Saturday, October 26, 2013

MATTEI FAMILY HOUSES

CASE DEI MATTEI
Built in the fifteenth century over structures of the fourteenth century
Countless restorations, most recently in 1926/27 when Lorenzo Corrado Cesanelli (1898/1965) also redid the side towards Lungotevere degli Anguillara
Original home of the Mattei, a family present in Rome since 1282. For seven centuries they had the task of keeping public order during the periods of the conclave
Their main home was later moved across the Tiber in the so-called Mattei Island
It was the scene of a massacre in 1555 of five members of the family during the marriage of Girolamo and Olimpia Mattei
In some of its rooms there was the notorious Locanda della Sciaquetta one of the Roman favorite whorehouses
A private battalion reporting to the Mattei family consisted of "one hundred foot soldiers with red uniforms" who controlled the bridges and roads to the city

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