Palazzo Torlonia Giraud

The dignified palace that today faces Via della Conciliazione was built in the early 16th century for the rich cardinal Adriano Castellesi da Corneto, who never lived there. Before the demolition of the Spina di Borgo in the 1930s, the building stood on Piazza Scossacavalli, one of the most important squares in Rione Borgo, along the Via Alessandrina which was opened by Pope Alexander VI in 1499. The paternity of the palace project is generally attributed to Donato Bramante, as also reported by Vasari. However, given the similarity of the building with the Palazzo della Cancelleria, some scholars ascribe it to Andrea Bregno.

The changing fortunes of the cardinal at the death of Alexander VI Borgia, of which Castellesi was secretary, slowed down the construction work, so much so that in 1505 the palace was donated, still incomplete, to King Henry VII and was then used as the residence of the British ambassador. It then passed to other owners, including Scipione Borghese; in 1720 it was bought by Count Pietro Giraud and a century later by Prince Giovanni Torlonia who restored the building. As a result, the monochrome graffiti by Polidoro da Caravaggio and Maturino da Firenze that used to adorn the façade were lost.

The main façade has a typically Renaissance structure. Both on the first and the second floors there are seven windows separated by a wide cornice and marked by pairs of pilasters with Ionic capitals: on the first floor they are arched, on the second floor rectangular. The large portal, surmounted by the Torlonia coat of arms, was built in the 18th century by Antonio Valeri on behalf of Count Giraud. The portal gives access to a harmonious courtyard with a portico, rich in statues and ancient bas-reliefs and decorated at the back with two large 19th-century fountains. In the 17th century, when the building was owned by the Giraud family, the back of the building was connected to the Passetto di Borgo by means of a small wooden bridge. It is still possible to see where this bridge was connected to the wall.