The narrow street which is a continuation of the Pescheria, emerges upon the small square called _Piazza della Giudecca_. In the houses on the left may be seen some columns and part of an architrave, being the only visible remains of the _Theatre of Balbus_, erected by C. Cornelius Balbus, a general who triumphed in the time of Augustus, with the spoils taken from the Garamantes, a people of Africa. It was opened in the same year as the Theatre of Marcellus, and though very much smaller, was capable of containing as many as 11,600 spectators.
To the right, still partly on the site of the ancient theatre, and extending along one side of the Piazza delle Scuole, is the vast _Palazzo Cenci_, the ancient residence of the famous Cenci family (now represented by Count Cenci-Bolognetti), and the scene of many of the terrible crimes and tragedies which stain its annals.
"The Cenci Palace is of great extent: and, though in part modernized, there yet remains a vast and gloomy pile of feudal architecture in the same state as during the dreadful scenes which it once witnessed. The palace is situated in an obscure corner of Rome, near the quarter of the Jews, and from the upper windows you see the immense ruins of Mount Palatine, half hidden under the profuse undergrowth of trees. There is a court in one part of the palace supported by columns, and adorned with antique friezes of fine workmanship, and built up, after the Italian fashion, with balcony over balcony of open work. One of the gates of the palace, formed of immense stones, and leading through a passage dark and lofty, and opening into gloomy subterranean chambers, struck me particularly."--_Shelley's Preface to "The Cenci."_
Opposite the further entrance of the Palace, is the tiny Church of _S. Tommaso del Cenci_, founded 1113 by Cencio, bishop of Sabina; granted by Julius II. to Rocco Cenci;--and rebuilt in 1575 by the wicked Count Cenci.
"In 1585, Francesco Cenci was the head of the family, a man of passions so ungovernable and heart so depraved, that he hesitated at no species of crime. His first wife was a Princess Santa Croce, whom he is believed to have poisoned in order to marry the beautiful Lucrezia Petroni. His domestic cruelties to his children, especially to his three elder sons, Giacomo, Christoforo, and Rocco, were so terrible, that they petitioned the reigning Pope Clement VIII. to interfere in their behalf, but he abruptly dismissed them as rebels against the paternal authority; one daughter, Marguerita, alone escaped from her miserable home, being given in marriage by the pope to a Signor Gabrielli.