/after 1769)

MAIN ALTAR
“Glory of Sts. Ambrose and Charles with St. Sebastian, Virgin Mary and the Redeemer” 1685/90 by Carlo Maratta (1625/1713) restored after a fire in 1831 by Vincenzo Camuccini (1771/1844)

DEAMBULATORY
Unique in Rome, evidently inspired by the Duomo of Milan: in a niche behind the altar there is the heart of St. Charles Borromeo
Above there is a banner with “St. Charles in adoration of the Virgin Mary and Child” by an artist of the school of Giacinto Brandi

LEFT TRANSEPT 
“Altar of the Most Holy” 1929 by Cesare Bazzani (1873/1939) which imitates the opposite transept
Altar piece “The Lord and praying angels” 1632 by Tommaso Donini (or Luini) aka Caravaggino (1601/37)
On the sides statues “Religion” by Eugenio Maccagnani (1852/1930) and “Faith” by Guido Galli (1873/?)

3^rd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. OLAV
1893 with painting of the Norwegian king saint “St. Olav” by the Polish Pius Welonski
On the left “Agony in the Garden” by Pasquale Rossi
On the right “Holy Family” by Cristoforo Roncalli aka Pomarancio (1552/1626)

2^nd LEFT - CHAPEL OF S. FILIPPO NERI
Paintings on the sides: on the left “Communion of St. Stanislaus Kotska” and on the right “St. Aloysius Gonzaga among the lepers” by Giacomo Zoboli (1681/1767)

1^st CHAPEL ON THE LEFT
Above the altar “Preaching of St. Barnabas” by Pier Francesco Mola (1612/66)

ANTICHAMBER OF THE SACRISTY
“Crucifixion” by Guillaume Courtois aka Borgognone (1628/79)

LARGE SACRISTY
“St. Ambrose and two deacons” by Tommaso Donini (or Luini) aka Caravaggino (1601/37)
Above the doors “Marble busts of the Cardinal Omodei and Cardinal D'Adda” by Agostino Cornacchini (1683/1740)

ORATORY OF St. AMBROSE
Sculptures “Deposition” and two “Sibyls” about 1583 by Tommaso Della Porta (about 1550/1606)

St. MARY ON VIA LATA

S. MARIA IN VIA LATA

Via del Corso 306

Founded, according to tradition, in the seventh century as a diaconia in the six quadrilateral rooms built, at the time of emperor Hadrian (117/138 AD) and at the beginning of the third century AD

The six rooms included the large PORTICO of the first century AD, with vaulted ceilings 10 m (33 feet) high, which continues at the side of Via del Corso under Palazzo Doria Pamphilj

A diaconia was an establishment for the care of the poor and distribution of the church's charity in the Middle Ages

Mentioned in the sources for the first time in the year 806

An upper church was built in 1049

Demolished and rebuilt in the years 1491/1506 for Pope Innocent VIII Cybo (1484/92) and, later, for Julius II Della Rovere (1503/13)

BELL TOWER

1580 Martino Longhi the Elder (1534/91)

FAÇADE

1658/62 masterpiece by Pietro Berrettini aka Pietro da Cortona (1597/1669) for Alexander VII Chigi (1655/67)

“The classicizing tendencies already apparent in the simple Doric style of S. Maria della Pace, grow stronger here, while the complexity of Sts. Luke and Martina seems to have been reduced to the crystal clarity of some recurrent themes” (Rudolf Wittkower)

“The building offers multiple views: from the front, with the leading the rhythm of the columns inserted in the predominantly flat façade, laterally, with the depth in foreshortening view of portico and loggia. In both cases you have vigorous contrasts of light and shadow; his interest for Venetian art prompts Pietro da Cortona to conceive the façade not only as a plastic entity, but as a coloristic one” (Giulio Carlo Argan)

