Palazzo Massimo di Pirro

Its name was taken from a statue of the god Mars found in the foundation excavations and mistakenly believed to be a representation of the leader Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, defeated by the Romans in 275 BC near Beneventum.

Damaged by the Lansquenets during the sack of Rome in 1527, the palace was rebuilt in 1530 by Giovanni Mangone, a pupil of Antonio da Sangallo, and decorated with frescoes all over the façade by Daniele da Volterra to celebrate the marriage of Angelo Massimo to Antonietta Planca Incoronati.

The façade was restored in 1877, as indicated by the inscription on the doors.

The ground floor housed the first printing house in Rome, opened by two German printers, Arnold Sweynheym and Corrado Pannartz, pupils of Gutenberg, who had previously settled in Subiaco and were hosted in Rome by the Princes Massimo. The printing house began its activity by publishing St Augustine's De civitate Dei in 1467.