Palazzo Capponi Stampa, also known as Palazzo Orsini Capponi Stampa Pediconi, is a 17th-century palace in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. It sits between Via dei Banchi Nuovi and Via di Panico, overlooking the Piazza dell'Orologio.

History

The Palace was originally commissioned by the

Orsini family The House of Orsini is an Italian noble family that was one of the most influential princely families in medieval Italy and Renaissance Rome. Members of the Orsini family include five popes: Stephen II (752-757), Paul I (757-767), Celestine II ...

. They had another palace nearby, Palazzo Orsini Taverna, so in 1692 they sold it to Cardinal Capponi. In the early years of the 18th century the palace was bought by Cardinal

Carlo Gaetano Stampa Carlo III Gaetano Stampa (1667–1742) was an Italian cardinal and Archbishop of Milan from 1737 to 1742. Early life Carlo Gaetano Stampa was born on 1 November 1667 in Milan to count Cristiano Stampa and Giustina of the House of Borromeo. He ...

and renamed Palazzo Stampa. The stucco ornaments were added at the behest of Carlo Gaetano, who had just become Governor of some papal cities. After his death the property was inherited by his cousin Pietro Stampa di Ferentino. In the following years, the palace hosted members of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

, among them

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

Viviano Orfini in 1820 and was also the birthplace of Eugenio Pacelli, later

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

. The building was originally three-storey and a fourth one was added in the 19th century. The facade of the palace looking onto Via Orsini is characterised by cornices underlying windows with trefoil designs, adorned with seashells at the first floor, capitals at the second and female heads at the third. There are two twin doors at the ground floor topped by faun heads, conceived for the entry and exit of carriages. In fact both access a large courtyard with a fountain in the middle, on which is sculpted an eagle – the heraldic emblem of the

Stampa Stampa is a former municipality in the Maloja district of the Swiss canton, Graubünden. It is now part of the municipality of Bregaglia. History Stampa is first mentioned after 1354 as ''Stamppa'' and was named so in honor of the Stampa famil ...

References

{{Reflist Palaces in Rome 17th-century architecture in Italy