“For the façade of the church of S. Maria in Via Lata (...), Pietro da Cortona had to give up a scenic architectural style as well as a bend of the façade. It gives the impression of a severe and monumental classicism, with two floors of Corinthian colonnades divided by a heavy entablature and framed by a wall with pilasters. In the motif of the arch in the upper floor, which interrupts the entablature and fits into a triangular pediment, Cortona was obviously inspired by the examples of Hellenistic and late Roman architecture (Baalbek, Split, etc.)” (Giuliano Briganti - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

In the ENTRANCE relief “Virgin Mary” by Cosimo Fancelli (1620/88)

INTERIOR completely renovated for the Holy Year of 1650 by Cosimo Fanzago (1591/1678)

Restoration 1863 Salvatore Bianchi (1821/84)

“Twelve ancient columns of cipolin marble” coated with Sicilian jasper

CEILING

Made out of wood with coffers painted, renovated in 1863 for Pius IX Mastai-Ferretti (1846/78) with “Coronation of the Virgin Mary” by Giacinto Brandi (1621/91) and illusionistic perspective painted by Viviano Codazzi (1604/70)

COUNTER FAÇADE

Oval “Baptism of Jesus” by Agostino Masucci (1691/1758)

In the church there are ten more ovals with “Stories of the Virgin Mary and Christ” 1720/40 by Agostino Masucci, Pietro de Pietri (1663/1716), Giovanni Domenico Piastrini (1678/1740)

The organ dates back to 1652

1^st RIGHT - ALTAR OF St. ANDREW

Maybe by Bernardo Borromini, Francesco Borromini's nephew

Above the altar “Martyrdom of St. Andrew” about 1685 by Giacinto Brandi

2^nd RIGHT - ALTAR OF St. JOSEPH

Above the altar “St. Joseph and Sts. Nicholas and Blaise” about 1686 by Giuseppe Ghezzi (1634/1721)

CHAPEL TO THE RIGHT OF THE APSE (Sacrament and Crucifix)

1716 by Domenico Paradisi (active in the first half of the eighteenth century) for G.B. Pamphilj

“Ciborium of alabaster and lapis lazuli” by Domenico Paradisi

On the right “Funerary monument of the painter Drouais” 1789 by Claude Michaillon (1751/99)

“The monument is important evidence of the severe artistic taste that was forming among the youth of the Académie de France, and that had already conducted, a few years before, to the early masterpieces by David. The typology of the ancient stele, tested here is the premise of some of the most important novelties by Canova, who much admired this work” (Francesca Aloisi)

On the left “Monument to Pope Pius IX” 1871 by Ignazio Jacometti (1819/83)

MAIN ALTAR

1636/43 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680) who used about twenty different types of marble and gilded bronze for Francesco D'Aste who wanted to have here the graves of his father G.B. D'Aste on the left by Giuliano Finelli (1602/53) and of his mother Clarice Margana on the right by Andrea Bolgi (1606/56)

Above the altar “Madonna Advocata” painted on board in about 1175, formerly believed to have been painted by St. Luke himself

In the apsidal basin “Assumption” by Andrea Camassei (1602/49) repainted in the nineteenth century

“Wooden Choir” 1628

CHAPEL TO THE LEFT OF THE APSE (Sts. Catherine and Cyriacus of Ancona)

Designed by Domenico Paradisi

Above the altar “Madonna and Child with Sts. Catherine and Cyriacus of Ancona” by Giovanni Odazzi (1663/1731)

Traces of cosmatesque floor

“Tomb of Joseph Napoleon Bonaparte”, Napoleon's brother, by G. Tombini and “Tomb of Zenaide Bonaparte”, nephew of Napoleon, with bust by Pietro Tenerani (1789/1869)

“Monument of the poet Antonio Tebaldeo, d. 1537” 1776

2^nd LEFT - ALTAR OF St. PAUL

Above the altar “St. Paul baptizes St. Sabina and her children” about 1726 by Pier Leone Ghezzi (1674/1755)

1^st LEFT - ALTAR OF St. LAWRENCE

Altarpiece “Madonna and Sts. Anthony of Padua, Lawrence, Praxedes and Venancio” by Pietro de Pietri (1663/1716)

