The Albertoni Spinola Palace, with entrances in Campitelli square n. 2, Capizucchi square and vicolo Capizucchi is located in the 10th District (Rione Campitelli). It was projected and executed by Giacomo Della Porta and Girolamo Rainaldi around the end of 16th century and the first years of 17th century.
The building is protected by Italian Government and the distinctive feature of Palace consist in two buildings connected to each other but perfectly integrated that have generated the visual effect of the perspective on the Church of Santa Maria in Campitelli.
History
The work was commissioned by Marquis Baldassarre Paluzzi Albertoni initially to Giacomo della Porta (1532-1602), 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 adjacent Capizucchi palace. In 1616, he required an additional permit to construct, over the back door of his palace and over the alley, an archway to allow passage to his "nearest neighbors" (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 the Spanish politician Manuel Godoy y Alvares de Faria Ríos Sánchez Zarzosa, Prince of the Peace, (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.