Palazzo Gabrielli Mignanelli

Piazza Mignanelli, located between the Spanish Steps and the Mignanelli ramp leading to Trinità de 'Monti, takes its name from the Mignanelli palace which stands there and forms the background of the square. The building was built at the end of the sixteenth century by the architect Moschetti for the Gabrielli family and only after the marriage between Maria Gabrielli and Giovanni Mignanelli in 1615 did it pass to the Mignanelli family from Siena. In one of the internal courtyards there is still a plaque dated 1575 which recalls the works undertaken by the Gabrielli to fix the slope of the mountain with the construction of the new building and those intended to isolate the building from humidity. The palace stands on the area where the ancient "Horti Luculliani" were, the gardens built after 63 BC. by Lucio Licinio Lucullo, consisting of a series of terraces and ramps and concluded by a porticoed hemicycle corresponding to Piazza Mignanelli. Originally the building consisted of two floors, marked out horizontally by string courses and of an elevation, characterized by pilasters, which only stood on the right half of the building; the right side ended with a scarp wall, while the left side was rusticated. The building remained thus, almost incomplete, both with the Mignanelli and with the Gentileschi, who took over in 1870, until in 1887 the building was completed by the architect Andrea Busiri Vici, who provided for the renovation of the facade and an expansion of the building itself, which extended where the garden once stood. The works were subsidized by the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, the new owner of the building. The present-day building, consisting of three floors, opens with a beautiful ashlar-arched portal, decorated with two stucco putti that support a globe and the letters SCPF, Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda Fide, which housed its school and Polyglot Typography. From 1834 to 1865 the building was rented to the Banca Romana, formerly the Banca dello Stato Pontificio, was established by a company of French shareholders headed by the Marquis Jouffroy and since 1874 it was one of the six issuing institutions of the Kingdom of Italy. In 1848 the French club was hosted on the ground floor of the building, frequented by shareholders and managers of the bank, mostly French, while the Bussoni and Ghigliè inn was located on the first and second floors, where, in the early nineteenth century, he stayed the envoy of the king of Piedmont Cesare Taparelli d'Azeglio with his son Massimo to congratulate Pope Pius VII on his return to Rome. Today Palazzo Mignanelli houses the headquarters of the high fashion company of the designer Valentino.

The beautiful building that insists on the square of the same name and which bears the name of its first owner, dates back to around the second half of the 16th century. The original coat of arms of the first family is still very visible, albeit with some signs of the time. Internally it is a private residence and for what I have seen, it is absolutely not possible to visit it. However externally it remains truly a beautiful building.

The building, from which the square takes its name and which forms the background, was built in 1575. From 1615 it became the property of the Magnanellis, after a marriage with which it passed as an inheritance. In 1834 it was rented to the Banca Romana, this is also mentioned in a "pungent" sonnet by the great Roman poet Belli (La cassa de discount). In 1887 it passed to Propagande Fide, where the coat of arms is still visible today above the beautiful door (two stucco angels supporting a globe, in which the acronym S.C.P.F. which means Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide is written). On that occasion the building was the subject of important works both in the facade and in the raising of a floor, so as to have its current shape. Currently the Palazzo is the seat of the famous fashion house: Valentino. In 2015 a conservative restoration was finalized, one of which was to restore its original colors. NOTE Poem written by Gioacchino Belli, in 1834, where it is highlighted that the Banca Romana was located in Piazza Mignatelli in the palace of the same name. THE CASSA DE DISONTO Dar Popolo pe annà a li Du 'Mascelli On the Piazza de Spaggna a mmano is missing At the end of the Piazzetta Miggnanelli, There is a white facade on the chest. There, to more letters ggranne de ggirelli All gilded, it says: Bbanca Roman. Ebbè, curse, poor people, What de prìffete llì nnun ci amanca. Sta bbanca inzomma is a nova scuperta To dispense with the squads to ask for them In any bbisoggno you find yourself. Sortanto there is the Bbanca Romana, As someone who cciaggnéde said, He hardly understands the Itajjan language.

The Gabrielli-Mignanelli palace is located in Rome, at number 22 of Piazza Mignanelli, of which it forms the scenographic background. The building was commissioned by Count Girolamo Gabrielli of Gubbio (1513 - 1587), who had it built around 1575 on the area where the ancient Horti Lucullani (or Luculliani) were located, the gardens that in the 1st century BC. Lucio Licinio Lucullus had had it settled on the slopes of the Pincio. In 1615, following the marriage between Maria Gabrielli and Giovanni Mignanelli, nephew of Cardinal Fabio, the palace was inherited by the Mignanellis, a family originally from Siena. The Gabrielli coat of arms is still visible today in the internal courtyard, while the ashlar arch door supports that of Propaganda Fide, owner of the building since 1887. In the same year, the architect Andrea Busiri Vici completed and renovated the facade of the building, adding to it a floor and expanding the built surface at the expense of the pre-existing garden. In the garden of the palace, and then in an internal room, there was a large Roman mosaic from the theater of Gubbio and representing a lion attacking a leopard. Transported to Rome by Girolamo Gabrielli, it was later bought to the Mignanellis by Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester for his residence in Holkham Hall, where it still stands today. The building has a rear entrance at 24 via Gregoriana, in correspondence with the "Palazzetto Gabrielli", recognizable by the presence of the coat of arms of this family in an angular position. In its long history, Palazzo Gabrielli-Mignanelli has hosted famous personalities and institutions. In 1814 Massimo d'Azeglio as a teenager stayed there, together with his father Cesare Taparelli d'Azeglio, sent to Rome on the occasion of the return of Pius VII. From 1834 to 1865 the Banca Romana was based there, while from 1848 it hosted the Circolo dei Francesi on the ground floor, frequented by transalpine residents in Rome. In the post-unification period, the Directorate of the State Archives of Rome was housed here. Today Palazzo Gabrielli-Mignanelli is above all famous as the Roman residence of the famous designer Valentino as well as the headquarters of his fashion house and of the "Accademia Valentino". An important conservative restoration of the facades and internal frescoes took place in the years 2014/2015 by the "Riva company restoration Italy" of Robecco sul Naviglio under the supervision of Enzo Medardo Costantini. The original colors have returned to the light. Starting from the first post-war period, the square in front hosts a week of celebrations which, on the occasion of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. culminates with the speech of the bishop of Rome in front of the obelisk dedicated to the Virgin Mary.