ROOM CLOSE TO THE SACRISTY

Terracotta relief “Holy Family” by Cosimo Fancelli (1620/88)

“Crucifixion” maybe by Ciro Ferri (1634/89) copy from the original by Pietro da Cortona in S. Thomas of Villanova in the city of Castel Gandolfo

SACRISTY

Vault “Assumption” 1733 by Michelangelo Cerruti (1663/1748)

UNDERGROUND ROOMS

Six quadrangular rooms of the time of emperor Hadrian (117/138), five of which were rearranged by Pietro Berrettini aka Pietro da Cortona in the years 1658/61:

Two frescoes of his school in the stairwells

“Monument to Atanasio Ridolfi” in the vestibule of his own design

High relief “Sts. Peter, Paul, Martial, and Luke” by Cosimo Fancelli

Cosmatesque ornamentation of the thirteenth century on a railing

The paintings of the beginning of the seventh century that were found here are now in the Balbi Crypt

According to an ancient tradition, these rooms were one of the Roman houses where St. Paul stayed and St. Luke would have also lived here

PORTICO OF VIPSANIA

PORTICUS VIPSANIA

Via del Corso

It stood on the right side going north of the ancient Via Lata (now Via del Corso) immediately south of the arches of the Aqua Virgo, in the area where the Galleria Sciarra is today

It was designed by Agrippa, begun by his sister Vipsania Polla, after whom it was named and finished by Augustus (27 BC/14 AD)

Agrippa had a great map of the empire (orbis pictus) exhibited in the building

It was adjacent to the CATABULUM (in the area where now is the church of S. Marcello) headquarters of the organization of public transport

It was maybe the CENTRAL OFFICE OF THE CURSUS PUBLICUS or the Imperial Post, which was used to cover in emergency up to 250 km (155 miles) per day (the normal average was 40 km - 25 miles - per day) using the stations for the exchange horses placed along the Roman roads

It is estimated that the Roman road network covered, in its entirety, about 80,000 km (50,000 miles), equivalent to about twice the circumference of the Earth

VEROSPI PALACE

PALAZZO VEROSPI

Via del Corso 374

In 1565 the Verospi family bought a house and later the building was expanded and renovated by Girolamo Rainaldi (1570/1655)

Completed in about 1610 by Onorio Longhi (1568/1619) who made courtyard, loggia and gallery

Restored at the beginning of the eighteenth century by Alessandro Specchi (1668/1729)

At the end of 1800s it was raised of one floor

On the front there is a plaque commemorating the stay of Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792/1822)

The palace belonged in the nineteenth century to the Torlonia family and since 1902 it belongs to the Italian bank CREDITO ITALIANO (now Unicredit)

LOGGIA

Frescos “Apollo and the Gods of Mount Olympus” 1607/08 spectacular masterpiece by Francesco Albani (1578/1660) for Cardinal Fabrizio Verospi

“The feverish knowledge of the almost mythical, to him, Raphael is transformed, because of the obvious imitation of compositional scheme, in the decoration of the gallery of Palazzo Verospi. Francesco Albani there follows the partition wall and the same scenes from the Loggia of Raphael in the Farnesina Villa. But the center rectangle of the vault (between Hesperus and Lucifer, Apollo goes from Spring and Summer to Autumn and Winter to signify the Allegory of Time) is a newer and yet nostalgic temptation to be returned to the ancient flavor of a Hellenistic cameo. Precious memories of culture and classical ardor, steeped in the absolute modernity of a new landscape” (Antonio Boschetto - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

SCIARRA PALACE

PALAZZO SCIARRA

Via del Corso 239

Reconstruction as a palace of the homes of the Colonna family, of which the Sciarra constitute a branch

The palace was called Palazzo Sciarra in honor of Sciarra Colonna, who gave the famous “slap” of Anagni in 1303 to Pope Boniface VIII (1294/1303)

Reconstruction began after 1550, continued in 1610 maybe with Flaminio Ponzio (1560/1613) and ended in about 1641 with Orazio Torriani (about 1601/about 1657)

