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Palazzo Cancelleria: The authorship of this building is shrouded in mystery. It seems that it was designed and largely built between 1489 and 1514 and has been mistakenly ascribed to both Alberti and Bramante (The former was dead when it was built, while the latter hadn’t yet arrived in Rome).
The Palazzo Cancelleria was built for Cardinal Raffaele Riario (whose titular church was San Lorenzo in Damaso), nephew of Sixtus IV, and funded to a large extent from the profits of a single night’s gambling. He won 60,000 scudi and borrowed a further 120,000 scudi to complete the building and church.
In 1490, the Cardinal began to destroy and rebuild the 4th century church and old palace, using blocks of stone taken from the Colosseum....
Palazzo dei Conservatori: The palace dates back to the 15th century. In 1471, Pope Sixtus IV opened it as a museum, the world’s first public gallery. The palace stands on the site of the Temple of Jupiter, which was dedicated in 509BC.
In 1568, it was altered by Giacomo della Porta to a design by Michelangelo and then rebuilt completely, in 1820. The most important architectural innovation was the introduction of the giant order, a pilaster or column that runs through two storeys. Standing on high bases they serve to unite the two floors of the building....
Palazzo Doria-Pamphili: The Palazzo Doria Pamphili is one of the largest palaces in Rome. It started life in the 15th century when it was the property of the della Rovere family. In time, it passed to the Aldobrandini clan and then, through the marriage of the infamous Olimpia Maidalchini to Camillo Pamphili, it came into the hands of the Pamphili, whose family later allied with that of the Doria from Genoa.
Olimpia, satirised by contemporaries as olim pia (formerly pious), also brought with her a large art collection which was enriched by the later union of families. The Art Gallery now consists of over 400 paintings from the 15th to the 18th centuries and is one of the most important collections still in private hands......
Palazzo Farnese: The Palazzo Farnese was commissioned by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (later Pope Paul III), in 1515, and soon nicknamed ‘Il Dado’. When the cardinal was elected pope, in 1534, the design had to be enlarged and modified in keeping with his newly acquired status.
Rising to a height of almost 100 feet and occupying the whole side of the square, the Palazzo Farnese is one of the largest palaces in Rome. It was designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, and, following the architect’s death, in 1546, by Michelangelo....
Palazzo Spada: The Palazzo Spada was originally built in the middle of the 16th century for Cardinal Gerolamo Capo di Ferro. It was acquired in the 17th century by Cardinal Bernadino Spada. Although it was built only a few years after its neighbour, Palazzo Farnese, it is quite different in style. The nobility and restraint of the renaissance has been replaced by the inventive playfulness of the Mannerists. The façade is smothered in statues, garlands and scrolls. The second floor is even more excessive....
Palazzo Venezia: The palace was begun, in 1455, by Cardinal Pietro Barbo, Venetian humanist, nephew of Pope Eugenius IV and the future Pope Paul II. By the time it was finished, in 1467, the pope had died. The palace, which was built adjoining the church of San Marco, the pope’s titular church, was both the first renaissance building and the first great non-ecclesiastical building to be erected in Rome.
The palace was originally a papal residence until, in 1564, it was handed over to the Venetian Republic for the use of their ambassadors.....
