Torlonia
The House of Torlonia is the name of an Italian princely family from
Auvergne region of France
to become a very rich businessman and banker in Rome.
Marino was born with the French name of Marin Torlonias, the son of Antoine Torlonias, a merchant and laborer.Giovanni Torlonia.
Giovanni, in return for his able administration of the Vatican finances, was created
duke of Bracciano[2] and count of Pisciarelli by Pope Pius VI in 1794. In 1803, Pius VII made him marquess of Romavecchia e Turrita and the first prince of Civitella Cesi. He was made, among other titles, a Roman Patrician in 1809, with confirmation from the Pope on 19 January 1813, and the duke of Poli e Guadagnolo in 1820. He was the builder of the Villa Torlonia in Rome, among other Palazzo Torlonia villas. He married Anna Maria Chiaveri née Schultheiss, a widow who came from a family of southern German merchants from the city of Donaueschingen
.
Leopoldo Torlonia, a grandson of Giovanni, was the Mayor of Rome from May 1882 to May 1887.[3]
His great-grandson,
Francis Xavier Shields and grandmother of the American actress Brooke Shields
.
In Rome, the Torlonia properties comprise:
Palazzo Torlonia-Bolognetti near Piazza Venezia
.
The Torlonia family were one of the few Italian aristocratic families to have survived the reconstruction of the
Colonna, Prince and Duke of Paliano. The Torlonia family was appointed in 1958 (its title dates from 1854 also), in succession to Prince Filippo Orsini
, whose family had held the position since 1735.
A poem quoted by Ignazio Silone in his novel "Fontamara" (1930),[citation needed] at the height of their power translates as:
- The head of everything is God, the Lord of heaven
- After Him comes Prince Torlonia, lord of the earth
- Then comes Prince Torlonia's armed guards
- Then comes Prince Torlonia's armed guards dogs
- Then comes nothing at all. Then comes nothing at all.
- Then comes nothing at all.
- Then come the peasants. And that's all.
References
- L'intermédiaire des chercheurs et curieux, 1886, volume 19, pp. 78-79
- Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.
- ^ Secular Italy and Catholicism: 1848-1915 Archived 2007-07-24 at the Wayback Machine, John Rao
- ^ "Morto a 92 anni don Alessandro Torlonia, ultimo principe del Fucino". 2 January 2018.
Sources
- Ponchon, Henri (2005). L'Incroyable Saga des Torlonia: des monts du Forez aux palais romains. ISBN 2-915841-08-X.
- Paul Theroff's Online Gotha.
- Rendina, Claudio (2004). Le grandi famiglie di Roma. Rome: Newton Compton.
External links
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