Saturday, March 19, 2016

BONAPARTE D'ASTE PALACE

PALAZZO BONAPARTE D'ASTE

1658/65 Giovanni Antonio De Rossi (1616/95) for Giuseppe and Benedetto D'Aste
“Only the Borromini-inspired rounded corners and the pure, unorthodox arrangement in three rows, which includes the four sides are mildly progressive. All the decorations, including the curved pediments of the windows, are quite simple. Confidentiality and an immaculate sense of proportion are the virtues of this style. The intelligent fusion carried out by Rossi of the decorative details inspired by Pietro da Cortona and Francesco Borromini and the transformation of this into a personal idiom relatively light and pleasant foretold his important part in the development of the architecture of the eighteenth century” (Rudolf Wittkower)
In 1760 it was sold to the Marquis Ranuccini of Florence
From 1818 it belonged to Letizia Bonaparte, Napoleon's mother, who lived and died here in 1836
She notoriously used to peep through the famous corner balcony, known in Italian as mignano
In 1972 it became the property of the Assicurazioni d'Italia (Insurance of Italy)

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