The palace was built by the Caffarelli family in 1515 to a design by Lorenzo Lotto, a pupil of Raphael. The meeting between Pope Paul III Farnese and Emperor Charles V took place in this residence in 1536. In 1767 the palace was sold to Cardinal Stoppani and in 1816 to Cardinal Vidoni. In 1886, following the demolition work to widen Corso Vittorio Emanuele, the new owner Carlo Giustiniani Bandini commissioned architect Francesco Settimi to design and rebuild the façade overlooking the Corso and Piazza Vidoni. On this occasion the building was also raised by one floor. The original sixteenth-century façade is therefore only the one facing Via del Sudario, while the ones facing Via del Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Piazza Vidoni are based on Raphael's sixteenth-century façade, with some variations. The ground floor has an ashlar base with arched doorways alternating with windows with triangular tympanums; on the first floor are architraved windows flanked by double columns, while on the facades on Via del Corso Vittorio and Piazza Vidoni the windows are flanked by double Doric pilasters. On the second floor there are rectangular windows and small windows. A corbelled cornice runs along the entire building, crowning the three facades. Inside, some rooms have frescoes by Anton Raphael Mengs and the school of Perin del Vaga.
Before World War II, the palace was the headquarters of the National Fascist Party.
Today it houses various ministerial offices and is closed to the public, visible only from the outside.
Information
visible only from the outside
Location
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