Palazzo Cesi-Armellini

Palazzo Cesi-Armellini, sometimes known plainly as Palazzo Cesi, is a late Renaissance building in Rome, important for historical and architectural reasons. The palace, which should not be confounded with Palazzo Cesi-Gaddi, Palazzo Muti-Cesi, or the destroyed Palazzo Cesi, placed also in Borgo near the southern Colonnade of St. Peter's square, is one of the few Renaissance buildings of the rione Borgo to have outlived the destruction of the central part of the neighborhood due to the building of Via della Conciliazione, the grand avenue leading to St. Peter's Basilica.

The palace is located in Rome, in Rione Borgo, between Via della Conciliazione and Borgo Santo Spirito, with the main front along the south side of the former road. It lies east of the southern one of the two propylaea erected by Marcello Piacentini in 1950 to delimit Piazza Pio XII (the vestibule of Saint Peter's Square), and borders to the east Palazzo Serristori, another remarkable Renaissance building.

The first palace on this site was erected between 1517 and 1520 by Cardinal Francesco Armellini, possibly after a project of Giulio Romano or his scholars. Armellini, born in Perugia, was a skilled financier. After moving to Rome, he became immensely rich and was appointed Cardinal and counselor by Pope Leo X Medici (r. 1513–21), who adopted him. Chief of the Medici party in Rome, after having risked to lose all his patrimony during the reign of Pope Adrian VI (r. 1522–3), he became treasurer under his successor Clement VII Medici (r. 1523–34). Armellini was indirectly responsible of the Sack of Rome in 1527, since in 1525 he unwisely advised the Pope to discharge almost all his soldiers, leaving the city almost without defense. On 6 May 1527, the Landsknechts of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V burst into the city pulling down a wall of his palace's garden while he was trying to bury there his jewels and the treasure of the pope. The palace was pillaged by the soldiers, and Armellini was barely able to escape to Castel Sant'Angelo, lifted up inside a basket. The palace erected by the cardinal was luxurious, served by 130 servants, and was decorated by artists like Martino da Parma, Giovenale da Narni and Anderlino da Mantova.

...
Wikipedia