Library 1745 by Luigi Vanvitelli (1700/73) who restored also other rooms for Cardinal Prospero Colonna

Restoration in the years 1875/82 by Francesco Settimj (active 1875/88) and 1882/95 by Giulio De Angelis (1850/1906) who also built in the block of the building the Teatro Quirino (it had originally built in wood in 1871) the first theater of united Italy and the Galleria Sciarra

Giulio De Angelis reduced considerably the size of the building with the opening of Via Minghetti and the construction of theater and gallery

Beautiful PORTAL 1641 by Orazio Torriani which, according to popular tradition, was carved from a single huge block of marble

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was considered one of the four wonders of the city with Palazzo Farnese, Palazzo Borghese and the Caetani Staircase in Palazzo Ruspoli

In 2010 the work of restoration of the interior finished. It was sponsored by the FONDAZIONE ROMA (Rome Foundation), which has its headquarters in the building and made it home to temporary exhibitions with the nearby Palazzo della Cassa di Risparmio di Roma also called Palazzo Cipolla

The Rome Foundation has a permanent art collection in the palace with many important works ranging from the fifteenth century to present day. Most of the works have a close connection, for the subject or for the artists responsible for them, with the city of Rome, the focus of the activity of the foundation

Among the masterpieces:

 Tempera on wood “Imago Pietatis” about 1480/82 maybe by Piermatteo Lauro Manfredo aka Piermatteo d'Amelia (1446-48/about 1506)

“The attribution to the painter from Amelia is supported by iconographic and stylistic comparison with works of different nature, but of the same subject, in Orvieto and Terni. (...) This Christ shows, in the exquisitely linearity that pervades it, the close relationship with Florentine culture, to which refers indirectly also the clear luminosity similar to the one of Piero Della Francesca and the strong geometric presence of the uncovered tomb, which is the only spacial element of the work. (...) The strong plastic emphasis seems to prove the progressive approach of the artist towards Antoniazzo Romano, with whom he worked closely in the second half of the eighties in Rome” (Laura Auciello)

Oil on board “Pieta” by Marcello Venusti (about 1512/79)

Oil painting “Madonna reading and Child with Sts. Elizabeth and John the Baptist” by Francesco de' Rossi aka Francesco Salviati (1510/63)

Oil on canvas “Moses frees the daughters of Jethro” by Ciro Ferri (1634/89)

Oil on wood “Madonna and Child enthroned with the Archangels Michael and Raphael” by Angelo Caroselli (1585/1652)

“The oldest sources document in the biography of the artist, his outstanding erotic inclinations: “He was very dedicated... to love... He painted with great assiduity, and delight, when surrounded by vague maidens was flattered by some sweet sight...” (Passeri) (...) It is interesting to examine his overwhelming production (...) of works for private buyers, partly still on the antiquities market, painted in fifty years of activity. They attest to a plurality of interests and to an eclectic background that would associate Caroselli to the naturalists of the third decade (Valentin, Régnier, Paolini), or to Venetian models, or even to the formal paradigms of the painters from Bologna (Annibale Carracci, Domenichino). An explicit archaic will determines in some of his most beautiful works (Madonna enthroned with the Archangels Michael and Raphael) an impressive neo-Renaissance scheme (the references are to Piero Della Francesca, Bronzino, Allori, to the sixteenth century Venetian painters), as a conscious attitude of rejection and failure against the triumphant baroque absolutism” (Anna Ottani Cavina - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

Oil on canvas “Achilles meets Teti near the Centaur Chiron” by Bernardino Cesari (1571/1622) brother of the Cavalier d'Arpino

Oil on canvas “Landscape with Roman ruins” by the Flemish Willem Van Nieulandt II (1584/1635)

Oil on canvas “Landscape with idealized view of Rome” by the Flemish who settled in Rome Jan Frans van Bloemen aka Orizzonte (1662/1749)

Two oils on canvas “View of St. Peter's Square” and “View of Monte Cavallo” by Giovanni Paolo Pannini (1691/1765)

