PALAZZO BONCOMPAGNI
1886/90 Gaetano Koch
(1849/1910) for Rodolfo Boncompagni Ludovisi after the Boncompagni Ludovisi
Palace in Piazza Colonna had been destroyed
Also known
as Palazzo Piombino for the principality of Piombino in Tuscany
belonging to the Boncompagni Ludovisi family or as Palazzo Margherita
because it was the residence of Queen Margherita of Savoy, mother of King
Victor Emmanuel III
She lived
here after the death in 1900 of her husband and cousin King Umberto I (sovereign
of Italy from 1878 to 1900) until 1924
The Savoy
family had bought the palace from the Boncompagni Ludovisi in financial
difficulties
On the
occasion of a visit of Queen Margherita of Savoy in Naples, the Neapolitan
pizza makers invented PIZZA MARGHERITA with the colors of the Italian flag:
mozzarella for white, tomato for red and basil for green
It is the
seat of the U.S. embassy since 1931
At the
center of the hall “Nude Venus” by the Flemish sculptor Jean Boulogne aka Giambologna (1529/1608)
“The
building, in eclectic mold, is the result of the research project of Koch, who
experiences a form of abstract neoclassicism, derived from the work of
Sangallo, where the architectural elements of classical derivation are subject
to an intensive work of figurative simplification” (Giorgio Muratore)
Palazzo
Grande di Villa Ludovisi
Great Palace of Villa Ludovisi
Incorporated
and leaning against the back of Palazzo Boncompagni
Beginning
1600, maybe by Carlo Maderno (1556/1629) or
Domenico Zampieri aka Domenichino (1581/1641)
for Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi nephew of Gregory XV Ludovisi (1621/23)
