Palazzo Rusticucci-Accoramboni

Coordinates: 41°54′9.70″N 12°27′36.00″E / 41.9026944°N 12.4600000°E / 41.9026944; 12.4600000
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Palazzo Rusticucci-Accoramboni
The building's main facade along Via della Conciliazione
Map
General information
LocationRome, Italy
Coordinates41°54′9.70″N 12°27′36.00″E / 41.9026944°N 12.4600000°E / 41.9026944; 12.4600000

The Palazzo Rusticucci-Accoramboni (also known as Palazzo Rusticucci or Palazzo Accoramboni) is a reconstructed late

St Peter's Basilica and the Vatican City
to the center of Rome.

Location

Original position of palazzo Rusticucci (n. 1308), the second building east of the northern Colonnade of St. Peter, from Nuova Topografia di Roma by Giambattista Nolli (1748)

The palace is located in the

Saint Peter's Square. The north side of the building borders two other reconstructed Renaissance edifices of Borgo: the Palazzo Jacopo da Brescia and the house of the physician of Paul III.[2]

History

Renaissance and baroque

Cardinal Girolamo Rusticucci, first owner of the palace
The rear side of Palazzo Rusticucci (the building in the background with rusticated portal) seen from Vicolo del Farinone, with the Passetto di Borgo in the foreground, before the demolition of the neighborhood (ca. 1930). The coat of arms above the arch belongs to Pope Pius V Medici (r. 1566–72)

Innocent IX (r. Oct.-Dec. 1591), could not win the favor of Pope Clement VIII (r. 1592–1605), the task was finished by his nephew Carlo Maderno.[5][6]
It is also worth noticing that in the early 16th century one of the houses which predated the palace hosted an osteria.[7] In the late 1510s Raphael, at that time painting the Vatican loggias, often had lunch together with his aides in a rear room of that eatery.[7] The artists often discussed work problems during lunch, sketching different solutions on the walls of the room.[7] When the palace was built, the osteria remained in place, and the owners always took care of the walls of that room throughout the years.[7]

Around 1630 the palace housed for a brief time the Collegio Nazareno, one of the oldest schools in Rome, founded in those years by Joseph Calasanz, and presently in Via del Bufalo, in Trevi rione.[6]

After that, the Rusticucci's heirs sold the building to Mario Accoramboni, member of a family of lesser nobility which had emigrated from the umbrian town of Gubbio to Rome.[6][8] Exponents of the family acquired a high rank in the church and in the city: Ottavio was bishop of Fossombrone and Urbino, Roberto vicelegato at Ferrara, and during the epidemic of 1657, the owner of the palace, Roberto Accoramboni, received the task (personally given by Pope Alexander VII) of defending Borgo from the plague.[9][6] In 1667, the erection of the Colonnades of St. Peter's square by Gian Lorenzo Bernini made it necessary to demolish the last block of houses ("isola") in front of the new square, situated between the roads of Borgo Vecchio and Borgo Nuovo: this block was named "isola del Priorato", since one of its buildings hosted the Priory of the knights of Rhodes.[10] The demolition created a large new square, which was delimited on the north side by Palazzo Rusticucci.[6] This square, representing the vestibule of Saint Peter's Square, took its name from the building.[6] In 1775 in a shop at the ground floor was founded the "Caffè San Pietro", one of the oldest Coffee Houses in Rome.[6]

Modern age

On 4 March 1902 the palace became the seat of the

Belgian Historical Institute,[11] and after a short time was acquired by the Congregation of Propaganda Fide.[6] In 1940, because of the construction of the Via della Conciliazione, it was demolished[9] and partially rebuilt in the same year with design by Clemente Busiri Vici, exponent of a Roman dynasty of architects.[6][12]

Through the expropriation decrees, the commercial activities in the palace are known: in 1937 two shops were active along Piazza Rusticucci selling religious articles: moreover, the ground floor of the building hosted a tobacconist, a bakery, a pastry shop and a restaurant.[9]

The bakery was originally the aforementioned osteria where Raphael had painted his sketches. Towards the mid-19th century a

Papal Zouave was killed in that eatery, which was shut down by the authorities as a result .[7] When the shop was reopened several years after the capture of Rome on 20 September 1870, hosting first a pizzeria, then the aforementioned bakery, the rooms were renovated, and all the sketches were lost.[7]

Description

Fountain of Palazzo Rusticucci, now kept in the garden of Sant'Alessio

The original building had a harmonious and unadorned prospect, known through Rome's plan by

serliana.[12]

The reconstructed building is shorter, having only 13 windows along its façade,

cornices of the windows and the portal come from the original edifice.[12] The palace as of today (2016) still hosts the "Caffè San Pietro", which has its seat here since its establishment.[6]

A fountain erected in the palace's yard has been moved to the garden lying between the

that of Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill.[15]

References

  1. ^ Castagnoli (1958) p. 419
  2. ^ a b c Gigli (1992), Inside front cover
  3. ^ a b c d e Gigli (1992) p. 86
  4. ^ a b c d Borgatti (1926) p. 231
  5. ^ a b Cambedda (1990) p. 38
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Gigli (1992) p. 88
  7. ^ a b c d e f Borgatti (1926) p. 232
  8. ^ Orioli, Giovanni (1960). "Accoramboni, Mario". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Rome: Treccani. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  9. ^ a b c d e Cambedda (1990) p. 40
  10. ^ Gigli (1992) p. 144
  11. ISSN 1844-2048
    .
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h Gigli (1992) p. 90
  13. ^ Speelberg, Femke. "Antonio Tempesta's View of Rome: Portraying the Baroque Splendor of the Eternal City". www.metmuseum.org. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  14. ^ a b Cambedda (1990) p. 39
  15. ^ "Giardino di S. Alessio". www.sovraintendenzaroma.it (in Italian). Retrieved 9 March 2016.

Sources

External links
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