Palazzo Albertoni Spinola
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The Albertoni Spinola Palace, with entrances in Campitelli square n. 2, Capizzuchi square and vicolo Capizzuchi is located in the 10th District (Rione Campitelli).
History
The work was commissioned by Marquis Baldassarre Paluzzi Albertoni initially to Giacomo della Porta (ca.1540-1602), then continued and completed by Girolamo Rainaldi (1570-1655), in an area between the buildings De Rossi (later Cavalletti) and Capizucchi. The work is the fruit of the work of the two great Renaissance architects who collaborated on several occasions and on various occasions through various papal commissions.
In 1603 Knight Baldassarre Paluzzi Albertoni requested a permit to build the new facade, widening the area of the existing property towards the square and aligning the new wall with the corner of the adjacentCapizucchi palace. In 1616 he required an additional permit to construct, over the back door of hispalace and over the alley, an archway to allow passage to his “nearest neighbors” who were carrying out further restructuring at that time (this is the archway built in the back, in the outside of the building, at the height of the first floor). So it is possible that the two buildings belonged to the same owner from the beginning, and then passed from one family to another. Moreover, it is plausible that the facade was created at another time – on an already existing renovated building – as witnessed by cartographers of the era: Cartaro, Du Peràc, and Tempesta, whose maps indicate already existing houses in that area. In addition, what also possibly indicates these two phases is the different alignment of the interior: it is orthogonal to the courtyard and to the sides of the adjacent palaces, but it is off-axis with respect to the front of the square. In fact, the entrance gallery of the building forms a diagonal connection between the square and the inner courtyard.
The presence of the Albertoni family is recorded in Campitelli square: the family’s coat-of-arms, the lion passant is to be found on the old fountain (1587-89) as well as in the palace, above the entrance, over the lintels and niches along the stairs and in the frieze below the cornice of the main facade where we see lions passant with roe deer. Some of the minor palaces of the Paluzzi Albertoni family in Margana square, as well as under n. 36 of Via de’ Delfini, were connected to the larger palace, both structurally and functionally. The heirs of the Paluzzi Albertoni family adopted on October 21, 1671 the surname and the arms of the Altieris together with the title of Princes by desire of Emilio Altieri (1590-1676) elevated to the Papacy in 1670 under the name of Clement X. Thus all the riches of the Altieris passed on to the descendants of the Paluzzi Albertoni family renamed as Altieri. In fact, the Palace of Piazza Campitelli turned out to be a less prestigious residence than the palace built by the Altieri al Gesù family which, together with the villa at the Lateran, was to host the works of art of the family.
The Palace in Piazza Campitelli, remaining at the hands of the renewed offspring of the Altieris for more than a century was elevated with a fourth floor on top of the attic, and was sold in 1808 approximately by Prince Paluzzo Altieri to a famous Spanish General, Manuel Godoy y Alvares de Faria Ríos Sánchez Zarzosa, Prince of Paz de Basano (1767-1851). Somewhat later, the building was handed over to Cardinal Bartolomeo Pacca (1756-1844) who lived there from time to time at least from 1819. Upon Pacca’s death, the palace of Piazza Campitelli belonged to his grandchildren for about fifty years, who rented parts of it out to their acquaintances, including Cardinals Giacomo Piccolomini and Giacomo Antonelli.
Subsequently, in 1886 the building was sold by the descendants of Pacca to Countess Carolina Portalupi (1852-1891), who restored it, leaving it to her direct descendants, the Genoese Marquis Spinola [Maria Antonietta Spinola was later to marry the well-known politician Mario Cingolani (1883- 1971), while Bonifacio Spinola married his second cousin, Countess Marina Baldeschi (1895-1983)]. The restoration of the Palace could not be postponed further since the complex was in a poor state of repair as a result of years of neglect: the works concerned mainly parts of the courtyard, the stairs, and the interiors. Walls wereconsolidated; arches, vaulted ceilings, and floors were reinforced or rebuilt; the eaves, roofs and terraces were repaired; the stairs and the floors of the landings of the main staircase were completely renewed; and many ceilings were renovated – especially the decorated ones – as were the upholstery of the interior walls, with doors and windows. There are also some interventions documented in relation to a more proper distribution of water and the renovation of the bathrooms. This period also witnessed the construction of the new glass-covered gallery on the south-east, and probably the cant of the third floor towards Palazzo Cavalletti. The work was substantial, but left the structure of the building unchanged.
In 2006 and 2007 some conservative restoration work was carried out and the Palace is now in so good conditions that deserves this kind of masterpiece.
Features and description
Della Porta projected the construction of the large building(Palazzo), creating the millimeter perspective obtained from the entrance door of the Palazzetto through the orthogonal project of the entrance gallery. The gallery was already present in 1593, the integration of the two buildings was indicated by the openings of the back of the Great Palace that was perfectly aligned with those of the Palazzetto behind and unchanged from the work started in 1603. In 1603 the owner asked the town's authority for permission to refurbish the façade. In 1616 another license was sought to build a flybridge that linked the two properties. Even the hanging garden that pre-existed at 1600 is aligned to the first floor landing of the Great Palace already in existence at that time(5). The exterior facade and exterior decorations of the Great Palace are designs of Rainaldi (6), while the orthogonality of the internal entrance gallery and the resulting perspective are handled by Dalla Porta. Della Porta also handled the project of integration of the two bodies. The execution of the overpass and the integration of the two bodies are of Rainaldi. This was only made possible by the previous perfect alignment of the exterior and interior doors of the palace compared to those of the palazzetto behind. The integrative intentions have generated the unusual idea of the orthogonality and the unique onslaught of its kind, giving rise to an architectural masterpiece that only from the collaboration of two geniuses could emerge so perfectly.
Special visual effects
The visual perspective effect that is derived from it, creates a sort of optical effect, the inexplicable moving the front door of the antique Church of Santa Maria in Campitelli from the left (seen from the door of Piazza Campielli n.2) to the right (millimeter view coincidentally between the aforesaid door of the Church and the door of the Palazzetto). In addition, the visitor seems to be 'lost' within the two factory bodies: he does not fully realize if his position is in the big body of the palace or in the other smaller, c.d. Palace.
Nevertheless, it impresses the view of the "secret" garden hanging from the entrance of the overpass at the first floor of the Great Palace; when it (the garden) is instead hidden as a rear propagation of the first floor of the Palace.