Oil on canvas “Portrait of Giacinta Orsini Boncompagni Ludovisi” by the great Pompeo Batoni (1708/87)

Oil on canvas “Start of the race of Berbers in Piazza del Popolo” by the English Thomas Jones Barker (1813/82)

There are also works of the twentieth century:

“Cabins in the Pontine Marshes” by Onorato Carlandi (1848/1939)

“Pollarole (Fight of commoners)” by Alberto Ziveri (1908/90)

“Training in Parioli” by Ferruccio Ferrazzi (1891/1978)

“Hunting the Tiger I” and “Hunting the Tiger II” by Marino Mazzacurati (1907/69)

“Lungotevere Ripetta” and “S. Giorgio in Velabro” by Francesco Trombadori (1886/1961)

Bronze sculpture “Twentieth Century” by Arnaldo Pomodoro (1926)

“Allstars” by Mario Schifano (1934/98)

“The room unvoiced” by Emilio Tadini (1927/2002)

“Mirror” by Enrico Baj (1924/2003)

“Michelangelo” Tano Festa (1938/88)

MELLINI PALACE

PALAZZO MELLINI

Via del Corso 249/252

The original building dates back to the fifteenth century

It belonged to Cardinal Michiel, nephew of Pope Paul II Barbo (1464/71). The cardinal is buried in the nearby church of S. Marcello and was poisoned in 1503 by Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI Borgia (1492/1503)

In 1532 the building was sold to the Salviati family and at the beginning of 1600 to the Cesi family. It is therefore also known as MICHIEL SALVIATI CESI MELLINI PALACE

Restructured in 1700 by Tommaso De Marchis (1693/1759) who was also the architect of the renovation and the façade of the church of S. Alessio

Restored 1913/19 by Cesare Bazzani (1873/1939) who also made the façade on the Piazza di S. Marcello al Corso

It is owned by the BANCA DI ROMA and there is a project to convert it into a luxury hotel

MARIGNOLI PALACE

PALAZZO MARIGNOLI

Via del Corso 184

1874/83 Salvatore Bianchi (1821/84)

FAÇADE ON VIA DEL CORSO 1888 Giulio Podesti (1857/1909) after the palace was moved back for the expansion of Via del Corso

Here the ARAGNO CAFÈ was established and became a meeting place for writers and journalists

It is the seat of the Riunione Adriatica di Sicurtà or the insurance company Allianz-RAS

MANCINI PALACE

PALAZZO MANCINI

Via del Corso 270-272

1662 Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91) for Filippo Giuliano Mazzarino Mancini Duke of Nevers and continued until 1690 by Sebastiano Cipriani (about 1660/1740)

Formerly known as Palazzo Salviati is now owned by the Bank of Sicily

Paolo Mancini and his wife Victoria Capocci established here the Academy of Humorists, a meeting place for artists and intellectuals, including G.B. Marino

In 1725 it was bought by the king of France, Louis XV, and was until 1803 the seat of the FRENCH ACADEMY, the most prestigious art school at the time, before it was moved to Villa Medici

The Academy was known as the only public place where it was possible to carry out studies of live nudes, in a period when strict decency was required especially in works commissioned by the papal state

In the GALLERY, a large hall with a barrel vault of 17 m (56 feet) in 1769 students of the French Academy practiced copying into detail the paintings of Raphael in the Vatican Loggia

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 THE ITALIAN COMMERCIAL BANK

PALAZZO DELLA BANCA COMMERCIALE ITALIANA

Via del Corso 226

1916/27 designed by the Milanese Luca Beltrami (1854/1933) who was also the architect of the Vatican Pinacoteca and the restorer of important buildings such as Palazzo Marino and the Torre del Filarete of the Castello Sforzesco in Milan as well as the Bell Tower in Piazza S. Marco in Venice

The project by Beltrami was executed under the direction of Marcello Piacentini (1881/1960)

The seventeenth century Palazzo Lanci Bonaccorsi was demolished to build the palace

DE CAROLIS PALACE

PALAZZO DE CAROLIS

Via del Corso 307

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)